The Rose of Lima - Beholding Her Beloved As In A Clear Mirror

(Image Source: Wikimedia Commons)

Today  is the memorial for St. Rose of Lima - one of three Dominican Saints who walked the streets of Lima, Peru in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. St. Martin de Porres and St. John Macias are the other two. Neither of them were priests but both were what we would call today Dominican cooperator brothers. 

St. Rose and St. Martin knew each other. She died before St. John Macias entered the Order. He never met the Rose of Lima. Martin and John, however, spent much time in each other's company.

How blessed a city Lima was at that time - to have in its midst such three simple, humble, and holy souls.

As I mentioned in a 2013 post, St. Rose treasured the great spiritual value of sacrificial suffering and invited us to do likewise. If you are interested to learn why, you can read about it here.

Today, I wanted to share another marvelous trait this Saint displayed during her lifetime which I discovered while reading Cultivating Virtue - Self-Mastery With The Saints:


"It is said of St. Rose of Lima that in all her employments she kept her mind uninterruptedly raised to God, so that in reading, embroidering, weaving, conversing with others, providing for the wants of the family or walking in the street -  in every action, in all times and places, she was beholding, as in a clear mirror, and lovingly contemplating, the fair countenance of her Beloved. What is more wonderful, this continual presence of God occupied her interior powers with much sweetness, without interfering at all with the exercise of her senses, so that while she was interiorly conversing with God, she was exteriorly conversing with men, answering connectedly, giving advice or orders, planning and executing whatever was necessary with as much ease and readiness as if she had no other thought in mind. This was a truly and wonderful gift granted to her by the Lord."

Oh, that we might receive the grace to see and converse with our loving Lord as did His Rose of Lima!

Today, let us pray:

"O St. Rose, first flower of sanctity in the New World, let the fragrance of thy virtues diffuse itself in our lives. Grant that we may imitate thy holy purity; obtain for us courage in the practice of penance. Teach us, O St. Rose, to love Christ Crucified and Mary His Mother. Beseech Thy Divine Spouse, to bless all the Americas, which give thanks for thy glory to him, the Giver of all good gifts. Amen."

                                                    (Source of Prayer) 

St. Rose of Lima pray for us!