An Unknown Friend needs your Prayers
A man I met once turned to me for help, and asked me to pray for him. It seems he and his wife have fallen into the ongoing hell of an unhappy marriage, and every conversation ends in a shouting match.
There is nothing I can do for him, no advice I can give, no way to help, except one. He asked for my prayers, and I would like to ask you, dear readers, for yours. I don’t want to repeat his name on the internet, but God and His saints will know who you mean if you volunteer to help.
(I note in passing that back when I was an atheist, neither did my fellow atheists and I ask for help from strangers when we suffered, nor did we volunteer to help, nor was their any help to give. Atheism is a cold universe, and there is only cold comfort there. Even if God should turn out to be a dream and a delusion, sharing even an imaginary warmth is an act of love and goodfellowship is better than the real coldheartedness godlessness produces.)
Here is a disciple of Christ who also had an unhappy marriage, and who is one of the Patron Saints of impossible causes:
St Rita of Cascia
St. Rita was born in 1381 in Roccaporena, Italy. She lived a very difficult life on earth, but she never let it destroy her faith.
Although she had a deep wish to enter religious life, her parents arranged marriage at a young age to a cruel and unfaithful man. Because of Rita’s prayers, he finally experienced a conversion after almost 20 years of unhappy marriage, only to be murdered by an enemy soon after his conversion. Her two sons became ill and died following their father’s death, leaving Rita without family.
She hoped again to enter the religious life, but was denied entrance to the Augustinian convent many times before finally being accepted. Upon entry, Rita was asked to tend to a dead piece of vine as an act of obedience. She watered the stick obediently, and it inexplicably yielded grapes. The plant still grows at the convent, and its leaves are distributed to those seeking miraculous healing.