Love Your Enemies

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

O God, in St. Rita you gave the world a model of patience in suffering and love toward enemies, and you answered her prayers in cases thought impossible. As I begin this novena, look upon my own difficult situation. Through her intercession, give me her peace, her forgiveness, and her unshaken trust in you. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Let us pause in silence, and bring to mind the intention you are praying for.

In the app, your own saved intention rests here during the silence. The narration stays the same for everyone.

But I tell you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who mistreat you and persecute you,

To love our enemies and pray for those who wrong us is perhaps the hardest of Christ's commands - and St. Rita lived it heroically, forgiving those who had wounded her most deeply. This love is not a feeling but a decision, and it frees the one who gives it as much as the one who receives it.

Lord, you command me to love my enemies and to pray for those who have hurt me, and I cannot do it on my own. Give me a love that does not wait for the other to deserve it. Through the intercession of St. Rita, free me from the prison of bitterness, and let me pray sincerely even for those who have wounded me. Amen.

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us, and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. Amen.

Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee, blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen.

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

St. Rita, advocate of impossible and desperate cases, you bore deep wounds of heart and body and never lost your peace. Take my intention, which seems beyond hope, and lay it before God. Obtain for me the grace to forgive, the patience to endure, and the faith to trust that nothing is impossible for him. Amen.

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.