The Grain of Wheat

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.

Most certainly I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains by itself alone. But if it dies, it bears much fruit.

A grain of wheat must fall and die before it bears fruit. St. Rita's life of loss and surrender became, in God's hands, a harvest of grace that still feeds the Church. What looks like loss, given to God, can become the seed of something new.

Lord, you teach that the grain of wheat must die to bear much fruit, and so much in my life feels like loss. Help me to surrender what I cannot keep, trusting that you can bring life out of it. Through the intercession of St. Rita, let what feels buried in me rise again as fruit for your kingdom. 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.