St. Rose of Lima felt God calling her to lead a life consecrated to him, but her parents didn't understand. They greatly desired that she would marry and often ridiculed her for the choices she made.
Faced with her parents' opposition, Rose stayed at home and devoted herself to prayer and works of charity. She prayed for her parents, hoping some day they would understand her calling to be a bride of Jesus Christ.
Later on, her parents were in financial trouble, so she worked all day and sewed all night. Even though her parents did not treat her well, Rose respected them and helped them when they were in need.
Here is a prayer invoking St. Rose's intercession in a particular way for all mothers, especially those mothers who are in need of strength. She helped her own parents when they needed her and remains a powerful intercessor for those mothers who need extra graces from God.
St. Rose, devout Virgin, fragrant rose in the garden of God, sweetly blooming amid the thorns of distressing tribulation and severe mortification, white as snow in the immaculate innocence of your heart, glowing in the love of God that consumed you.
Your devotedness to your parents was so great that you labored night and day to relieve their poverty, and most tenderly cared for them in their sickness.
Most grateful, most humble daughter, have pity on me and my children. Teach me, by conduct truly Christian, to deserve the warmhearted gratitude of my children. Teach my children to appreciate my love and the numerous sacrifices that I cheerfully make for their sake; teach them to repay the same by filial love and obedience, and chiefly by fervent prayers for me.
Bless me and my entire family. May our hearts be intimately united even in adversity. Let us not place our happiness in temporal prosperity, but rather in the hope of a future eternal blessedness.
Pray, likewise, O sainted patroness of America, for all Christian mothers in particular, that Christian life and sentiments may everywhere be awakened among them. May these sentiments spread far and wide, uniting all families into the one great family of God, in which Jesus Christ may live and rule with God the Father and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
