April 27: Monday of the Third Week of Easter
Posted by Campus Ministry on Monday, April 27, 2020 at 6:00 AM PDT
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Today is the feast day of St. Zita, patron saint of domestic workers. She is known for her acts of generosity toward those who were poor and imprisoned in Lucca, Italy in the 13th century. Her mission was always to work hard so that she could get her housekeeping duties finished and then pray, attend Mass and give away her employers’ food to the hungry. She attended to her own spiritual needs while fulfilling the physical needs of those around her. In the Gospel, Jesus had just fed the 5,000 men (not counting women and children!) and even as he fed their growling stomachs with the loaves and fishes, he reminded that they should, ‘work for the food that endures for eternal life’. We are in a time when the needs of the world are centered on the physical—our viral pandemic carries the tragic byproduct of food and housing insecurity. St. Zita follows in Jesus’ footsteps by tending to both the physical and the spiritual in places of real need. People are hungry—feed them. People are hopeless and grieving—give them some of your hope and some of what comforts you. In this Easter season, in this unique time, new life is both all around us, and desperately hard to find. May we fill this gap with equal proportions of care and prayer.