Liturgical Calendar
Sixth Sunday of Easter
Mass Readings
Acts 15, Ps 67, Rev 21, Jn 14
Saint(s) of the Day
Saint Rita of Cascia. See https://www.franciscanmedia.org/saint-of-the-day or https://www.catholic.org/saints/sofd.php?date=2022-05-22 for more information and other saints of the day.
Reflections & Song Idea
Today’s Saint of the Day is St. Rita of Cascia. St Rita lived from 1381 to 1457 in Italy, and there were many different phases of her life. Although she wanted to enter into a convent, her parents forced her into marriage at age twelve to a harsh and cruel man. In spite of his insults to her an physical abuse she remained a good wife and mother of two sons and was known for her holiness.
After the murder of her husband by a rival family, and the natural death of her sons, Rita entered an Augustinian monastery, where she lived the rest of her holy life.
St. Rita is the patron Saint of difficult marriages, parenthood, infertility, and impossible causes. So this week we are prompting you to write a song about one of those things. If you are a parent, or if you have something to write about your own parents that is a reflection of God’s love, write about that. Maybe you have observed a difficult marriage – that could be the topic of a good song too. You should read more about St. Rita’s life – there are a lot of interesting Italian names and places from her life you could put into your song.
And as always, if you get stuck, be sure to read today’s Mass readings for more words and ideas to add to your lyrics.
The Song Form
The song form chosen for this song is a ballad in the key of F. There are a lot of very lush, embellished chords in this one, so it is good for writing about deep love or writing about deep emotional struggle from a difficult situation. This form is close to an AABA form, but the final A section is a little bit different from the first two.
This song form is just to get you started, but do anything you like to make this song your own. Feel free to use it as is or change the chords, rhythm, time signature, or key.
