Santa Rosa’s legacy lives

The patronal feast day of Santa Rosa de Lima was celebrated in Arima on Sunday, August 24, with Archbishop Emeritus Robert Rivas OP urging the faithful to rediscover their faith as a “hidden treasure” and live it with courage and compassion.

Preaching the homily, Archbishop Rivas drew on the Gospel of Matthew: “The Kingdom of Heaven is like treasure hidden in a field which someone has found; he hides it again, goes off happy, sells everything he owns and buys the field” (Mt 13:44).

He told worshippers, “Our faith is our treasure and often in the hustle and bustle of life we lose our direction and a sense of who we are and what we are worth in the eyes of God. What have you done with your treasure? Does your faith really make a difference in your life?”

The Archbishop pointed to Santa Rosa herself as a model of radical faith. Inspired as a teenager by the life of St Catherine of Siena, she devoted herself to prayer, service to the poor, and a life of simplicity, even rejecting her parents’ plans for marriage.

“Her faith became her most precious treasure and she lived it with joy,” he said. “Through her selfless giving…she became a woman of great compassion imitating the compassion of St Dominic and St Catherine.”

He reminded the congregation that Santa Rosa is not only the first canonised saint of Latin America and the Caribbean, but also a gift to Arima’s First Peoples who adopted her as patroness. “This is the story of our faith and this is what we are celebrating today,” he said, explaining that Spanish missionaries brought devotion to saints like Rose of Lima as they journeyed with the Gospel to new lands.

Archbishop Rivas praised the Santa Rosa Festival as a living expression of faith and culture: “Popular religiosity gives expression to our faith and Arima is blessed with its Santa Rosa Festival which brings faith and aspects of our culture together…where faith has a face that is alive, vibrant and wholesome.”

He imagined Santa Rosa herself joining the celebrations, saying “thank you” to missionaries and First Peoples for keeping faith alive.

The Archbishop also turned to the present challenges facing society, stressing the need for believers to live with courage and compassion. “We need courage to persevere in our faith and to give prophetic witness to what we believe,” he said. “We also need compassionate hearts to meet the needs of those around us. Our society needs many more compassionate and kind people to counteract the culture of disrespect, the disregard for human life and dignity, and the culture of violence.”

In a symbolic call to action, Archbishop Rivas invited parishioners to consider supporting a pilgrimage to Lima, Peru—the birthplace of Santa Rosa. He proposed that the Santa Rosa/Malabar Cluster sponsor tickets for their Moderator, Fr Robert Christo, and a member of the First Peoples community to join the November Dominican pilgrimage.

“If St Rose came all this way to us, wouldn’t it be wonderful to go and visit the place where she came from and tell her thanks for coming,” he said, pledging to personally cover the initial deposit for one representative.

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