St. Maria Goretti
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July 6 is the feast of St. Maria Goretti.
Born on October 16, 1890, the 3rd of 7 children. Her father became very sick with malaria and died when she was just nine. While her mother and siblings worked in the fields, she would cook, sew, watch Teresa, and keep the house clean.
On July 5, 1902, eleven-year-old Maria was sitting on the outside steps of her home, sewing and watching her younger sister Teresa, while her family worked in the nearby fields. Twenty year old Alessandro Serenelli was threshing beans in the barnyard. Knowing she would be alone, he returned to the house and made sexual advances toward Maria which she rejected. Alessandro threatened to stab her if she did not do what he said; he was intending to rape her. She would not give in, however, protesting that what he wanted to do was a mortal sin and warning him that he would go to Hell. She fought desperately and kept screaming, "No! It is a sin! God does not want it!" Allesandro stabbed her 14 times before running away.
Alerted by the noise her mother came and found Maria on the floor bleeding and took her to the nearest hospital but her injuries were beyond the doctors' help. The following day, 24 hours after the attack, having expressed forgiveness for Alessandro and stating that she wanted to have him in Heaven with her, she died of her injuries.
This young woman – not yet 12 years old had great power.
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Allesandro was captured and sentenced to 30 years in prison where he was so unrepentant and violent that he spent most of it in solitary confinement.
One night, six years into his prison sentence, Maria appeared to Alessandro. She appeared in a garden picking 14 white lilies handing them to him one by one. This gesture of forgiveness, this act of love, filled Alessandro with light and the Holy Spirit. He immediately became contrite for what he had done to her.
After this miraculous encounter Alessandro changed dramatically and lived out the rest of his prison sentence in humble contrition.
Upon his release, Alessandro visited Assunta, Maria’s mother and begged her forgiveness. She forgave him, and they attended Mass together the next day, receiving Holy Communion side by side. Assunta even went so far as to accept Allesandro as her own child since he had no family on earth.
Soon after, Alessandro entered the Franciscans and lived out the rest of his life in prayer, penance and humble work.
Maria was canonized on June 24, 1950 by Pope Pius XII. Her mother, four of her siblings and her repentant murderer, Alessandro were present.
Some 500,000 people, among them a majority of youth, had come from around the world. Pius asked them: "Young people, pleasure of the eyes of Jesus, are you determined to resist any attack on your chastity with the help of the grace of God?" A resounding "yes" was the answer.
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St Maria Goretti has a message for both women and men.
Just as men have a greater physical strength to protect women. Women have a greater moral strength to protect men. Men need the moral strength of a woman to help them become what they are meant to be, but not use their power to manipulate men.
A woman longs for a man to see her worth and cherish her. The strongest desire of a man is for a woman. He will do whatever she requires because God makes a woman the prize to be won and the prize is meant to go to the man worthy of her.
In this relationship, the woman holds the power of yes and no. A woman can use this power to make men better or make them worse. To use your feminine and sexual power to arouse men is to squander it, which diminishes your value and makes you an object for use. Or you can wield your power to make men better – by demanding that he rise to the level of virtue - that if he wants your attention and love then he must become a better man, a man one who is worthy of your value and who will uphold it and cherish it.
Now, women are afraid that if they say “no” they will be alone forever. St Maria Goretti preserved her chastity at the cost of her life. Are you willing to preserve your chastity even at the cost of loneliness?
This is not true for two reasons:
1. A man may be aroused by a prostitute but he knows she will not bring the best out of him. What he really wants is a woman who will help him become the most excellent person he could be.
2. Trust God your Father that if you honor Him and do His will he will take care of your vocation.
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Maria has a message for men.
Alessandro testified later in life that the pornographic magazines and immoral shows led him down an evil path that led to his ruin.
Pornography and sexual indulgence leads men to think and act in progressively darker ways. Pornographic indulgence leads to physical violence. Sexual indulgence always leads to a taste for violence because the man is looking for stimulation – a rush. Sooner or later, he will become bored with sex alone and turn to violence for greater stimulation. The sexual decadence of the Roman empire led to the violence of the Colosseum and the martyrdom of Christians. The sexual revolution of our culture leads to more assaults on women; MMA fighting, gun violence and yes, sooner or later – the martyrdom of Christians.
Lust and Pornography is an addiction. Addiction is a routine, a pattern. I’ve just told you where this road goes and it’s not good.
Will-power is just a routine or habit of thinking and acting.
Recognize the pattern and break it right where the pattern begins. Your eternal salvation depends upon it.
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Lust isn’t the only insane disease that has gripped humanity. Lust tends to grip men. Resentment is an insanity that tends to grip women.
Resentment is an emotion that is a mixture of disappointment, disgust, anger, and fear. We develop resentment when we’ve been hurt by others and then we hold on to the hurt and become enslaved to it in bitterness rather than being set free by forgiveness. If we don’t forgive, then bitterness and resentment become the dominant passion in a person life.
Resentment can lead a person to make their life-force this idea:
· I will become so strong that I will never again be hurt by a man who has failed me.
· I must become independent and strong and never rely on another man nor even upon God – for He too has failed me.
Women experience resentment when their fathers aren’t there for them; when men violate their dignity by objectifying and using them in relationships; or when they lose a child.
The Story of St. Maria Goretti is as much a story of victory over resentment as it is over lust. Maria had no father to protect her. She prayed for, forgave and converted the man who killed her. And her mother, Assunta, welcomed into her family the man who had taken her child.
How can we do what Maria did? Think about the love of Jesus poured out for you on Calvary. Here is a man who will never let you down, a man who shows you your true value by His death on the Cross. Meditate on God the Father, with whom you are always safe. Yes, God the Father allowed Maria to be martyred – but She would tell you He worked this for her greater good – that she was safe all the time in His providential care.
I am an imperfect Father, but I would do anything for my daughters. How much more will the Most perfect of all Fathers, do for you!
This is the age of lust and resentment, of pornography and the me too movements. St Maria Goretti calls us all to renew our battle against lust and resentment.