+ Today we celebrate the feast
of a well-known Italian girl, Maria Goretti. Maria was a beautiful,
pious farm girl, one of six children. Soon after her father died of malaria the
family was forced to move onto the Serenelli farm to survive. In 1902 at age
twelve, Maria was attacked by 19-year-old farmhand Alessandro Serenelli. He
tried to rape her but she fought and yelled to him that it was a sin, and that
he would go to hell. He tried to choke her into submission, then stabbed her
fourteen times. She survived in the hospital for two days, where she forgave
her attacker, asked God’s forgiveness of him, and died holding a crucifix and a
medal of Our Lady. She is counted as a martyr.
While
in prison for his crime, Alessandro had a vision of Maria. He saw a garden
where a young girl dressed in white, gathered lilies. She smiled, came near
him, and encouraged him to accept an armful of lilies. As he took them, each
lily transformed into a still white flame; Maria then disappeared. This vision
of Maria led to Alessandro’s conversion and he later testified at her cause for
beatification.
Maria
was beatified in 1947 by Pope Pius XII, and then canonized by him in 1950. The
ceremony was attended by 250,000 including her mother (the only time a parent
has witnessed her child’s canonization) and by her attacker Alessandro
Serenelli, who knelt in St Peter’s Square as her name was announced among the
saints in heaven.
Young
people today are so much in need of a role model, especially in the area of
sexual behavior and relationships in general. Maria Goretti will always stand
out as such a model. Her priorities were in order – she must have had a great
family environment to learn such Christian values from an early age, and at
only age 12 she was willing to lay it all on the line for God, for Jesus, her
friend, her role-model and her Lord.
Bless
the children today Lord, and somehow convince them that the proper use of all
of their instinctual powers and abilities will save them a lifetime of
heartache, trouble and even death!
The
body is not for immorality, but for the Lord – for our bodies are members of
Christ – temples of the Holy Spirit – and instruments in the glorification of
God!
All
praise and glory to God, both now and forever! Amen!
No comments:
Post a Comment