On Humility in the Sight of God [II]

[Rich]

On Humility in the Sight of God [II]

It is Thy love that achieves this, freely guiding and supporting me in
my many needs, guarding me from grievous perils, and, as I may
truthfully confess, rescuing me from evils without number. And whereas
by perverse self-love I had lost myself,(John 12:25) now by lovingly
seeking Thee alone, I have found both myself and Thee; for by that
love I have humbled myself to utter nothingness. Dearest Lord, You
deal with me above my deserts, and above all I dare hope or pray for.
--Thomas à Kempis --Imitation of Christ Bk 3, Ch 8

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July 6th - St. Maria Goretti, Virgin, Martyr

At the dawn of the century stands a child. Before the century is half
over, her name appears in the roll of saints. Maria-her name is the
symbol of purity, her emblem the lily.

Maria Goretti was born in 1890 at Corinaldo, a village in the north of
Italy. It was a bright, sunny place, where her parents found joy in
their work. Her father, Luigi Goretti, was a farm laborer, and her
mother Assunta, an unlearned orphan. They were very poor, but they
loved each other deeply and counted their wealth in their six
children.

Reluctantly, Luigi took his family to the Pontine Marshes, southeast
of Rome, to work as a tenant farmer. Life would not be so pleasant
there. It was swampy, and they would need to share a house with his
partner, Giovanni Serenelli, and his son Alessandro. But perhaps there
would be more food for the children. Assunta comforted her worried
husband, "We will still have each other." But there was not more food;
the work was backbreaking and unprofitable. And soon they did not even
have each other. In 1900, overworked and stricken by the malaria which
infested the marshes, Luigi died.

With a heavy heart, Assunta took upon her own shoulders the work which
had killed her husband. It was a task she could not have accomplished
except for the help of her daughter. Maria took over the work of the
house, caring for her brothers and sisters, cooking, washing, and
sewing for both the families.

The harder Assunta worked, the larger their debts seemed to grow.
Maria did not add to her mother's worries. She did not tell her mother
that she was afraid of the son of her father's partner; the way he
looked at her, and the things he said. Maria kept her fears to
herself, and Assunta did not suspect that the nineteen-year-old
Alessandro regarded her daughter as anything but a twelve-year-old
child.

Maria herself could not know how immediate her danger was. She could
not know that Alessandro, in his anger at her rebuffs, had fashioned a
dagger, sharp and slender, over nine inches long. This would be his
final argument.

On a hot afternoon in July of 1902, Maria was working quietly at home,
mending a shirt, when Alessandro came back alone from the fields and
dragged her into the kitchen. There were only two choices, submission
to his lustful desires or death. For Maria there was no wavering.
Assunta had done her work well. Her child's fear of the knife was not
nearly so intense as her fear for the soul of Alessandro.
Half-maddened by her determination, he struck her again and again.
Amid her screams, there were no pleas for herself, only for him. "No,
no, you must not! You will go to hell." She cried it over and over,
until she could cry no longer, and Alessandro fled into his bedroom.

Maria was carried quickly to the hospital at Nettuno, but it was
evident that she could not live. She suffered two deaths really. First
there was the terror of the plunging knife and violent struggle, and
now there was the slow painful death, continuing over twenty-four
hours. She suffered terribly from thirst and, because she was bleeding
internally, it could not be assuaged. She met the regretful refusals
of water with gentle resignation, remembering the thirst of the
crucified Savior.

She was concerned solely for her sorrowing mother, and the children
who would have no one to care for them. There was only one thing more
necessary for a perfect death, and she gave it with all her heart. She
answered the priest's question simply, "Yes, for the love of Jesus, I
forgive him . . . and want him to be in paradise with me." She
received the last sacraments with childlike reverence and died after
kissing the cross her mother had placed in her hands.

Alessandro, being so young, was spared the death penalty, and was
sentenced to thirty years in prison. For eight years he was bitter,
sullen, silent, still hating the little girl who had refused him. Then
he had a dream. He seemed to see Maria with her arms laden with
lilies. At first, he shrank from her, but she smiled and gave him the
flowers, which, one by one, seemed to turn to pure white flames and
consume themselves. At last he repented. He declared that he hoped for
heaven because a saint was praying for him.

After his release Alessandro went to Assunta to be forgiven. The
mother and the murderer knelt side by side to receive Communion near
the shrine built in Maria's honor. After testifying, as only he could,
to the perfect innocence of Maria, at the inquiry for her
beatification, Alessandro became Brother Stephano. He worked as a
lay-brother in the garden of the Capuchin friars at Ascoli Piceno.

On June 24, 1947, Maria Goretti was solemnly canonized before the
largest crowd that had ever gathered to witness such an event. Assunta
was the first woman ever to be present at the canonization of her own
child, and the great square rang with cries of "Viva la Mamma!" as she
passed along.

The proud, sophisticated world kneels humbled and awed at the shrine
of a saint who preached no sermon and saw no visions. It was not by
accident that the first saint of our century was Maria, dedicated to
the Holy Virgin, martyred for the virtue of purity.

Maria Goretti is the patron saint of teenagers, particularly girls,
and of the Children of Mary (White).


Saint Quote:
Remember the sufferings of Christ, the storms that were weathered...
the crown that came from those sufferings which gave new radiance to
the faith... All saints give testimony to the truth that without real
effort, no one ever wins the crown.
-- Saint Thomas Becket

Bible Quote:
Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers
of the inheritance of the saints in light: Who hath delivered us from
the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his
dear Son: In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the
forgiveness of sins: (Col. 1:12:14)


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Saint Anthony, Martyr of Desire

Dear St. Anthony, you became a Franciscan with the hope of
shedding your blood for Christ. In God's plan for you, your
thirst for martyrdom was never to be satisfied. St. Anthony,
Martyr of Desire, pray that I may become less afraid to stand
up and be counted as a follower of the Lord Jesus. Intercede
also for my other intentions. (Name them.)