13th Week, Saturday, July 6th; Saint Maria Goretti
Amos 9:11-15 / Matthew 9:14-17
Amos holds out hope to Israel; God said, "I will rescue my people."
If we refuse to breathe, the air doesn't punish or suffocate us. We punish or suffocate ourselves. If we beat our fist against a brick wall, the brick wall doesn't punish our fist by making it bleed. We punish or bloody it ourselves. This may help us understand better the situation between Israel and God.***
Recall a pain that we brought on ourselves by our own refusal to do what was right. "We cannot break God's commandments; we can only break ourselves against them." Author unknown
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It goes without saying that the quality of the agricultural produce of the land depends very much on the weather. Yet another fundamental factor is also the stability of the land, i.e. the political and social condition of the people living on that land.
If there were wars and bloodshed and unrest, would we expect the land to bear quality produce even if the land was fertile? And if grapes were planted during a time of turmoil and distress, what would be harvested could be sour grapes that are neither edible nor suitable for winemaking.
In the 1st reading, the planting and the harvesting of grapes were in the background of a land that was restored and the people were at peace. Yet, it must be remembered that the rich harvest of grapes, the sweet taste of wine and the joy it brings to a people at peace was the work of God who restored the land and blessed the people.
In the gospel, Jesus also talked about wine and wineskins, and He said that no one puts new wine into old wineskins. It may simply mean that the new wine of restoration and blessing cannot be put into the old wineskins of turmoil and distress that comes from unfaithfulness to the Lord. By now we should know the dire consequences of being complacent and being unfaithful to the Lord.
Yet, as much as the Lord is merciful and restores us and blesses us so that we can have peace in our lives, may we also prepare new wineskins for our hearts so as to receive and treasure God's blessings.
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Prayer: Lord our God, we are your people on the march, moving forward to you with your Son who came to make everything new. Dispose of us, Lord, to accept the pain of leaving the familiar behind us. Uproot us from our established ways and guide our faltering steps toward your new future in Jesus Christ, your Son, and our Lord forever. Amen
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Saint Maria Goretti
Feast day July 6
In 1900, two farm laborers relocated their destitute families to an old barn near Nettuno, Italy. Luigi Goretti, his wife, Assunta, and their six children moved in with Giovanni Serenelli and Alessandro, his teenage son. Soon after the move, Luigi died, leaving Assunta to carry on his work. Maria, her oldest child, who was ten, assumed the household duties and cheerfully supported her mother.
At twelve Maria was already a beautiful young woman. Alessandro, then nineteen, twice made advances toward her. She rebuffed him and kept his propositions secret because he had threatened to kill her. On July 5, 1902, Maria sat atop the hovel’s stairs, mending Alessandro’s shirt. He stormed past her, ordered her into a bedroom, grabbed her, and attempted to rape her. “No! No! No!” Maria cried. “Don’t touch me, Alessandro! It’s a sin!” She resisted him with all her strength. Angered beyond control, he stabbed her fourteen times. Maria survived a pain-filled twenty-four hours in the hospital.
She showed more concern for where her mother would sleep in the hospital than for herself. Before she died she forgave Alessandro and prayed for God to have mercy on him.
Alessandro was sentenced to thirty years’ hard labor and imprisoned at Noto, Sicily. One night in 1910 he dreamed that Maria handed him a bouquet of lilies and he began to feel remorse. Soon after, Bishop Blandini of Noto visited him, explaining that Maria had forgiven him and that God would also forgive him. The message struck home. A few days later Alessandro sent the bishop this letter:
I cannot tell you what comfort has come to my sorrowing soul through the conversation with your Excellency, for which I send my most heartfelt gratitude.
It is indeed true that in a moment of mental aberration, I was led to commit a barbarous murder which the law has already punished. . . .I regret doubly the evil I have done because I realize that I have taken the life of a poor, innocent girl. Up to the last moment she wanted to protect her honor, sacrificing herself rather than give in to my wishes. This it was what drove me to so terrible and deplorable a deed. Publicly, I detest the evil that I have done. And I ask God’s forgiveness and that of the poor, desolate family for the great wrong I committed. I hope that I too, like so many others in this world, may obtain pardon. May your prayers united to mine obtain for me the forgiveness of him who governs all things, and the calm and the blessing of the poor departed one.
Alessandro was released from prison early for good behavior. He reformed his life and ultimately joined the Franciscan Third Order. Pope Pius XII canonized Maria Goretti in 1950. Assunta was present for the event, the first time a mother was present when her child was declared a saint.
