Feast of St. Maria Goretti

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Saturday, 6 July 2024 : 13th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Maria Goretti, Virgin and Martyr (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green or Red (Martyrs) or White (Saturday Mass of Our Lady)

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we all listened to the words of the Sacred Scriptures, we are all reminded of the need for each and every one of us as Christians, as God’s holy people to be truly obedient to God and to follow Him wholeheartedly in all of our lives. It is part of our Christian obligation and calling for us to do what God has commanded and told us all to do, and to leave behind our past, sinful way of life which are not in accordance with God’s will. If we profess to be a Christian, as someone who believes in Christ, Our Lord and Saviour, and yet, in our attitudes and behaviours, in our words, actions and deeds, we do things that are contrary to our beliefs, then we are truly hypocrites and no better than unbelievers.

In our first reading today, we heard the continuation of the passage from the Book of the prophet Amos in which after almost a week hearing about the anger of God and the punishments which God would bring upon His people, the Israelites living in the northern kingdom of Israel, we now heard of the promises of God’s salvation and redemption for His people, the same ones that He had chastised and punished. In what we have heard in our first reading passage, the Lord promised that He would restore all the destroyed places and towns of His people, restoring them into His favour and blessing, giving them once again the promises and inheritance that He has given to their ancestors, but which those ancestors and people had spurned and rejected out of disobedience and sin, through their stubbornness and wickedness.

God showed His love, compassion and mercy to His beloved ones, just like that of a father caring for his children, and we are all truly God’s beloved children, the ones whom He had created out of love, taken upon Himself to be His own people, to be loved and cared dearly by Him, and to receive the fullness of His grace and love. But at the same time, because we as His children had become wayward and disobedient in our way of life, in our actions, words and deeds, then just like a father disciplines his children to ensure that the children grew up well and did not turn out to be a delinquent and failure, thus, God, our loving Father, Creator and Master had also disciplined us, chastising us and making us to understand that as His beloved children, His disciples and His followers, all of us must adhere to His ways and act according to His Law and commandments.

In our Gospel passage today, we heard of the parable which the Lord Jesus presented to His disciples and followers, and to all the people listening to Him, telling them about the wine and the wineskin, and the cloth used to patch a hole in a piece of cloth. In both parables, the Lord spoke about how new wine must be stored in new wineskin, while old wine must be stored in old wineskin, while new cloth should be used to patch a new piece of cloth, and correspondingly, an old cloth ought to be used to patch a hole in an old cloth. All these were meant to deliver the message that the old ways were meant to be lived in the manner how they were in the past, but with the advent and the coming of the new truth and revelation of the Lord, the people had to adopt the new path and ways shown to them by the Lord Himself.

Just prior to the Lord speaking in these parables, the disciples of St. John the Baptist had been asking the Lord the question about why they and the Pharisees followed strictly the laws of fasting that were dictated by the Jewish laws and customs, but the Lord’s own disciples did not follow the same ways, and instead embarked on their own path as shown by the Lord. This was when the Lord used the parables to explain that, in truth, while the laws and customs practiced by the people of God had been done and practiced for a long time, but in the end, what God desired from His people is something that is better than all those obedience to the laws and customs of the past, which were imperfect and even misunderstood by the people of God, which led to them not doing as the Lord had wanted them to do, and also failing to realise the true intention and purpose of such laws.

For example, the law on fasting is meant to teach the people of God to restrain themselves in their lives so that they might learn temperance and resist the temptations of worldly desires and pleasures, and that they may come to focus better and more on the Lord, their God and Master. However, many among the people of God, especially those of the Pharisees instead carried out their fasting with the intention to be seen and praised by others around them, by making their fasting well-known and such a pompous activity that it had become deviant and misled from the true path which God had wanted His people to walk through. Instead, they fell into the path of temptation of their own ego, ambition and desire, and the Lord wanted to tell them that this was not the way that they and all of us ought to take in our lives.

Today, the Church celebrates the feast of St. Maria Goretti, great and holy servant of God, a champion of virtue and chastity, compassion and mercy, whose life while short, was truly filled with virtue, and her martyrdom, in defending her virtues and righteousness, her purity and sanctity, is something that has inspired many people of her generation and afterwards. St. Maria Goretti was born in a rather large family with seven children, with St. Maria Goretti herself being the third of the seven children. Her family was poor, and after her father passed away when she was still young, her mother had to bring them to live with another family, the Serenellis, in order to provide for her many children. It was at this household that the young and pious St. Maria Goretti encountered Alessandro Serenelli, the son of the owner family.

At one time, when the young St. Maria Goretti, who was only eleven years old was outside the house, and there was no one else in the house, Alessandro Serenelli came to her and threatened to stab her with his awl if she did not do as what he wanted, and Alessandro was intending to rape her. St. Maria Goretti refused to obey Alessandro’s commands and demands, struggling and screaming, pleading with Alessandro in vain that it was a great sin against God to do as he had planned to commit. In a fit of anger, Alessandro choked and then stabbed St. Maria Goretti a total of fourteen times, and then a few more times afterwards before running away after witnessing what he had done. St. Maria Goretti passed away shortly afterwards in the presence of her mother and family in the hospital, but before she died, she told her mother that she has forgiven Alessandro and wanted to have him in Heaven with her.

Through the years afterwards, when Alessandro was arrested shortly after the event, it was told that St. Maria Goretti appeared to Alessandro himself in prison in a dream, and eventually this made him to repent from his sins, begging forgiveness from the mother of St. Maria Goretti, who forgave her and later on, the same Alessandro after he was released from his incarceration, eventually became a lay brother of the Capuchin Franciscan friars in the community, living in the monastery, ever repentant and regretful of the vicious deeds he had done, and committed the rest of his life in prayerful and dedicated life to God. He also attended the canonisation ceremony of St. Maria Goretti together with her mother. In this story of St. Maria Goretti, her courage and martyrdom, we are all reminded of what we are all expected to do as Christians, to live courageously in faith, and to commit ourselves wholeheartedly to God.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all therefore renew our commitment henceforth to the Lord our God, doing whatever we can so that in our every words, actions and deeds, in our every moments in life, we will always be truly worthy of the Lord. Let us all continue to walk ever more faithfully in God’s path, remembering the love and mercy that He has shown us, and like St. Maria Goretti, let us all show the same love and mercy to one another, and love the Lord our God with all of our strength and might, now and always, that one day, we may truly be worthy to receive the fullness of inheritance that God had promised to all of us. Amen.

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Saturday, 6 July 2024 : 13th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Maria Goretti, Virgin and Martyr (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green or Red (Martyrs) or White (Saturday Mass of Our Lady)

Matthew 9 : 14-17

At that time, the disciples of John came to Jesus with the question, “How is it, that we and the Pharisees fast on many occasions, but not Your disciples?”

Jesus answered them, “How can you expect wedding guests to mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? The time will come, when the bridegroom will be taken away from them, and then, they will fast.”

“No one patches an old coat with a piece of unshrunken cloth, for the patch will shrink and tear an even bigger hole in the coat. In the same way, you do not put new wine into old wine skins. If you do, the wine skins will burst and the wine will be spilt. No, you put new wine into fresh skins; then both are preserved.”

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Saturday, 6 July 2024 : 13th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Maria Goretti, Virgin and Martyr (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Green or Red (Martyrs) or White (Saturday Mass of Our Lady)

Psalm 84 : 9, 11-12, 13-14

Would, that I hear God’s proclamation, that He promise peace to His people, His saints – lest they come back to their folly.

Love and faithfulness have met; righteousness and peace have embraced. Faithfulness will reach up from the earth while justice bends down from heaven.

YHVH will give what is good, and our land will yield its fruit. Justice will go before Him, and peace will follow along His path.

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Saturday, 6 July 2024 : 13th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Maria Goretti, Virgin and Martyr (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green or Red (Martyrs) or White (Saturday Mass of Our Lady)

Amos 9 : 11-15

On that day, I shall restore the fallen hut of David and wall up its breaches, and raise its ruined walls; and so built it as in days of old. They shall conquer the remnant of Edom, and the neighbouring nations, upon which My Name has been called.” Thus says YHVH, the One Who will do this.

YHVH says also, “The days are coming when the plowman will overtake the reaper and the treader of grapes overtake the sower. The mountains shall drip sweet wine and all the hills shall melt. I shall bring back the exiles of My people Israel; they will rebuild the desolate cities and dwell in them.”

“They will plant vineyards and drink their wine; they will have orchards and eat their fruit. I shall plant them in their own country and they shall never again be rooted up from the land which I have given them,” says YHVH your God.

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Thursday, 6 July 2023 : 13th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Maria Goretti, Virgin and Martyr (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green or Red (Martyrs)

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we listened to the words of the Scriptures, each and every one of us are reminded that we should truly have faith and trust in the Lord, remaining true to His path and righteousness, distancing ourselves from the wickedness and evils present all around us. All of us should do our very best to embrace the path that the Lord has set before us, and not be swayed by worldly temptations, and by the coercions and pressures from all those who sought to sway and mislead us down the wrong path. In our Scripture passages today, each one of us are reminded of the moments when the Lord has shown His love and faithfulness to us, to the Covenant that He has established with us.

In our first reading today, taken from the Book of Genesis, we heard of the story of the moment when God told Abraham to bring his beloved son Isaac, the one whom the Lord had promised to Abraham, to Mount Moriah and to offer him as a sacrifice. Abraham obeyed the Lord wholeheartedly and brought Isaac with him to Mount Moriah as God has commanded him to do. Abraham might have indeed been pained and dumbfounded by God’s request, as Isaac was the son he had been long awaiting for, and this might have indeed led to questions in Abraham’s heart and mind. But whatever it is, Abraham did not let all those things to sway him from his faith in God, as he fully trusted the Lord, and knew that if God had provided Isaac to him, then He would provide for him in whatever He had called him to do.

Thus, Abraham brought Isaac all the way to Mount Moriah and placed him on the altar, ready to be sacrificed and offered to God, when God sent His Angel to stop Abraham and to tell him that He had seen the great and absolute faith which Abraham had shown him, and hence, He would bless Abraham all the more and reaffirmed the Covenant which He has established with him. God gave a ram to replace Isaac, and there God reaffirmed the Covenant He made, and showed us all that He truly loves each and every one of us, as He showed Abraham that He has always held His end of the promises and bargains made. Not only that, but this offering and sacrifice of Abraham’s son, Isaac, was in fact a prefigurement of what the Lord Himself would do for us all, which I would detail in a moment.

In our Gospel passage today, we heard of the Lord Who healed a paralysed man that had been brought to Him. He healed him and showed pity upon him, seeing the faith that the man and those who brought him to Him had, only to be faced with opposition and stubborn refusal by the teachers of the Law and the Pharisees in the midst of those who witnessed the miracle. Instead of giving thanks to God for the help that has been shown to the suffering man, they blamed and condemned the Lord, by thinking that He has blasphemed and uttered blasphemy by saying that He could forgive sins. They hardened their hearts and minds, and refused to believe in the truth that God had brought before their very own eyes.

Those same Pharisees and teachers of the Law had allowed their worldly desires and ambitions, their fears and attachments to the temptations of this world, their desires for fame and glory to mislead them down the wrong path. Unlike Abraham, who trusted in the Lord with all of his heart and might, who did not even withhold giving his most precious possession, Isaac, his most beloved son, the promised heir who was more worth than all of Abraham’s other vast possessions and wealth combined, the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law prioritised their attachments to worldly glory and fame, and their fears that they would lose all those things were catalysts that led to their stubborn opposition against the Lord and His works.

As I mentioned earlier with the sacrifice of Isaac, the Lord Himself showed us that He was not hesitant to give us His Son, just the manner that Abraham gave his son willingly to the Lord. God gave us all His only beloved Son, Jesus Christ, Our Lord and Saviour, so that by His willing sacrifice, His obedience to His Father’s will, and by Him bearing all of our sins and wickedness, and all the punishments and consequences for those sins. God showed us His love and faithfulness, to the Covenant which He has established with us, the same Covenant that He had made with Abraham, and which was made anew and made into an eternal and everlasting Covenant through Christ, by His sacrifice of love on the Cross, by His suffering and death.

Today, the Church also celebrates the feast of St. Maria Goretti, a renowned saint remembered for her faith in the Lord, her righteousness and steadfastness amidst the things that she had to face and endure, the trial of her faith and dedication to God. St. Maria Goretti was a young woman who was born to a family of poor farmers, and her father’s early death led to her family having to live together with another family, the Serenellis, whose son, Alessandro, attempted to rape St. Maria Goretti as he made advances upon her. St. Maria Goretti resisted Alessandro’s advances and dissuaded him from committing such a sin with her, and as a result, she was assaulted many times by Alessandro, who stabbed her many times with a knife before fleeing.

St. Maria Goretti was found in a critical state, but just before she passed away, she told her mother and others that she forgave Alessandro and stating that she would want him to be in Heaven with her, along with her concern for her mother. This reflected what the Lord Himself had done for all of us, when He was on His Cross, praying for us and asking His Father not to hold our sins against us, those who have condemned Him to death on the Cross. Eventually, St. Maria Goretti’s assailant, Alessandro, repented from his sins and mistakes, and after having gone through the period of punishment and trial, in which time St. Maria Goretti appeared to him, Alessandro became a totally changed man, and together with the mother of St. Maria Goretti, they attended her canonisation as a saint.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, all of us as Christians, as God’s followers and people are therefore reminded of our obligation and calling to commit ourselves to the Lord, to give our all in devotion to God, remembering just how the Lord Himself has been faithful to the Covenant He has made with us. And as part of that Covenant, all of us are called to live our lives as faithful and committed Christians, just as how St. Maria Goretti had lived, in her upholding of the sanctity of her virginity and her upright life, and how she forgave her assailant and murderer, and her prayers for him, right to the end. Can all of us do the same with our lives as well, brothers and sisters in Christ? Can we commit ourselves more wholeheartedly as how our holy predecessors had done?

May the Lord, our most loving God and Father, continue to be with us and bless us, and may He empower each and every one of us so that we may indeed live our lives most worthily, in all things and at all times. May all of us dedicate ourselves with ever greater commitment and faith, now and always, and be ever great role models and inspirations for our fellow Christian brothers and sisters all around us. Amen.

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Thursday, 6 July 2023 : 13th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Maria Goretti, Virgin and Martyr (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green or Red (Martyrs)

Matthew 9 : 1-8

At that time, Jesus got back into the boat, crossed the lake again, and came to His hometown. Here, they brought to Him a paralysed man, lying on a bed. Jesus saw their faith and said to the paralytic, “Courage, my son! Your sins are forgiven.”

Some teachers of the Law said within themselves, “This Man insults God.” Jesus was aware of what they were thinking; and said, “Why have you such evil thoughts? Which is easier to say : ‘Your sins are forgiven’ or ‘Stand up and walk’? But that you may know, that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins,” He said to the paralysed man, “Stand up! Take your stretcher and go home!”

The man got up, and went home. When the crowds saw this, they were filled with awe, and praised God for giving such power to human beings.

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Thursday, 6 July 2023 : 13th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Maria Goretti, Virgin and Martyr (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Green or Red (Martyrs)

Psalm 114 : 1-2, 3-4, 5-6, 8-9

Alleluia! I am pleased that YHVH has heard my voice in supplication, that He has not been deaf to me, the day I called on Him.

When the cords of death entangled me, the snares of the grave laid hold of me, when affliction got the better of me, I called upon the Name of YHVH : “O YHVH, save my life!”

Gracious and righteous is YHVH; full of compassion is our God. YHVH protects the simple : He saved me when I was humbled.

He has freed my soul from death, my eyes from weeping, my feet from stumbling; I will walk before YHVH in the land of the living.

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Thursday, 6 July 2023 : 13th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Maria Goretti, Virgin and Martyr (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green or Red (Martyrs)

Genesis 22 : 1-19

Some time later God tested Abraham and said to him, “Abraham!” And he answered, “Here I am.” Then God said, “Take your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains I shall point out to you.”

Abraham rose early next morning and saddled his donkey and took with him two of his young men and his son Isaac. He chopped wood for the burnt offering and set out for the place to which God had directed him. On the third day Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance, and he said to the young men, “Stay here with the donkey. The boy and I will go over there to worship and then we will come back to you.”

Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac his son. He carried in his hand the fire and the knife. As the two of them went on together, Isaac spoke to Abraham, his father, “Father!” And Abraham replied, “Yes, my son?” Isaac said, “The fire and the wood are here, but where is the lamb for the sacrifice?” Abraham replied, “God Himself will provide the lamb for the sacrifice.”

They went on, the two of them together, until they came to the place to which God had directed them. When Abraham had built the altar and set the wood on it, he bound his son Isaac and laid him on the wood placed on the altar. He then stretched out his hand to seize the knife and slay his son. But the Angel of YHVH called to him from heaven, “Abraham! Abraham!”

And he said, “Here I am.” “Do not lay your hand on the boy; do not harm him, for now I know that you fear God, and you have not held back from Me your only son.” Abraham looked around and saw behind him a ram caught by its horns in a bush. He offered it as a burnt offering in place of his son. Abraham named the place ‘The Lord will provide.’ And the saying has lasted to this day.

And the Angel of YHVH called from heaven a second time, “By myself I have sworn, it is YHVH Who speaks, because you have done this and not held back your son, your only son, I will surely bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will take possession of the lands of their enemies. All the nations of the earth will be blessed through your descendants because you have obeyed Me.”

So Abraham returned to his servants, and they set off together for Beersheba and it was there that Abraham stayed.

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Wednesday, 6 July 2022 : 14th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Maria Goretti, Virgin and Martyr (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green or Red (Martyrs)

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we listened to the words of the Scriptures, we are all presented with the words of the Lord reminding us to distance ourselves from sin and evil, and to embrace His path, and to do what He has called us to do. Each and every one of us are called to be missionaries of our faith and witnesses of God’s truth and love to our fellow men. What we have heard in our Scripture readings today remind us that we are all called to holiness and to be committed to our Christian living and faith, in each and every opportunities and moments provided to us.

In our first reading today, we heard from the Book of the prophet Hosea, who ministered to the people of the northern kingdom of Israel during the last years of its existence. The prophet Hosea came to bring forth the word of God to those people who had rejected Him for so many years, refusing to listen to the advice and words of the prophets who had been sent to them to remind them and help them on their way, in rejecting the kindness and compassion that the Lord had extended to them for a long time, all the patience that He had shown them. Hence, through Hosea and other prophets, the Lord made it known that the kingdom of Israel would be crushed and destroyed.

The pride and haughtiness of the kings of Israel in Samaria and the unfaithfulness of the people would become their undoing, and their wickedness and disobedience would lead to them being uprooted from their lands, crushed and conquered by other nations, scattered and exiled to far-off lands. But at the same time, as we heard from the same passage, God still did not give up on them, and still yet called on them to return to Him, to abandon their stubborn attitudes and wicked actions, and called on them all to follow Him once again and heed His ways. He wanted them all to be saved, and to be reconciled to Him.

In our Gospel passage today, we then heard the Lord Jesus and His calling of the Twelve Apostles, as He called on each one of them to be the chief ones among His disciples and followers. Each one of them were called from different places and they had different backgrounds and origins, but all of them were called with a mission, to be the ones through Whom God would perform and continue His many good works among the people, and to establish and allow His Church in this worlds to grow and flourish. They were all imperfect men and people with issues and troubles, whom God called to a new existence and holy life, and gave them the strength and guidance to do so.

Through the calling of the Apostles and the other disciples, whom the Lord commanded with the mission to reach out to all the peoples and to preach to them the Good News of salvation and eternal life, the Lord wanted each and every one of us to be active in contributing to the missions and works of the Church. We are all called to be exemplary in our way of life so that by our actions and deeds, we may inspire others all around us to follow our examples and to believe in God as well. Unless we devote ourselves to God wholeheartedly, and live to the best of our abilities to be virtuous in all things, we cannot then truly call ourselves as Christians.

Today all of us should heed the good examples set by St. Maria Goretti, the renowned saint and martyr, who died in her youth in the defence of her purity and faith. St. Maria Goretti was a martyr of purity and she dedicated her life to the Lord through prayer and devotions from a very young age. It was then that one of the tenants who stayed with St. Maria Goretti, whose young teenage son named Alessandro was enamoured with her and in one occasion when he was alone with her, the teenage Alessandro made advances on St. Maria Goretti and tried to rape her. St. Maria Goretti refused persistently and that made the young man angry, and he stabbed her several times before fleeing.

As she was dying, St. Maria Goretti told her mother and others than she forgave her assailant and prayed for him. Alessandro was arrested and imprisoned, and it was told that St. Maria Goretti appeared to him in prison in one occasion, and all that helped the young man to turn over a new leaf. Ever since henceforth, Alessandro, the one who had given in to his desires and killed St. Maria Goretti, resolved to live his life righteously and spent his life in constant penance and in striving for a more holy life and existence, seeking for forgiveness from the martyr’s mother and doing good works for the Church and the community. He eventually lived long enough to see St. Maria Goretti raised to the glory of the Altar in her canonisation as a saint.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, today having heard from the Scriptures and from the lives of St. Maria Goretti and Alessandro, her murderer, and how he turned over a new leaf in life, all of us are called to be good Christians, in abandoning and rejecting our sinful way of life, our past wickedness and disobedience, and embrace God, His love, compassion and mercy from now on. Let us all also not be stubborn anymore but instead do our best to proclaim the Good News of God through our lives and examples. May the Lord be with us all and may He give us the strength and the courage to follow Him from day to day, and to give our best in our mission as part of His Church, always and evermore. Amen.

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Wednesday, 6 July 2022 : 14th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Maria Goretti, Virgin and Martyr (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green or Red (Martyrs)

Matthew 10 : 1-7

At that time, Jesus called His Twelve disciples to Him, and gave them authority over unclean spirits, to drive them out, and to heal every disease and sickness.

These are the names of the Twelve Apostles : first Simon, called Peter, and his brother Andrew; James, the son of Zebedee, and his brother John; Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew, the tax collector; James, the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus; Simon, the Canaanite, and Judas Iscariot, the man who would betray Him.

Jesus sent these Twelve on mission, with the instruction : “Do not visit pagan territory and do not enter a Samaritan town. Go, instead, to the lost sheep of the people of Israel. Go, and proclaim this message : The kingdom of Heaven is near.”