Saturday, July 6, 2013

*BEST OF DTB #126* The Catholic Defender: St. Maria Goretti

Pope Pius XII once wrote, "It is often said almost with passive resignation that fashions reflect the customs of a people. But it would be more exact and much more useful to say that they express the decision and moral direction that a nation intends to take: either to be shipwrecked in licentiousness or maintain itself at the level to which it has been raised by religion and civilization."

It does not take long for anyone today to see how the Western culture has declined attacking religion, family, and society. Young people imitate whom they admire and the grow towards those whom they imitate.

Why is the media silent concerning the dangers of sexually transmitted disease, why does the media support left wing agendas such as abortion and homosexuality?

Yet, we see an attack on religious faith in America.

Little Jacita of Fatima said, "Fashions will much offend our Lord. People who serve God should not follow the fashions". Jacinta also said, "The sins which cause most souls to go to hell are the sins of the flesh".

This was given to her by the Blessed Virgin Mary who appeared to the Children of Fatima.

When you do a study about domestic violence, especially violence directed towards women, they become a random statistic.

Every 2 minutes someone is sexually assaulted in the United States, 44% of them under the age of 18. 80% under the age of 30.

There is something to say about the effect of pornography and immodest dress. Jesus said, "You have heard that it was said, 'You shall not commit adultery. But I say to you, everyone who looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart" (Matthew 5:27).

When Governor Rick Perry first entered into the Republican Presidential Race, he was challenged by Michele Bachmann because of his mandate in the State of Texas to give 12 year old girls and older a vaccine against HPV virus.

Recent studies have shown that women have been exposed and diagnose with a sexually transmitted disease at a rate of 1 in 4 down to the age of 12. This is an amazing statistic?

Governor Perry sought to safeguard these girls from the HPV Virus recognizing the threat as a serious problem.

One of the greatest role models in the early 20th century was a young girl named Maria Goretti. She was a 12 year old girl who was brutally murdered by Alessandro Serenelli.

Maria goretti's Father had a lumber business with a partner, who had a son, Alessandro Serenelli, who was 20 years old at the time of the murder.

Maria's Father had died and her Mother tried to hold up the business when Alessandro began to make sexual advances toward Maria, each time refusing him.

On July 5, 1902, Alessandro attacked Maria while she was at home. He tried to sexually seduce her but she refused crying, "No, no, Alessandro, God does not want it. It is a sin. You would go to hell for it".

Maria had always been drawn to her Catholic Faith, she loved the Lord Jesus Christ. Alessandro stabbed her 14 times and left her there to die. Maria lived through the night and when the Priest asked her what she thought of Alessandro, her last words were: "I forgive him".

Alessandro was sentenced to 30 years in prison when after 8 years he received a vision of St. Maria gathering lilies in a field. She turned to him and the lilies became radiant and she gave them to him. There were 14 lilies representing her 14 stab wounds.

This so much affected his life that he became a model prisoner and was released from Prison after 27 years time served. Pope Pius XII canonized St. Maria in 1950 with a huge crowd at the Vatican. Alessandro was among the vast throng who were there to honor St. Maria Goretti.

Pope Pius XII gave a stern warning to the world that has proved to be prophetic. The Pope warned that in the latter half of the 20th century, to be a Christian you would have to be a living martyr because the attacks on the family and faith will be so strong.

A great example of this can be seen at the New Hampshire Primary where former Senator Rick Santorum was speaking before a group of supporters when Gay Activists began to chant him down. Because Rick Santorum is a dedicated Catholic, the media has gone after his Catholic values.

The Obama administration has been waging a war against the Catholic church in America. Former Speaker of the House, Newt Gingrich, another Republican Candidate for President of the United States, referred specifically how the State of Massachusetts because of the Obama mandate for Homosexuals, took away the Catholic Church's ability to help adoption of children because the Church does not recognize Gay parents.

Even though the Church had helped thousands of Children find homes, more than 50% of any other agency. The attack on religious liberty by the Progressives in our Country is tearing at the fabric of our society.

Unfortunately, many 12 year old girls today admire the likes of Lady GaGa, Madonna, who are far from modest. St. Maria Goretti should be a role model that encourages young people to follow and serve Our Lord Jesus Christ and His holy Catholic Church.

Consider the following two questions, "Girls, have you, in any manner whatsoever, made immodest use of your bodies to draw to yourself attention from the opposite sex? Boys, have you, by subtle means or otherwise, sought to induce a girl to sin? If so, you have made yourself an instrument of destruction to any soul you have tempted to sin gravely, since grave sin causes a soul to be lost forever (unforgiven-unconfessed in Confession). You have made yourself an actual companion of Satan, who has vowed to destroy every soul, every temple of God, he possible could".

St. Paul warns, "Do you not know that you are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? If anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy that person; for the temple of God, which you are, is holy" (1 Corinthians 3:16-17).

In repeating what Pope Pius XII said, "It is often said almost with passive resignation that fashions reflect the customs of a people." And remember little Jacita's warning, "Fashions will much offend our Lord. People who serve God should not follow the fashions". Jacinta also said, "The sins which cause most souls to go to hell are the sins of the flesh."

Plato once said, “Musical innovation is full of danger to the State, for when modes of music change, the laws of the State always change with them." Plato's Republic: The Theatre of the Mind

America is not innocent, we knew what the effect of the Democratic Party and the Obama Administration would be.  As a nation, we have chosen the direction our Country is following.  We are turning farther and farther away from our Judeo/Christian roots.

Remember Alessandro, years later, after serving as a Capuchin Monk, would say, "I am an old man, almost eighty, nearing the end of my days. Looking back over the past, I realize how, as a youth, I set out on the wrong road, the way of evil, which led me to ruin. I was persuaded to believe-by what I read in the press, or saw in shows, or noticed in bad example of some-that many young men follow that path without giving it much thought. And I, too, did not let it bother me. There were around me those who believed in and practiced goodness and virtue, but blinded by the brute force which pushed me onto the way of evil, I committed, at the age of twenty, the passionate crime which today fills me with horror just to remember. Maria Goretti, now a saint, was the good angel that Providence had sent before my steps to save me. I still bear, imprinted on my heart, her words of reproof and pardon. She prayed for me. She interceded for me, her murderer. Thirty years in prison followed. Had I not been a minor, I would have been condemned for life. But I accepted my well-deserved sentence, resigned to expiating my sin. Little Maria was truly my light, my protectress. With her help I conducted myself well and tried to live honorably when society again accepted me among its members. The sons of St. Francis, the Friars Minor (Capuchin) of the Marches, with seraphic charity, have received me among them, not as a servant, but as a brother. I have been living with them since 1936. And now I serenely await the moment of my being admitted to the vision of God, of again embracing my loved ones, of being near my angelic protector and her dear Mamma, Assunta. Those who read this letter will, I hope, take from it the lesson of fleeing evil and of always following the good, even from childhood. Let them realize that religion, with its precepts, is something one cannot affort to do without. It is a true comfort and the only secure way in all the circumstances of life, even the saddest. Peace and goodness. Alessandro Serenelli."

There is so much that Alessandro says in his farewell letter. Some people seem to have to learn the hard way, if they ever learn at all.

One thing that Alessandro says that is so true, we are to avoid evil, to flee from it. 1 Peter 5:8-10 warns, "Be sober and vigilant. Your opponent the devil is prowling around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, steadfast in faith, knowing that your fellow believers throughout the world (The Catholic Church) undergo the same sufferings. The God of all grace who called you to his eternal glory through Christ Jesus will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you after you have suffered a little. To him be dominion forever. Amen.


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