Facebook 79

 Maria Goretti

If it is true that in the martyrdom of Maria Goretti there stands out above everything else her purity, it is also true that in her and with her the other Christian virtues are not less glorified . For in her virtue of purity, we have the most basic and significant confirmation of the perfect dominion of her spirit over gross matter. In her act of supreme heroism, which was not something unprepared, we see an evidence of her tender and docile love, at once obedient and practical , towards the parents of her flesh. There was also the sacrifice she had made in her difficult daily labor. There was the evangelical poverty to which she freely submitted and in which she was sustained by her confidence in heavenly Providence. There was her religion , to which she tenaciously clung and which she desired to understand better with the passing of every day----which she nourished by the practice of her prayers and which thus became for her a veritable treasure in her life. There was her ardent longing to receive Jesus in the Eucharist. Finally, as the crown of her charity, there was the heroic pardon which she granted to the man who had murdered her.A rustic garland of flowers in the field---- these virtues but ever so dear to God, for they adorned the white veil of her first communion, and shortly after, her martyrdom. 

During the past fifty years, coupled with what was often a weak reaction on the part of decent people, there has been a conspiracy of evil practices , propagating themselves in books and illustrations, in theatres and radio programs, in styles and clubs and on the beaches, trying to work their way into the heart of the family and society, and doing their worst damage among the youth ,even among those of the tenderest years, in whom the possession of virtue is a natural inheritance.

Dearly beloved youth, young men and women, who are the special object of the love of Jesus and of Us, tell me, are you resolved to resist firmly,with the help of divine grace, every attempt made to violate your chastity?

You fathers and mothers, tell me, before the image of this young virgin St Maria Goretti,in the presence of her mother who educated her to martyrdom and who, as much as she felt the bitterness of the outrage, never complained about her daughter's death --- tell me , are you ready to assume the solemn duty laid upon you to watch, as far as in you lies, over your sons and daughters, to preserve and defend them against so many dangers that surround them, and to keep them always far away from places where they might learn the practices of impiety and of moral perversion?