Maria and Marie celebrate the feast of St. Maria Goretti

Dear Friends July 6, 2007

Today is the feast day of St. Maria Goretti-----what better day to visit Maria as we share both a name and a patron saint!

Grace and I arrived gift in hand-a large bag of Irish potatoes and left with some dried beans (looked like kidney beans to me. ) What a fun visit this was! Maria looks better each time I see her and today was no exception. Her B/P was normal, her breath sounds were clear and full, and she looked lovely.

I asked her if she knew that this was our patron saints feast day and she did not but told me, thru Grace my helper and translator extraordinaire, that she knew about St. Maria Goretti and would like me to tell her anything I might know about her as well. So, I read from the weekday missal that Sr. Invialate has lent me:

St. Maria Goretti was born in 1890 at Ancon, Italy, of a poor Italian family. She was stabbed to death by a man who was attempting to rape her .Before she died in the hospital, she declared “I forgive him for the love of Jesus, and I pray that he may come with me to Paradise."
I recall the remainder of the story is that following his release from many years in jail, he became Maria’s greatest advocate for her canonization as a Saint of the Church which happened in 1950

I am not sure if it is because Grace translates so well or the connection between Maria and I is so strong, but we had such a wonderful visit with her health being a minor part of the conversation. We talked about Uganda, Italy and America and how, life though very different in each country, still had so much that is in common.: like poverty, family and primarily-- devotion to Jesus.

We shared stories of our lives and when Maria admired my pink nail polish and I said it matched her skirt, she didn’t hesitate to tell me that the two pinks were not the same at all-ha.
It made me remember a great line in a movie “Pink Magnolia?” when Julia Roberts character responded to someone about all the pink in her wedding being the same, something like” no they are not , this one is bashful and the other is (something else). . Ha- Who recalls that line?

In any case, it put us into peals of laughter, ending in going outside to the light to see who was correct. While outside we took some pictures one of which is included in this blog ; my favorite when Maria insisted my very blond ponytail be atop her very dark hair.(smile). What fun we had and how glorious to see Maria feeling so much better.

I’ll close with a thought from my reading this morning from “Daily Prayers for Busy People” by William J O’Malley SJ, which I think ties in with St.Maria Goretti’s ability to forgive the unforgivable and my Maria Goretti’s ability to laugh and be silly in the midst of poverty, illness and great tragedy.

God of kindness most of the days of my life

I have asked you to forgive my trespasses against you,

But only insofar as I forgive those who trespass against me.

Remind me of my need to be forgiven

and to forgive
AMEN.