St Maria Goretti
Readings:
Hosea 2:16, 17-18, 21-22
Matthew 9:18-26
Reflection:
The readings for today coincide with the feast of St Maria Goretti, calling for a reflection on the utter dependability, necessity and leadership of women.
Maria Goretti, nearly 12 years old, was murdered in 1902 by Alessandro Serenelli because she refused his sexual advances. The daughter of Jairus in Mark’s Gospel is specifically described as 12 years old. The raising of this girl is shown in the Gospels in conjunction with Jesus’s cure of a woman who had been haemorrhaging for 12 years. These distinct references to situations of women’s physicality highlight Jesus’ willingness not to be hamstrung by cultural taboos and the tendency to put women “in their place”.
The beautiful first reading from Hosea shows God in a marriage relationship with all the people and with of us individually. Integrity and justice are the riveting forces that bind us to God in an eternal betrothal.
This underscores the reality that opinions of women’s weakness and secondary place in the world are wrong in the Jesus scheme of things. History testifies to the general tendency of women to evade violence. It was women who stood at his cross and a woman who was the first witness of the resurrection.. Maria Goretti forgave her murderer, and Alessandro led an exemplary life after prison until his death in 1970.
Jesus consistently taught nonviolence, not as a clever ploy to outwit an opponent, but as a way of inviting the unjust and violent ones to change their ways.
Sister Susan Connelly RSJ, past teacher and Motor Missioner, has been involved with Timor-Leste since the 1990s and is concerned about West Papua. She is involved with the Passionist Parish of Marrickville, NSW.