Feast of St Maria Goretti, 6 July 2012, John 12:24-26; 1 Cor 6:13-15, 17-20

Sainthood

St Maria Goretti

Venerable Archbishop Fulton Sheen has begun the process in Rome, but it is on record that he fell out with Cardinal Spellman over money! Saints are very real and realistic people. They are first and foremost, human beings first. What is a Saint? Well, the first requirement to be a Saint is to be a human being.

When we ponder the life of St Maria Goretti we can make her untouchable. We don't imagine children today as being saintly because we imagine that a saintly person, or a saintly child would be perfect – a kind of 'goody-two-shoes'. But if Saints are human beings, and Saints have to be human beings in order to be Saints, then St Maria Goretti was first and foremost a little girl of 11 years old. So, I would imagine that she would have liked sweets. I'm sure that she loved to play, and I imagine that she had to be coaxed into doing her homework when she came home from school! It's important to 'humanise' the Saints. Otherwise we make out that we could never be a Saint and then we've left ourselves off the hook! 'Sure, I could never be a Saint!' Ah, but you could!

Chastity

chastity here is the capacity to hold oneself, in the same manner as I must be continent – learning how to use our body in a correct manner – teaching a child to use the potty, and then the toilet – we don't simply go to the toilet where we stand – we wait, we hold ourselves until we can get to the toilet, sometimes until the point of bursting! To lose that control over our bodies is a difficult moment – one that can happen for many reasons

Chastity then is not so much a suppression of our sexuality but rather a 'holding' of our own self. I know my own deep desires and I feel them in much the same way as I need to use the toilet. But, we learn to wait for the proper place and time – the proper place being the married relationship and the proper time being the time when we have been married in public before Christ and his Church.

We can use chastity as a model for our conduct in all kinds of walks of life. There can be moments in life when we are deeply tempted to take what is not ours. And we can experience that temptation as a deep urge – and usually it is quite a private experience – 'no one will ever know'. The difficulty is that we ourselves know, and of course God knows. So, to be tempted by greed or pride or honour or lust is human – to act out on these temptations are all ways of being unchaste, that is unfaithful to the Lord of our life – and not just to the Lord, but to the Body of Christ which is the Church.

The Body of Christ

The Body of Christ as the Church – the Body of Christ as Communion – our bodies as members of Christ's Body – to be chaste is to be faithful to Christ – as a wife is to her husband, as a husband is to his wife

The Body, i.e. the Church, is not meant to be in relationship with anyone else – the Church is faithful to Christ – the Church is chaste in it's faithfulness to Christ – and is unchaste when it is not faithful to Christ

Purity

Difference between ritual purity and actual purity
Rituals – The externals of religion – dressing in a collar as a priest is a 'pure' ritual – signing ourselves with the cross is a 'pure' ritual – coming to Mass is a 'purity' ritual – receiving Communion is a public statement of 'purity' as much as not receiving may be interpreted falsely as being a public statement of impurity.

St Maria Goretti is remembered for her purity, and specifically for her sexual purity. We call this particular form of purity 'chastity'. It is a requirement of all followers of Jesus Christ, whether celibate or married or single, whether one is a consecrated religious or a member of the lay-faithful, whether one is a priest or deacon, Bishop or Pope. In the history of the Church there are many famous examples of those who have not been chaste, especially in the exalted roles of leadership such as Popes or Bishops.

So it is important, first of all, when we consider chastity to not set the standard of chastity by the failures of others or the failures of ourselves to be chaste. No, rather we entrust ourselves and others to God's grace and mercy. Then we can begin to discover with fresh eyes and ears the standard set by those who have been spectacularly chaste!

Novena

Isn't it amazing how our human minds and hearts work? We remember bad news instead of good news. And, in order to remember good news, sometimes we have to make it bad news first! We would rather set our standard by the failure of others, rather than by the spectacular successes of the Saints!

There is an incredible effort of will required of us to really hear a spectacular story like Maria Goretti's story. It is for that reason – because we have to make this incredible effort to really hear St Maria's incredible story – it is for that reason that we need the pure ritual of a Novena of preparation for today. It is only by prayer, listening to God's Word, and celebrating the Sacraments over nine consecutive days to prepare for this moment that we can really be in this moment.

So, I am jealous of you! I am already not as well prepared as you are for this moment! I have been busy with my pastoral work and so could not be here every evening for this great preparation prayer.