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Saint Maria Goretti's First Holy Communion

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Published: 25Jul2010
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Maria Goretti had always been a happy girl, a selfless girl.

We are hard-pressed to find any accounts of Maria being even the slightest bit naughty. You have to remember that the people of the local villages surrounding Ferriere and Nettuno knew Maria from the time she was six years old when the family first arrived in 1896.

Maria had always been her mother's right hand, helping in every way possible. She would go into the village to shop for the family. She would speak to the neighbors on the way in and on the way back. Any little act of kindness she could perform, she immediately did. Everybody knew her and loved her. They would do anything for her.

A great example of this would be, when she wanted to receive her First Holy Communion.

If Saint Maria Goretti had a passion in her life, it was to be as close to Our Lord Jesus as humanly possible; and she knew the only way she could do that was by receiving His Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity in Holy Communion.

In those days, the normal age for a person to receive First Holy Communion was twelve. But Maria, at age eleven, pressed her mother to allow her to take instructions. Now you have to realize that Maria could neither read nor write; she had no formal education. All she knew about God was what her saintly mother Assunta had taught her, and what the priests had taught in church. There were many obstacles to her receiving First Holy Communion, the least of which was she had no training. But Maria had found a woman in Conca, a few miles distant, who would teach her. She promised Assunta she would get all her chores finished and then walk the miles to and from the home of the lady who would help her.

Assunta tried to explain that there was more to it than that. She couldn't have a white dress or slippers. None of the outer accouterments were available to this extremely poor family. Maria didn't care a bit about those things; she just wanted to receive the Lord. She wasn't concerned about how she looked. She had never had a white dress and slippers. Why should that be an obstacle?

So Assunta helped as much as possible. Sometimes she would bring Maria to Conca for her lessons. Other times she brought her to Nettuno to the Passionist priests so she could learn the Catechism and make her first confession. In addition, there was a priest who came through to Conca preparing the children for First Holy Communion. For eleven months, Maria, with the help of her mother, and all God's Angels, in the form of priests and well-intentioned instructors learned what she needed for that special time with Our Lord Jesus. As the time drew closer, Assunta had misgivings. How prepared was Maria? She asked the local priest to make the decision. After speaking to Maria, the priest said to Assunta, "Be at ease, good mother. Your daughter is very well prepared. Put away all your vain fears and confide her to Mary Immaculate. Place her under the Virgin's protective mantle and have no fear."

Now as the special event was upon them, Assunta's fears went back to how her little girl would be dressed for First Holy Communion. Her fears were unfounded! When the time came for her to receive, it was like the gift of the Magi. Assunta dressed Maria in a red dress. Neighbors came forward and supplied slippers, a veil and a crown of flowers. Assunta allowed her to wear her earrings to complement the outfit.

The day she received her First Holy Communion was the Feast of Corpus Christi, the Body of Christ. Maria was full of anticipation. She did a beautiful but unusual thing. Before she left for the church, she went to every member of her family, including Giovanni and Alessandro Serenelli, and asked forgiveness for anything she may have ever done to offend them.

She did the same with the neighbors.

Where did she receive this special Grace? We believe she had a special relationship with Jesus and His Mother Mary that we'll never know about. We believe when she went to the church that day, the whole Heavenly Family, including all the Angels and the Saints, were there with her.

Bob and Penny Lord are renowned Catholic authors and television hosts on EWTN, Global Catholic television. They are prolific writers about the Catholic faith, especially the Saints for which they have been dubbed "experts on the Saints." For more about Saints like Maria Goretti go to http://www.bobandpennylord.com/St_Maria_Goretti.htm

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