Fourteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

News and Notes:  Happy Feast Day (July 6) to all our St. Maria Goretti parishioners.  St. Maria was born of a poor family at Corinaldi, Italy in 1890.  She spent a difficult childhood near Nettuno assisting her mother in domestic duties.  She was a pious young woman who spent much of her time praying.  In 1902 she was stabbed to death, preferring to die rather than violate her chastity.  At St. Maria’s canonization ceremony in 1950, Pope Pius XII said the following:  “It is well known how this young girl had to face a bitter struggle with no way to defend herself.  Without warning a vicious stranger burst upon her, bent on raping her and destroying her childlike purity…with splendid courage she surrendered herself to God and his grace and so gave her life to protect her virginity.”  Here is the collect prayer in the Roman Missal for the feast of St. Maria Goretti:  “O God, author of innocence and lover of chastity, who bestowed the grace of martyrdom on your handmaid, the Virgin Saint Maria Goretti, in her youth, grant, we pray, through her intercession, that, as you gave her a crown for her steadfastness, we, too may be firm in obeying your commandments…through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God forever and ever.  Amen.”  How blessed we are to have two holy women, our Blessed Mother and St. Maria Goretti as our two parish patronesses in the Lynnfield Catholic Collaborative…Happy Independence Day weekend to all of you!