Multiplicity of forgiveness

Q In St. Matthew’s Gospel, St. Peter asks Jesus how many times must he forgive someone who sins against him. “As many as seven times?” Jesus answers “not seven times but seventy-seven times” (Mt 18:21-22).  How practical is that?  Can we actually forgive someone multiple times?
A I believe Jesus is telling us that we need to forgive those who sin against us as many times as necessary to relieve our conscience of any ill feelings against that person.  The story of St. Maria Goretti is a great example of that type of forgiveness.
It was July 5, 1902, in a small town about 40 miles from Rome.  Maria Goretti, who was only 11 years old, was mending some clothes at her house when she was attacked by a family friend, Alessandro Serenelli, who was trying to seduce her.  She resisted his advances and shouted, “No, no. God does not want this.  If you do this, you will go to hell.  What are you doing Alessandro?  You will go to hell.”
Alessandro became enraged as Maria unsuccessfully fought him off, and he stabbed her a total of 14 times, not with a knife but with a 9.5-inch sharpened file.  The blows were so violent that the file bent. The doctors tried to operate but it was useless; her death was imminent.
Alessandro was found guilty and sentenced to 30 years in prison instead of a life sentence because he was a minor. Alessandro was completely unrepentant for his crime and his heart was hardened.  He was defiant without remorse in prison.
After six years in prison, Maria appeared to Alessandro in a dream. She handed him 14 white lilies, the symbol of purity, without speaking a word—one flower for each time he stabbed her. Alessandro understood this to mean that Maria had forgiven him for his crime against her and that she was now with God in heaven.
As a result of this dream, he was miraculously converted. He repented of his crime and lived out the rest of his sentence as a reformed man and model prisoner.  In fact, he was let out of prison three years early because of his good behavior.  Maria had become his special patron and intercessor.
Forgiving Alessandro seven times may not have been enough for Maria.  Maybe that is why Maria handed Alessandro 14 lilies in his dream; maybe Alessandro had to know that Maria had forgiven him 14 times.
But the story of Maria’s forgiveness does not stop there.  After Alessandro was released from prison, he went to see Maria’s mother. It was Christmas Eve. He knocked on her door and asked her if she knew who he was. She did in fact recognize him as the man who had killed her daughter and destroyed her family.
Alessandro asked for forgiveness for what he had done. She replied, “Maria forgave you, Christ has forgiven you, and why should I not also forgive?  I forgive you, of course, my son.”
The two went together to Midnight Mass and received Holy Communion kneeling side by side.  Alessandro also publicly confessed his sin before the congregation and asked for their pardon as well. Maria’s mother eventually adopted Alessandro as her own son.
Alessandro eventually joined the Order of Friars Minor Capuchin, where he served as a gardener and porter.  He died on May 6, 1970, with a picture of St. Maria by his bedside. The Capuchin friars found a sealed envelope with a letter written nine years earlier.  In this spiritual testament he stated, “Maria Goretti, now a saint, was my good angel, sent to me through providence to guide and save me.  I still have impressed upon my heart her words of rebuke and of pardon. She prayed for me, she interceded for her murderer.
“I hope this letter that I wrote can teach others the happy lesson of avoiding evil and of always following the right path, like little children. I feel that religion with its precepts is not something we can live without but rather it is the real comfort, the real strength in life and the only safe way in every circumstance, even the most painful ones of life.”
Maria’s canonization process opened in 1935.  Alessandro actually testified on her behalf during the process, affirming her sanctity and heavenly intercession on his behalf.  In 1950, St. Maria was canonized a saint by Pope Pius XII, and at that time, she was the youngest canonized saint.  Alessandro was also present at the canonization ceremony.
St. Maria is the patron saint of youth, young women, purity and victims of rape.
What a wonderful thing forgiveness is.  It saved Alessandro, who some believe will become a saint one day.

Deacon Hooper is a deacon assistant at Immaculate Conception Church in Denham Springs. He can be reached at ghooper@diobr.org.