St Maria Goretti
(Is.49:3,5-6; 1Cor.1:1-3; Jn.1:29-34)
In today’s Gospel, John the Baptist is standing by the River Jordan; people are all around. He sees Jesus coming and then he says something that we still hear today: ‘Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.’
It’s one of the most familiar lines in all of Scripture, and we hear it at every Mass. But what does the Lamb of God really mean? And why is Jesus called a Lamb, rather than a lion, a warrior or a king?
It’s because the Lamb reveals the deepest truth about God’s power. God’s power is love, not force. The Lamb does not conquer by killing, but by being gentle and forgiving. Jesus takes away the sins of the world not by punishment, but by mercy.
When John called out, ‘Behold the Lamb of God…’ the crowd listening would have looked up because those words meant so much to them. They all knew the story of the first Passover, when lamb’s blood was painted on the doorposts of every Hebrew home in Egypt. That blood saved them from death and it led to their freedom from slavery (Ex.12).
At every Passover since then, the Jewish people have celebrated this escape from slavery, and those sacrificed lambs have always meant new life. [i]
Now John is pointing to Jesus as the true Lamb: the one whose love will save the entire world. But how will he do this? By taking on our guilt, our shame and our brokenness, and replacing it with divine forgiveness.
That’s the power of the Lamb; it’s the power of a love that absorbs evil and transforms it.
Over the years, many saints have shown us what this Lamb-like love looks like. One very good example is a young girl named Maria Goretti.
She was born a poor peasant girl in Italy, in 1890, the third of seven children. Her father died when she was nine. She had no chance to go to school and never learned to read or write.
One day in 1902, not long after her First Communion, she was at home mending a shirt when a cart stopped outside. A neighbour, 18-year-old Alessandro, ran up the stairs, grabbed her and tried to assault her.
Maria struggled to resist him and tried calling for help, but this made him angry and he stabbed her repeatedly with a dagger.
She was taken to hospital, and as she lay dying, a priest asked if she forgave him. ‘Yes,’ she replied, ‘for the love of Jesus I forgive him, and I want him to be with me in heaven.’
Those words reflect not only the most remarkable innocence and compassion, but also the heart of the Lamb. She died the next day, not even twelve years of age.
Alessandro was sentenced to thirty years in prison. He was bitter and surly for a long time until one night Maria appeared to him in a dream, offering him fourteen flowers, one for each of her wounds. He woke up weeping and with a changed heart.
After 27 years, he was released and his first act was to ask Maria’s mother for forgiveness. She hugged him and said, ‘If my daughter has forgiven you, how could I not?’
Maria’s forgiveness didn’t excuse evil; it overcame it. And she didn’t destroy her enemy; rather, she helped him find peace with God.
This is the power of the Lamb of God: it turns violence into conversion, and hatred into holiness.
In 1950, Maria Goretti was canonised a saint before half a million people, including her mother and 66-year-old Alessandro Serenelli.
At every Mass, we hear the Baptist’s words: ‘Behold the Lamb of God.’ And when we look upon the consecrated Host, we see what John saw – the innocent One who carries our guilt and offers us mercy instead of judgment.
To receive Jesus in the Eucharist is to say: ‘I want to live as the Lamb lived.’ I want to forgive, to heal, to meet hatred with gentleness, and to let his love change the world through me.
When we forgive someone who has hurt us, when we choose peace instead of revenge, we become living reflections of the Lamb of God.
St Maria Goretti’s story reminds us that the Lamb of God is not just a title; it’s a way of life.
For the Lamb’s power is the power of mercy. And the Lamb’s victory is the triumph of forgiveness.
[i] https://www.chabad.org/holidays/passover/pesach_cdo/aid/1827/jewish/The-Passover-Story-in-a-Nutshell.htm