September 6, The Twenty-Third Sunday in Ordinary Time
As the deadline for writing this reflection approached, I was on the phone with my sister who lives in Indianapolis. As we talked about family and other topics, I told her that was trying to figure out what I wanted to write about for today’s thoughts and musings. She suggested that I write about a saint. At first, I did not like the idea because I like to consider an event/happening and name a spiritual intersection with it. But then I decided to take her advice in an indirect way—in a way that she and all of you may not expect. So here it is…
I introduce to you Alessandro Serenelli. This may be a name you do not recognize. This was the young man who at the age of roughly eighteen attempted to rape and eventually murdered St. Maria Goretti, a martyr we celebrate on the liturgical calendar on July 6. Alessandro faced years in prison after being convicted for Maria’s murder. While in prison, he had dreams of Maria who offered him forgiveness for his crime against her. This changed his life and he became a model prisoner and was released after 27 years of incarceration. After his incarceration, Alessandro was accepted as a lay brother with the Franciscan Capuchins. In 1950, Pope Pius XII canonized Maria Goretti and Franciscan Capuchin Alessandro Serenelli was present at the canonization in Rome crying tears of joy. He died in a Capuchin monastery in May 1970.
Now, Alessandro Serenelli is not a saint of the church, but what a life story—from a young murderer to membership with a religious order and passing away in a monastery. Like any saint we celebrate during the church year, his story offers us important life lessons. The most fundamental one is that people can change, grow, and evolve throughout their life cycle. Additionally, we are not to assume that a given person or group of individuals are unable to make progress in life. It is so easy for us to make assumptions of people remaining stagnant in their behaviors and mindsets. The greater error is to believe that God is not able to call them forth to a higher and more spiritual level of being—and that God’s powers are limited. Now some change does happen, and some does not. The person(s) must make the choice and commitment to move forward, and that does not always happen. But let us not give up on them. God is working in their beings.
During his end-of-life illness, Alessandro kept repeating, “I killed a saint, now I am going to join her in heaven.” As we pray for a change of heart in others, and perhaps for our own change of heart, we can pray to Alessandro Serenelli to intercede to our God, the ultimate change agent, to transform ourselves and our world.