I was reading about the persecution of Christians in India, and read an account of a women who was 7 months pregnant, holding her 1-year-old son when the mob surrounded her and demanded that she convert to Hinduism. She refused and the mob hacked her and her son to pieces.
I have to admit: if it were me, I would say whatever it took to save my child, not to mention my own neck.
Would this be a sin?
Whether something is a sin, and the degree of sinfulness, can only truly be decided by God, who reads our hearts. However, when one dies as a martyr to the faith, one goes straight to heaven - one way ticket… no stop-offs. I can’t think of a better deal.!
He said it was a mortal sin, though. I don’t see how that can be the case, if you’re being coerced into it. Particularly when you add in the bit about your child’s life, as well.
The
primary duty of a Catholic parent is to one day present his or her child to God, whether that be at the age of one day (or even pre-natally) in the case of tragic illness leading to the infant’s death, or 100 years (if that child has remained faithful) and the parent in heaven presents that child to God. In dying for her faith, this woman has fulfilled her role of Christian mother because she has presented her two children, unstained by sin, to God.
I just wondered something else: what if someone held a knife to your throat to rape you… if you don’t fight back, are you consenting to fornication?
The first thing that comes to mind is this:
St. Maria Goretti was not yet 12 years old… a daughter of poor sharecroppers, yet she knew right from wrong and resisted her neighbor, 20 year old Alessandro Serenelli, who was trying to rape her. As she was being stabbed (14 times), she kept crying out, “No! It is a sin! God does not want it!”
She suffered for 20 hours before dying, during which time she forgave and prayed for Alessandro.
Alessandro was immediately arrested and at trial was sentenced to only 30 years hard labor since he was still a minor when he committed the crime. Shortly after being imprisoned, a priest came to see him, but Alessandro turned on the priest in rage, howling like a maniac and lunging at him.
After six years of prison, Alessandro was near the brink of despair when one night Maria appeared to him in his cell. She was surrounded by lilies, the flower symbolic of purity, and she smiled at Alessandro. From that moment, peace invaded his heart, and he began to live a constructive life.
After serving his sentence, Alessandro took up residence at a Capuchin monastery, working in the garden as a tertiary. He asked pardon of Maria’s mother and accompanied her to Christmas Mass in the parish church where he spoke before the hushed congregation, acknowledging his sin and asking God’s forgiveness and the pardon of the community.
Forty years later, on June 24, 1950, Maria was canonized at St. Peter’s basilica in Rome, with Alessandro’s heart now firmly converted to the Lord. He attended her canonization.
Alessandro Serenelli died on May 6th, 1970 in the Capuchin monastery of Macerata. He left the following testimony, dated May 5, 1961, as his spiritual legacy:
"I’m nearly 80 years old. I’m about to depart.
"Looking back at my past, I can see that in my early youth, I chose a bad path which led me to ruin myself.
"My behavior was influenced by print, mass-media and bad examples which are followed by the majority of young people without even thinking. And I did the same. I was not worried.
"There were a lot of generous and devoted people who surrounded me, but I paid no attention to them because a violent force blinded me and pushed me toward a wrong way of life.
"When I was 20 years-old, I committed a crime of passion. Now, that memory represents something horrible for me. 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. Thirty years of prison followed.
"If I had been of age, I would have spent all my life in prison. I accepted to be condemned because it was my own fault.
"Little Maria was really my light, my protectress; with her help, I behaved well during the 27 years of prison and tried to live honestly when I was again accepted among the members of society. The Brothers of St. Francis, Capuchins from Marche, welcomed me with angelic charity into their monastery as a brother, not as a servant. I’ve been living with their community for 24 years, and now I am serenely waiting to witness the vision of God, to hug my loved ones again, and to be next to my Guardian Angel and her dear mother, Assunta.
“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.”
Signature, Alessandro Serenelli
So, not fighting back might not be sinful… but fighting back can make you a Saint. I know which one I would choose.
