A story of faith, prayers and forgiveness!

Christian faith accepts and acknowledges that the greatest story ever told is the story of the life, death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. Aside from his numerous miracles and after being tortured and crucified, while hanging on the cross, the only begotten Son of the Living God who came down to earth to become human like us showed us how to deal with our enemies when he cried, “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.”

When Christianity flourished throughout the 2,000-year millennia, we hear stories of forgiveness, which proves that the man is indeed made in the image of God and can therefore achieve forgiveness even in the most difficult and trying situations.

In 1902, a 12-year-old girl named Maria Goretti was about to be raped by her 18-year-old neighbor Alessandro Serenelli, but she resisted and told him, “No, God does not wish it. It is a sin. You would go to hell for it.” Alessandro then stabbed her repeatedly. When she was found and brought to the hospital, she forgave Alessandro and died the following day. Alessandro was sentenced to 30 years in prison. When he was released, he went to her mother and begged him for forgiveness. Maria’s mother replied, “If my daughter can forgive him, who am I to withhold forgiveness?”

Maria Goretti was canonized in 1950 by Pope Pius XII, which saw one of the largest crowds ever assembled for a canonization and Alessandro was in St. Peter’s Square to witness this historic event. She is the Patroness of the Youth and for victims of rape. Maria Goretti’s story is well-documented.

We’d probably think such incidents no longer happen in today’s times. But on the evening of July 27, 2008, Ms. Dianez Lora V. Bacasmas, a member of the First Aboitiz Future Leader’s Summit and of the Youth Encounter no. 8 and Family Encounter no. 14 of the Bukas Loob sa Diyos (BLD) was about to sleep in her house in Ormoc City when suddenly someone jumped on top of her. Her instinct told her that she was about to be raped. She fought hard and kicked her attacker (Diane is a very small and short girl) and shouted for help when she felt she was being punched, but in reality her attacker was already stabbing her.

A few minutes later, she heard a banging at the door. It was then that Diane prayed, “Lord let me hold on until that door is opened until my housemates will come to rescue me. Don’t allow him to violate me. That’s all I am waiting for Lord then I will let go.” As the door broke down, her housemates found her bleeding and brought her to the hospital just across the house. But the hospital couldn’t handle her wounds, so she was transferred to the Ormoc Sugar Planters Association Hospital (OSPA). It turned out that her landlord was the General Surgeon and his wife was the Internist in OSPA. They discovered to their horror that she was stabbed 19 times by their houseboy.

As they believed that she was in near death, the doctor decided to operate on her, more so because the knife pierced her heart and lungs. The critical situation was made worse as the Red Cross Chapter only had 4 bags of blood, when she needed 16 bags. Without any explanation, people started pouring into the hospital to donate their blood and soon they had more blood than was needed. God was now working to save her. But their efforts proved futile as she had no blood pressure and at a flat line.

While all this was happening, her father Ging Bacasmas who was in Manila was appraised of the situation. He prayed hard saying, “Lord, this is very difficult for me but just save my daughter and I am willing to forgive and not seek any vengeance for her attacker.”  The Lord answered Ging and her mother Jane’s prayer when Diane started responding and breathing again. Yes, almost all members of BLD got the text message of prayers. We did our part and God granted us a miracle.

After two days in the ICU, she was moved to Perpetual Succour Hospital in Cebu and spent the next three days in the ICU. She was operated for her punctured heart but the doctors discovered that her septum had miraculously healed. All this time, her family and friends and her BLD community prayed feverishly and Diane was granted another miraculous healing.

Last Tuesday Aug. 19, 2008, just 23 days after the attempted rape and two major surgeries, she spoke before the BLD assembly at the Redemptorist Church and told her story which ended with her telling us that she had decided to forgive her attacker. I was very touched and in tears when I heard her say this. The entire BLD community from Mgr. Cristobal Garcia down to the members who never even knew her were also in tears, thanking the Lord present in the Blessed Sacrament that evening for our answered prayers. I approached Diane and her parents and introduced myself and sought permission to write this story. I told her that she was a modern day St. Maria Goretti, except that this time, the Lord allowed her to live so she could be a living witness to our faith in God almighty.