On Easter Monday, April 11, 1955, Saint Gianna and Pietro Molla were engaged; and on a sunny and clear Saturday, September 24, 1955, Saint Gianna and Pietro Molla were married in Magenta, Italy’s glorious Basilica of Saint Martin. They had a married life that was blessed by God as they prayed daily for guidance on their union together as well as for this guidance prior to their marriage. As their wedding day grew closer, Gianna asked Petro if they could offer a spiritual triduum –three special days of prayers—to prepare for their marriage and wedding day. Even though their work schedules did not coincide due to location separation, they agreed to attend morning mass for three days in order to ask God’s Blessing for their upcoming wedding. Saint Gianna attended mass at the Sanctuary of Assumption in Magenta, Italy and Petro attended mass at Our Lady of Good Counsel in Ponte Nuovo, Italy. But both agreed that they would be praying together in spirit.
In the book, Saint Gianna Beretta Molla, A Woman’s Life, by Giuliana Pelucchi, prior to meeting Pietro Molla, Saint Gianna went on a pilgrimage to Lourdes and prayed to Our Lady of Lourdes for help her see her vocation clearly. She was contemplating between either becoming a missionary, along with her brother, Alberto, while incorporating and using her medical degree, or entering into marriage. Gianna always made time in her hectic day consisting of her own medical practice and attending daily Mass. Her prayer life is a model for all of us, as her day was no less hectic than anyone’s personal and professional life today, and yet Saint. Gianna still made the Rosary and daily Mass a priority from this point on.
Gianna noted this during her deliberation time frame: All things have a particular purpose. They all obey a law. Everything develops for a predetermined end. To each one of us, too, God has assigned a path, a vocation, and, besides physical life, the life of grace. Our earthly and eternal happiness depends on following our vocation well. What is a vocation? It is a gift from God: therefore, it comes from God! If the gift is from God, our concern must be to know the Will of God. We must set out on that path: If God wills, never forcing the door, when God wills, as God wills. To know our vocation, we must ask Heaven in prayer, as our spiritual director, and ask ourselves, knowing our inclinations. Every vocation is a vocation to material, spiritual, moral motherhood. God has placed in us the instinct of life. The priest is the father, nuns are mothers, mothers of souls... Each person must prepare for his/her own vocation; prepare to be givers of life, in the sacrifice of of an intellectual formation. Both Saint Gianna and Pietro Molla always put God first. Their union appeared to be put together directly by God’s Hands starting from their location in Italy. Gianna’s medical practice in Magenta, Italy faced the Molla’s house where Pietro and his family lived, and as if that was not close enough, they were directed to each other on two separate occasions. In the first event, Pietro went to Gianna’s office while waiting to be seen by her brother, Ferdinando, also a doctor in the same office as Gianna; and the second event was when Pietro met Gianna at the hospital where she was treating Pietro’s sister, Teresina, who had a serious ailment and, unfortunately, was too ill and did not survive the illness. These were not mere coincidences, but an example of Divine Intervention.
When God puts someone in our hearts, He will see it through; however, we must also do our part and put prayer into our daily lives to ask God to guide us to show us who we should enter into marriage with. Once a couple enters into the Sacrament of Matrimony, prayers need to consistently be put forth to guide couples throughout the marriage, as the work between two people continues throughout the marriage, with its many joys, trials, and tribulations of everyday life.
Saint Gianna Beretta Molla made a heroic choice, but it was something her family members and friends testified she prepared for every day of her life. Her heroic virtue, genuine holiness of life, selflessness, and quiet joy remind all of us that God entrusts us with a personal vocation. Each and every day presents us with choices that have the power to prepare us to take heroic action whenever it will be called for. We can do that, however, only if we surrender ourselves and what we desire to God and His Will for us.
"Dr. Molla threw light on the importance of the Christian family, by her life and conscious sacrifice. She threw light on the importance of Christian schools and Catholic Action, in the formation of the human being in Christian values, and it gives us guiding principles, to which the Christian subordinates his own life, as Dr. Beretta Molla knowingly did. The heroism of her Christian life will bear fruit."
This example of lay sanctity, lived in the Sacrament of Matrimony, as the Vatican Council II teaches, will encourage many Christians to seek God in Holy Matrimony. The exemplary fame of Christian conduct, lived by Gianna Beretta Molla is valid proof.
May God Bless You and Your Loved Ones!
The Board of Directors
The Society of Saint Gianna Beretta Molla
Check out our website at: http://saintgianna.org/
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