The Church Triumphant: Spotlight on St. Gianna Beretta Molla

Happy Thursday all! Today is another installment in The Church Triumphant saint series, and just a few days ago, April 28th, we celebrated the memorial of a favorite of mine, St. Gianna Beretta Molla! Let's talk about her a little bit, shall we? And then I'll tell you why she's so special to me.

St. Gianna is a contemporary saint, she lived from 1922 to 1962. My parents were alive for the last ten-ish years of her life. She was born into a large and devout Italian family, the tenth of thirteen children. Several of her siblings joined the religious life, and Gianna considered that as well, but ultimately decided to pursue medicine as a career, and later married Pietro Molla. She specialized in pediatrics, and was involved in faith-based social groups such as Catholic Action. Her faith was an important part of her life that she brought into her work as a physician, and then as a mother. She and Pietro had three children, when in 1961, she conceived their fourth child. Early on in her pregnancy, she was advised by her doctor that she had a fibrous cyst on her uterus. Eschewing the advice to have an abortion (which would make removal of the cyst less risky) or a hysterectomy, Gianna chose to have the cyst removed and to carry her daughter to term. Following the delivery via cesarean section, Gianna soon developed septic peritonitis and died. This daughter, Gianna Emanuela, also went on to become a physician, inspired by her mother's example. In May 2004, when Gianna was canonized by Pope John Paul II, her husband and two of her daughters were at the ceremony, marking the first time that a husband was present for the canonization of his wife. There is a book memorializing letters between husband and wife, called The Journey of Our Love: The Letters of Saint Gianna Beretta and Pietro Molla. How sweet is that?! (and only $6.99 for Kindle!)

St. Gianna's story touched me as a young woman for several reasons (in fact, my Dominican religious name is Maria Gianna!) She was a lay woman, and let's face it, the majority of saints were religious. I can relate to her very much as a lay Catholic woman working outside of the home, and as a wife and mother. And even before I myself was married and had children, I was so inspired by her example of putting the life of her unborn child ahead of her own. Originally I was under the impression that the mass on her uterus was cancerous, but it was not. However, her being pregnant certainly complicated the situation with removing it, particularly given the medical technology of that time. For her, there was only one option, and that was to ensure that her baby survived. All of her actions were ordered toward this goal. I really admire St. Gianna, and with her countenance so relatable to me, I feel like she's a friend of mine, interceding for me and rooting for me up in heaven. *heart*

Does anyone else have a devotion to St. Gianna Beretta Molla? Do let me know in the comments!

Breaking pro-life news...

And now I feel guilty about my Mother's Day rant, because even if I dislike the commercialism and exhaustion of Mother's Day I do love being a mother and I certainly don't want to give the impression otherwise, even in an attempt at humor. Because in decidedly less than humorous news, abortion provider Kermit Gosnell has been found guilty of 3 counts of first degree murder, and 1 count of involuntary manslaughter, as well he should have.

Reading about this case just tears my heart wide open. Even though I consider myself staunchly pro-life, I rarely talk about abortion on this blog. It's not because I don't care, I care very, very much. I just think that oftentimes the discussion isn't productive and prayer is more effective.

But this is a case on which a person cannot remain silent. It's so disturbing and extreme that I think we would be hard pressed to find anybody, no matter how firmly pro-choice, who thinks that what this man did should be legal. I know that many proponents of legal abortion are worried that this case may mean a tightening up of restrictions on it, and frankly they are right to be worried.

We cannot live in a civilized society and let this man go unpunished. I don't think he should pay with his life, although hundreds of precious babies paid with theirs. I do hope that he is imprisoned for the rest of his natural life.

May God forgive us all, and may Our Lady of Fatima pray for us.

Just numb...

I don't want to depress any of us further, but I'm starting to think that checking the national news, you know, EVER, is a bad, bad idea. Like everybody else in the country today, I'm feeling blue. Having children makes seeing stories of any kind of violence SO much more painful, as if to make things even worse.

Between the Boston Marathon bombing and the Gosnell murder trial details, I can barely sleep. And just seeing the word "Newtown" still makes me shut down in emotional pain, but I've tried to do my best to not cry anymore about that and move on, because what else *can* we do?

Interestingly, at my very secular place of employment when I was on my lunchtime walk I espied a pro-life demonstration out in front of the Student Union. But seeing the pictures that they had set up nearly sent me over the edge of breaking down in public and having people stare at me oddly. I feel emotionally battered today, and I know that I have it so much better than people with physical reminders of these horrible events.

But seriously, the news websites? We have mass murder, rape and pillaging, various natural disasters and fears of a deadly bird flu outbreak. Oh great, in the local news let's read about someone setting a dog on fire. It's enough to put a person into a self-induced coma.

I'm clinging to my rosary and praying. There's really nothing else to say. Let us just pray.

Baby shower this weekend...

I finally finished the baby gifts I'm bringing to a shower this weekend. We have an Elizabeth Zimmerman Baby Surprise Jacket, with coordinating hat:

A teddy bear hat:

And a teddy bear :)

I'm thinking happy baby thoughts this morning, because looking at anything about the Gosnell abortion murder trial that is going on is making me so upset that I can hardly concentrate. I can't even talk about it, I'm so emotional. Let's all just pray a rosary this weekend for all precious babies, both those in utereo and those out.

Am I extra punchy lately? And, defending life...

I don't know what it is, but Facebook has been bringing me more angst than good the past few days. Yesterday, it was contraception, and today it's abortion. Just the sorts of uplifting conversation pieces we like to dwell on.

You know what it is? I don't use Facebook to post about my political and moral leanings. And I kind of wish other people didn't either, but hey, to each their own. It just seems like lately, I'm seeing all kinds of "much further than I am left" posts, and the problem with that for me is that oftentimes, the posters seem to think that anyone they could possibly be friends with must completely agree with them. Because their tone isn't always so nice and understanding. At least, that's my impression.

I hesitated to write this post addressing my feelings on today's topic of the day, because I like to keep it light-hearted on here. But life isn't always light-hearted, and this is a blog about the life of this Catholic librarian, so there you have it. This is, after all, MY blog. If I feel a need (and it has to be compelling for me to talk about a downer topic) to post about something, I can do that. Sometimes I restrain myself a bit too much I think. This is also a CATHOLIC blog. So I'm certain everybody can surmise what my position is on life issues.

And today, I do feel so compelled. I saw lots of posts today about the Susan Komen Foundation withdrawing their funding from Planned Parenthood, and many expressed their opinion about how outrageous they found this. They're entitled to their opinion. But I'm entitled to mine. And I felt that it would be worthwhile to write briefly about why someone could support such a withdrawal, since it appeared to me that my friends who wrote about this news piece were incredulous that anyone who called themselves pro-life could favor withholding funding from an organization that provides free breast cancer screenings to women.

Well, I'll tell you why. Planned Parenthood is an organization that performs abortions. I don't care what percentage of their business entails performing these abortions. To the extent that they perform any abortions at all, when you believe (as I do) that human life begins at conception, even one abortion is too many. Therefore, they may do all the philanthropic work in the world, and I still cannot support them. Are free breast cancer screenings a good thing? Yes, of course they are. And if that was the only service they provided, I'd be all for it. However, that is not the case. Even though part of what they do may be good, they also do evil, and this I cannot abide. I cannot defend the indefensible.

I certainly hope that I haven't offended anybody. In everything, I aim to be fair and charitable. But I felt that I had to express the other side of this issue.

It is my deep feeling that many people consider themselves pro-choice because they have been touched by abortion in some way. They may know someone who had an abortion, they may have helped a person procure an abortion, and/or they may have had an abortion. Please know that I do not condemn you in any way. Not a single one of us is perfect. Although I have no personal experience with abortion, I have chosen to do things in my life that I am not proud of. Every single one of us needs the saving grace of God. Nobody here is "holier" or "better" than anybody else. I pray that we can all find healing and comfort from Him, and from each other.

And once again, I'm going to be revamping my Facebook settings. It's bad enough that I get so little sleep at night, I *really* need more uplifting news from what is supposed to be my relaxation portal...

A new Advent wreath, and some book reviews that are simply PRECIOUS

Yesterday I had a wonderful, wonderful day off with Henry. I had a hard time coming back to work today and leaving him. I miss him. :(

We started the day off at the grocery store, and it got me all excited scoping out Thanksgiving turkeys. I'm terribly excited about Thanksgiving this year, it's one of my favorite holidays. Definitely my favorite of the secular holidays. It was so nice being in the store during a weekday morning. So much less crowded and so much more pleasant. And Hank was an excellent boy. As he lounged in the cart, munching on a slice of bologna that he charmed out of the lady slicing our deli meats, I thought ahead to my maternity leave late next spring. My maternity leave with Hank was a bit dicey. You see, I cried, well, ALL THE TIME. In retrospect, I'm pretty certain I had a fairly substantial case of postpartum depression, but I was simply unprepared and didn't know what to do about it. It was a difficult thing, and sometime during my pregnancy I'll devote a whole post to it. It's a very important issue, and the only way to help women is to talk about this and increase awareness. So, that's coming, but in the mean time, I'm trying to prepare for a mentally healthier time for myself after this baby is born. This time, I feel hopeful that my preparation will serve us well.

Anyway, we loaded up on food for the week, and after stashing everything in the refrigerator, we headed out to the local Christian goods store. Hank had never been there before, and he was enthralled. He was very good, but as you parents might have already discerned, him being enthralled means me not being able to focus on anything else for longer than a 10 second interval:

CL stops to look at gift Bible selection.

Hank darts off.

"Mommy, look at this ornament! It has baby Jesus on it!" (from 2 aisles away)

"Ok Honey, but remember, look but don't touch."

"It has a jingle bell, Mommy!"

*jingling, followed by a small crash*

A little bit stressful. But I managed to pick up a few gifts, AND, *drum roll*

A beautiful new Advent wreath. :) It looks very much like this one:
What I like about it is that it's very traditional, and what I've always wanted. Pine cones, greenery, purple ribbons. Mine has a bit of glitter on it, including some glittery gold balls. The clincher was that this model has little spikes in the candle holders, to secure the tapers. This is my main problem with the wreath that I currently have, my fear that they will tip when lit. It was only $24, and every year that I put out my old one I long anew for a wreath such as this. I figured I deserved one. :) So I scooped it, and soon it will adorn the center spot on our dining room buffet. *proud*

Hank especially liked the Advent section. We spent about 20 minutes in there poring over various details. Well, Henry pored and I supervised. I really, REALLY enjoyed it.

Then I lured him over to the childrens book section, because I wanted to get him a new Bible. I've mentioned before that Hank loves his original Bible, this one:

We read through it about 3 full times, and it's all beat up and tattered. I felt that he was outgrowing it a bit, so I replaced it with another one that I chose. Big fat failure. For whatever reason, Hank just did not dig this Bible. Illustrations are big with him. They have to capture his imagination. And the stories can't be too lengthy; it simply won't hold his attention. This new Bible just did not have the mojo that he needed to keep up our nightly Bible reading habit. So, at the store, I encouraged Hank to pick out a Bible that he did like, and that we could start reading again before bedtime. He chose this one:

I would rather that he picked a Catholic childrens Bible, but no biggie. I have to say, this one has GORGEOUS illustrations. The scenes depicting the first Christmas took my breath away. And it is in fact slightly larger than his old Bible, thus including some stories that he hasn't heard yet. That was my goal in the upgrade, so I was happy. It was also very reasonably priced, about $14 for a hardback. Last night we read about Gideon, new stuff for Hank. I'm very glad that we're picking up this tradition again.

Finally, I spied a book that I simply couldn't resist, and have been dying to blog about. It's called Angel in the Waters and is published by Sophia Institute Press.

This is a story of an unborn baby, adjusting to life in his mother's womb, and being comforted by his guardian angel. He grows and grows, enjoying his aquatic existence, until he becomes so big that he can't swim anymore. He knows something is changing, and his angel assures him that there is a larger world out there that he will be entering soon, but everything will be ok. The parts with the baby being upset at his water leaving and frightened by the sudden sensations made me cry.

When he is born, he's very disoriented, and can't find his angel. At this point of the reading, Hank, who despite initial protestations at wanting to read something of his own choosing, was listening with rapt attention and wide eyes, and declared:

"MOMMY, WHERE IS HIS ANGEL?!"

We read on to find that the baby indeed sees his angel again, but also comes to be comforted by his mother and father. The angel tells the baby that even when he can't hear or see him, he'll always be there. When we got to the part about the angel telling the baby that there is even a larger world than this one out there, and that one day, he'll lead him there too, I couldn't help it. I simply burst into tears.

This is a wonderful book. At $6.95 it was a few dollars more than I wanted to spend on a childrens book, but it is WELL worth it. This is an easy and enjoyable read (for parents too!) but it is not a quickie read. You know, those hardcover books for kids nowadays that you can spend $12.99 on and it turns out to be about 5 pages total, all of which are fluff. This is a substantial read, and there is a good amount of sound content. The illustrations of the baby growing are too freaking precious for words.

For anyone with a baby on the way, or just looking to share a pro-life message with children, this is an outstanding resource. Definitely check it out.

Lots of updates on a very Catholic weekend, and your budding parish catechist leaps into action...

I had an interesting couple of days this past weekend, with lots of Catholic issues involved. Settle in with your cup of tea :)

Saturday I attended a memorial service for Baby D, and I wanted to take the time to describe this important ministry that exists in my diocese, and likely in many others. Our diocese hosts a collaborative ministry between one of the local Catholic hospitals and one of the diocesan cemeteries. Anybody who loses a baby to miscarriage can participate, and have their baby's remains buried at the cemetery, and/or attend the associated memorial service to honor their baby's short life. They will also issue you a Recognition of Life Certificate, if you desire. The remains are interred in a common plot with a heart shaped headstone, maintained by the cemetery. The memorial service was held in one of the chapels right there on the grounds. It wasn't a Mass (I suppose that they serve many non-Catholics, and this is the reason) but the service was lovely and meaningful. And it was wonderful to see so many couples and family members there, honoring the tiny life that was lost. It's a real tribute to the sanctity of human life.

Of course, I cried throughout. There were people on hand, handing out programs, carnations and tissues. As I said, it was a touching gesture. Not a cheering thing, to be sure, but an important recognition of life and of our faith. Very profound.

The next day, Sunday, I received my very quick training on being a catechist for the Children's Liturgy of the Word program. Hank and I arrived nice and early before Mass, to see the set-up, and it seems pretty straightforward. You get out a small table, an altar of sorts, with its own little seasonally appropriate cloth, a candle, and a big board on which to post the responsorial psalm. There's a book with the readings, and handouts for the kids to take home with them.

When it came time for the kids to go back, Hank and I processed up with the others :) Back in the sacristy, the catechist goes through the readings with the kids, sings the responsorial psalm, recites the gospel, and then spends the homily time going through some reflection questions with them. They were all pretty quiet, including Henry, much to my relief. My good little Catholic boy. One little boy, about midway through the first reading, burst into hysterical tears. I froze a bit in panic, but Fran, the main catechist for this week, seemed unfazed and made an attempt to soothe him. When it became clear that this attempt was failing miserably, she sent him out to the congregation with his sister to go back to their mom. I was sweating it a little, but it was fine.

I hope there are no criers next week, because I'm on the schedule :) At any rate, you finish up with the prayers of the faithful, give them the handouts, and send them back out. All told, it's maybe 15-20 minutes. So, I'm on tap for this coming Sunday, and then the last Sunday of Ordinary Time, the Feast of Christ the King on November 21st. I'm nervous, but overall pretty excited.

I've been looking over my readings and planning reflection strategies (because, as you know, that's just how I am), so hopefully on Sunday I can transform into SUPER CATECHIST - Astounding All Children With Her Kindness, Wit, And All Things Hyper-Catholic.