St. Gianna Beretta Molla MD

Mary Suffered Suspicions And Accusations

"The one who exemplifies for us the way of self-abandonment to God in every situation was not free from the prosaic situations in life, from the all-too-common suspicions and accusations. The difficult experiences did not diminish her faith. God led her through them in a way known only to Him. Moreover, she accepted every design of God."

(In the Arms of Mary, pg. 127)

http://www.stmichaelgodsknight.org/

St Gianna Beretta Molla MD

Feastday: April 28
Patron of mothers, physicians, and unborn children 
Birth: October 4, 1922
Death: April 28, 1962
Beatified By: April 24, 1994 by Pope John Paul II
Canonized By: May 16, 2004 by Pope John Paul II

St. Gianna Beretta Molla was an Italian pediatrician born in Magenta in the Kingdom of Italy on October 4, 1922. She was the tenth of thirteen children in her family.

At three-years-old, Gianna and her family moved to Bergamo, and she grew up in the Lombardy region of Italy.

As a young girl, Gianna openly accepted her faith and the Catholic-Christian education provided to her from her loving parents. She grew up viewing life as God's beautiful gift and found the greatest necessity and effectiveness in prayer.

In 1942, Gianna began her study of medicine in Milan. She was a diligent and hardworking student, both at the university and in her faith.

As a member of the St. Vincent de Paul Society, Gianna applied her faith in an apostolic service for the elderly and needy.

She received degrees in both medicine and surgery from the University of Pavia in 1949, and in 1950 she opened a medical office in Mesero, near her hometown of Magenta.

In 1952, Gianna specialized in pediatrics at the University of Milan and from there on, she was especially drawn toward mothers, babies, the elderly and the poor.

Gianna considered the field of medicine to be her mission, and treated it as such. She increased her generous service to Catholic Action, a movement of lay Catholics dedicated to living and spreading the Social Teaching of the Catholic Church in the broader culture. The Catholic Action movement is still at work today, throughout the world.

Gianna hoped to join her brother, a missionary priest in Brazil, where she intended to offer her medical expertise in gynecology to poor women.

However, her chronic ill health made this impractical, and she continued her practice in Italy.

She chose the vocation of marriage and considered this to be a gift from God. Gianna embraced this gift with all her being and completely dedicated herself to "forming a truly Christian family."

In December 1954, Gianna met Pietro Molla, an engineer who worked in her office. They were officially engaged the following April, and married in September 1955, making Gianna a happy wife.

Gianna wrote to Pietro, "Love is the most beautiful sentiment that the Lord has put into the soul of men and women."

In November 1956, Gianna became a mother to her first child, Pierluigi. Their second child, Maria Zita, in December 1957, and their third, Laura, in July 1959.

Gianna handled motherhood with grace and was able to harmonize all aspects of her demanding life.

In 1961, Gianna became pregnant with her fourth child. Toward the end of her second month of pregnancy, Gianna was struck with an unimaginable pain.

Her doctors discovered she had developed a fibroma in her uterus, meaning she was carrying both a baby and a tumor.

After examination, the doctors gave her three choices: an abortion, which would save her life and allow her to continue to have children, but take the life of the child she carried; a complete hysterectomy, which would preserve her life, but take the unborn child's life, and prevent further pregnancy; or removal of only the fibroma, with the potential of further complications, which could save the life of her baby.

Catholic teaching affirms what medical science, the Natural Law, the Bible and unbroken Christian tradition affirm, the child in the womb has a fundamental Human Right to Life. Wanting to preserve her child's life, Gianna opted for the removal of only the fibroma.

In fact, she was willing to give her own life to save the life of her child.

Gianna pleaded with the surgeons to save her child's life over her own. She sought comfort in her prayers and her living faith.

The child's life was saved, for which Gianna graciously thanked the Lord.

After the operation, complications continued throughout her pregnancy, but Gianna spent the remainder of her pregnancy with an unparalleled strength and insistent dedication for her tasks as a mother and a doctor.

A few days before the baby was to be born, Gianna prayed the Lord take any pain away from the child. She recognized she may lose her life during delivery, but she was ready.

Gianna was quite clear about her wishes, expressing to her family, "If you must decide between me and the child, do not hesitate: choose the child?I insist on it. Save the baby."

On April 21, 1962, Gianna Emanuela Molla successfully delivered by Caesarean section.

The doctors tried many different treatments and procedures to ensure both lives would be saved. However, on April 28, 1962, a week after the baby was born, Gianna passed away from septic peritonitis. She is buried in Mesero.

Gianna was beatified by Pope John Paul II on April 24, 1994, and officially canonized as a saint on May 16, 2004. Her husband and their children, including Gianna Emanuela, attended her canonization ceremony, making this the first time a husband witnessed his wife's canonization.

In 2003, mother-to-be Elizabeth Comparini experienced a tear in her placenta when she was 16-weeks pregnant. Her womb was drained of all amniotic fluid. She was told the chances of her baby's survival was little to none. Elizabeth is said to have prayed to Gianna Molla and asked for her intercession. Elizabeth was able to give birth to a healthy baby.

During Gianna's canonization ceremony, John Paul II described her as, "a simple, but more than ever, significant messenger of divine love."

St. Gianna is the inspiration behind the first pro-life Catholic healthcare center for women in New York, the Gianna Center.

St. Gianna Beretta Molla is the patron saint of mothers, physicians, and unborn children. Her feast day is celebrated on April 28.

Should not St. Therese of Lisieux have been the patron saint of the 60s and 70s.

Inspired by St Theses of Lisieux Every act is about God, the consciousness of this and action are what build saints.

St. Therese didn’t set the world on fire when she was alive. She isn’t credited with any miracles during her lifetime. She lived a simple unassuming life, dedicating all the “little things” of her daily existence to the glory of God. She tried always to do the loving things that would please God and benefit His children. She had a child’s bold confidence in God’s love. (St. Therese Lisieux - http://blog.littleflower.org/prayers/pearls-of-wisdom/everyday-sainthood/)

Right now, I am eating some organic chips with flax seed and drinking an organic green tea. Small things, what do they have to do with God? The body is the container of the soul, I must care for it from that perspective. In this country, it's fashionable to eat any old thing, and believe me I've done. 100% of ground beef contains fecal matter, some corporations are including rice shaped pieces of plastic to increase the weight and thus the price of their product. What exactly is a Cheeto? Why do our processed foods need artificial flavoring and coloring? Could it be that no one would ingest them if the saw and tasted like what they are? What exactly is artificial coloring? What exactly is artificial flavoring?

The US economy is driven by consumer spending. We can change things simply be eating in a fashion that protects and nurtures our bodies and does no harm.

While so many are consumed by bigger, faster, better, and more, myself included, is this attitude in the direction of God. God sees the small things done with great love are these the loving components of our accelerated life in the twenty-first Century?

Is choosing to live off the grid motivated by love of God?

Each small thing that we do can be contained within itself or a component of a larger action the leads into the next small component. Is it Possible to do each and every one of these out of love for God?

I am sitting ins a Starbuck’s listening to the music of the day, it is filled with people some coming some going, is it filled with love of God? I must be or the very building would crumble.

Am I showing the love of God, or should I get up and work through the room shaking hands with everyone looking to their eyes.

Do these people know that one day this music will be as old as “I Wanna Hold Your Hand.”

How do you explain Beatlemania to someone who did not experience it? Should not St. Therese Lisieux have been the patron saint of the 60s and 70s. Did she pray for Janis Joplin.

How do you explain Jesus Christ to someone who has not experienced Him?

Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant
searching for fine pearls.
When he finds a pearl of great price,
he goes and sells all that he has and buys it.

Small actions done with great love.

http://blog.littleflower.org/prayers/pearls-of-wisdom/everyday-sainthood/

It is the Mark of a True Christian to Love Our Enemies

What does it mean to hate the sin, but love the sinner. This is a hard teaching; who can understand it. Yet with God all things are possible.

As Catholics we are hated by all. Now where is this more evident than in the political realm.

Those on the left hate us, because we are pro-life, and although we do not condemn homosexuals, we are not ready to raise the practice of homosexuality to normalcy.

Those on the right hate us for the same reasons -- we are pro-life all of life. Certainly of the conceived, but also of those who are already born. They also hate us because although we do not sanction homosexual acts, we love the homosexual.

And we love the poor and the immigrant.

And how do we show our love, by standing up for them.

Many Catholics cannot stand up for the homosexual, lest we be seen as sanctioning their activity.  Yet, none of us are without sin, and none of us have actually witnessed their sin.

Is Caitlin Jenner a sinner? Sick? Misguided? Confused?

What is sin? For a sin to be mortal, three conditions must together be met: "Mortal sin is sin whose object is grave matter and which is also committed with full knowledge and deliberate consent." CC 1857

Does the homosexual know he/she is committing sin? The abolitionist? The Catholic politician who supports choice? The Christian politician who opposes choice, and yet votes against supporting the born?

Who am I to say? Am I Jesus? Do I know, can I see a persons heart? Can I read their mind?

It is hard to love my enemies, and who are my enemies, save those who have sinned against me. But what of those who have not sinned against me personally, but whom I judge for having sinned against God. 

If I love people, I have no time to love them -- St. Theresa of Calcutta.

Who am I to judge? -- Pope Francis I

I consider myself to be a member of Democrats for Life of America http://www.democratsforlife.org/. I am pro-life for the whole life. 

To love my enemies, do I sit quietly while fellow Catholics vote for abortion and it's expansion, or, hold strong to the belief, one which I once held -- it is not up to me. for me now this view which once made so much sense and seemed perfectly right and justified seems so foreign. There is a child in the womb at conception, a child which is entitled to all the rights I have -- life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

The child in the womb's mother and father is also entitled to these rights, but our rule of law encompasses the idea that we are not entitled to excersize our rights at the expense of another's. Even in the womb the child is entitled to the same rights of the mother. who is the enemy in this situation, who is the enemy that I must love, in order to be a follower of Christ and have my soul saved for eternity.

Do I deny my love to the abortionist, to the parents of and aborted child. Do I deny my love to myself, for insisting that my then wife abort our child? Do I let myself off the hook, by holding fast to the lie that it was ultimately her choice? And how do I mend this sin? 

Ultimately do I deny my love to others, because they have sinned in the same way I have?

Do I deny my love to the self described homosexual, even though I have never witnessed their activity? To the poor? To the homeless? The convicted murderer, whether guilty or not? Do I deny my love to the child molester, because I was molested? I find justification for this in Mathew 18. Do I deny my love to those who insist on stopping abortion, but excersize no political responsibility for caring for the poor?

In the end to I justify my behavior, because of the sins of others, or will I be judged by my love even to those I feel enmity for? Or will I be judged by my love for them, my charity to them?

Is there evil int he world. Most assuredly there is. I publish a website http://www.stmichaelgodsknight.com, the basis of which is explaining my faith, but love triumphs over faith. For in the end in the final analysis, when I am judged by Jesus without a lawyer, will it be righteousness upon which i will be judged, or the extent of the love in my heart. There is evil in the world, Jesus testified to this when he saw Lucifer being cast from the sky. He and his follows roam the earth looking and tempting souls to be devoured. Will I be judged by righteousness, or the love in my heart?

Do I love that person in the oval office, with whom I disagree, and judge on a daily basis? How do I fight for righteousness and justice, with a heart containing only love? How do I follow Christ?

Is my heart sick, full of righteousness, justification, justice and judgement, so that the love is overshadowed.

Did I love even my own family, when I pursued employment and material success, rather than time with them? Did I spend my time disciplining and judging them and not loving them? Do I fool my self my justifying my duty to provide ahead of by love for them, confusing provision with love? Do I delude myself with the false justification that discipline is really a form of love?. 

As I approach cancer surgery, these are the questions I wrestle with, as wrestling with the devil until I tire and give in to love of all, including those who perpetrated me, in who's face I refuse to see Christ.

Will the man in the oval office allow my surgery? Does this uncertainty illicit love in my heart or bitterness and judgement? 

From the words of St. Teresa of Calcutta, I hear that there is not room in my heart for love and judgment. 

The Way of Love

13 If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3 If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned,[a] but have not love, I gain nothing.

4 Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant5 or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful;[b] 6 it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. 7 Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

8 Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10 but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. 11 When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways. 12 For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.

13 So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.

.  

http://www.fredcelio.com

http://stmichaelgodsknight.blogspot.com/2015/02/an-abused-childs-prayer.html

http://stmichaelgodsknight.blogspot.com/2014/11/the-daily-prayer-that-never-fails-and.html

The Bread of Life

The Gospel according to St. John Chapter 6, well I'm not a priest or any other theologian, and I only went through 7th grade in Catholic school. But it seems to me that this is the chapter that separates the men from the boys. The ones who accept Christ and follow His commands the ones who truly believe, even i what we do not understand from the ones who are willing to follow Jesus, whether or not we are able to fully comprehend what He says. And who can understand or would presume to understand fully the mind of God -- the logos the Word of God the word of God made flesh.

Jesus said that whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life and unless you eat my flesh and drink my blood there is no life in you. Ans so it is easy to understand why so many who called themselves followers of Jesus shook their heads and turned away or followed hm no more. As many who call themselves Christians still do to this day.

It is difficult to understand, how the body walks up to the priest or Eucharistic minister and eats bread and drinks wine; and at the same time the soul being carried to this point by a body whose mind does not but takes on faith and believes in the Word of God. The soul eats and takes nourishment from the body of Christ and from His blood. And so, as with the other sacraments, the body and mind shows faith by carrying the soul to it's nourishment. The result is grace, flowing directly from God into the soul, so that it can radiate, so that the soul can radiate it back to the world. For we are in the world but not of it. Our connection is Holy Mother Church through the Scriptures, the sacraments and doctrine. None of which we can fully understand, but how could the creature hope to understand the Creator. God himself is mystery,the reality of Jesus -- God incarnate -- is mystery. Blessed Mother, to whom we are closest, is a mystery or things about her are. Her immaculate conception, her grace, her humility, her remaining sinless, the grace she received by carrying and giving birth to God, her human and motherly love for the human Jesus as well as her worship and obedience to God. These are all mysteries, that we followers of Christ -- Universal Christians take on faith. Taking and eating the bread of life is an act of faith based on our belief. Our belief in the Word of God -- Jesus Christ. And so we shared this truth with the world when one of our first bishops St. John first recited his experience with Jesus at our first masses, and than preserved for as he wrote his Gospel, as witnessed by Sts. Polycarp and Ireanus.

And we have been doing this, expressing our faith, since Jesus first uttered these words.

I went to the 1230 mass today at my parish. I was a bit upset as my earthly love. my fiance, was cross and fearful last night. But I remembered that it was God who brought us together and we remain connected in love for God and each other. These things themselves are mysteries.

It's a challenging time for us, as I accept and impending layoff, which many are facing. And I did not share these news with her until recently, even though I had known for awhile. I did not wan her to worry so I lied by omission, and thus had the opposite affect -- actually increasing her insecurity and her willingness to help. Robbing her of an opportunity share in charitable love.

I think we men are susceptible to thee and have to work harder at sharing our days, events feelings revelations. My way is to work harder myself, even though God has a calling for me.

So, the rest of this day was filled with work, to leave a proper turnover.

I did see the movie "The Rookie" again, starring Dennis Quaid. A great film even if one does not like baseball. It is interesting the prominent role St. Rita plays in the film. So, many of us are critical of "Hollywood", but they do many things right as well.

I love living in Pasadena, although I would like to move to Santa Monica soon. Walking in Pasadena is like walking in a picture postcard. It is truly a blessing to be here.

No political commentary today, except praise for President Clinton for freeing he Journalists from North Korea.

Peace be with you all.

copyright 2009 Fred Celio