Lent: Saints & Virtue: Week SIX

Week Six: March 29-April 4

Quick Bio: St.Gianna was born in 1922. She grew up in Italy and was a pediatrician. Chronic illness prevented her from joining her brother on missionary work in Brazil. She had hoped to work in gynecology, treating poor women. She married Pietro in 1955 and they had their first three children between 1956-1959. Near the end of her pregnancy with her fourth child, she developed a fibroma in her uterus. Doctors recommended abortion, but St. Gianna insisted that they remove only the tumor even though there was great risk to her own life. A week after the baby was born, St. Gianna died from complications in childbirth resulting in infection.

Virtue: St Gianna modelled the virtue of Moderation for us.

Moderation is appreciating God’s Gifts without disordered attachment to them; avoiding extremes in consumption or behaviors; maintaining balance in appetite, desires and emotions. Moderation regulates the attraction of pleasures and provides balance in the use of created goods. It ensures the will’s mastery over instincts and keeps desires in check.

Learning from St. Gianna:

St. Gianna accepted and appreciated the gifts God gave her “without ever abusing them, without ever letting [herself] be overcome. She enjoyed life and nature, music and theater, mountains and trips, love and family, all with temperance.” She was disciplined, preferring to serve rather than be served. She knew full and perfect joy as well as serenity and passed it along to all those she met. (as described by her husband)

She lived one moment at a time, always thankful to God for all of His Blessings.

She knew how to enjoy God’s Blessings while seeking His Will.

“She wasn’t attached in harmful ways to the joys and blessings of this life.”

She radiated joy and beauty and inner peace, despite her active life.

She tried to be docile to God’s Will in everything and she practiced trust in Providence most notoriously by saving the life of her baby above her own.

She offered up illness, loss, misunderstanding, separation and uncertainty about the future as gifts to Jesus.

St Gianna made daily Mass a priority because she knew it gave her the strength necessary to live a balanced life.

If we sincerely pray before we work and play, we should be able to use moderation to maintain balance of life’s pleasures (wine, social media, dessert, entertainment, friendships) and keep our motivation behind them, in check.

“To keep our joy and peace, we’ve got to daily choose virtue over vice – choosing to indulge only in things that remind us of God’s Beauty through all of our senses”
“…our very bodies and souls are created to reveal a piece of God’s Glory, so everything we take in should magnify Him.”

Consider:

What food, drink, social media, entertainment are you most attached to?

Does it ever get in the way of the tasks you need to do for your vocation in life?

Does it ever impact your prayer life?

Prayer Prompt: