Thinking of Saint Gianna Beretta Molla for Mother's Day

I have started to reread the biography entitled Saint Gianna Beretta Molla: A Woman's Life by Giuliana Pelucchi.  It occurs to me that this is an appropriate selection as Mother's Day is coming this Sunday.  Gianna Beretta Molla lived from 1922-1962.  She was a wife, mother, and physician.  During her fourth and final pregnancy a tumor was discovered next to her uterus.  Instead of choosing abortion or to have her uterus removed (which would be allowed by the church but would have obviously resulted in the death of her child) she chose the course of treatment that was the riskiest for her own life and ended up dying shortly after the birth of her child.  It is said that her whole life was devoted to the will of God which prepared her for her final, heroic act.  I think she is a great inspiration for those of us in the vocation of marriage and I am always moved whenever I read about her.  I ran across the Litany of Saint Gianna Beretta Molla and thought it was particularly beautiful.  I have included the concluding prayer from the litany below:

Lord of life, we thank You for the heroic witness of

Saint Gianna Beretta Molla. You have taught us that

there is no greater love than to lay down one’s life

for others. Saint Gianna did this, not only as she

gave birth to her last child, but also in her everyday

life as she died to herself so that she could live

wholly for You. What selflessness we see in her!

Help us, we pray, that through the intercession of

Saint Gianna, our society may regain a sense of the

sacredness of all human life. Fill us with her spirit

of courage to suffer any struggle rather than deny

You and the sanctity of human life. We ask You

this through our Lord, Jesus Christ, your son, who

lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one

God, forever and ever. Amen

(Composed by a priest from Alabama and offered to

the Society of Saint Gianna Beretta Molla)