Book Reviews and More: Saint Gianna Beretta Molla The Gift of Life - Susan Helen Wallace and Patricia Edward Jablonski

Tuesday, 25 July 2017

Saint Gianna Beretta Molla The Gift of Life - Susan Helen Wallace and Patricia Edward Jablonski - Encounter the Saints Book 29

Saint Gianna Beretta Molla
The Gift of Life
Encounter the Saints Series Book 29
Susan Helen Wallace
Patricia Edward Jablonski
Rick Powell (Illustrator)
Pauline Books and Media
ISBN 9780819872388
eISBN 9781306806725
ASIN B007ZENASS

With each of the books I read in the Encounter the Saints Series, from Pauline Books and Media, I am more impressed with the series. There are currently 37 books in this series, including The Saints Pray for Us, and I have read about a third of them. I have read book 1 and book 36 and a sampling in between. I have been reading these books with my three children, but I must be honest and say I am reading them on my own. Because I cannot seem to stop reading these books, and I do not want to wait for the pace I am reading them at with my children. Every time I finish one I cannot wait to start the next. And a few of them have been read two or three times through now. The books in this series are written with a target audience of 9-12 year olds, and my 11 year old can read them without any difficulty, and my 9 year old needs help with some words. But Anyone who reads these book will have their faith enriched. But on to this specific book about Saint Gianna Beretta Molla.

This is a very powerful story about a strong female role model. Saint Gianna Molla is not your typical saint. She was a doctor, a wife, a mother. She appreciated fashion, she loved the outdoors. She worked hard at her medical practice and saw he medicine as being in the service of God. And then she had to face a very hard decision, she could save her own life and end that of the child growing in her, or risk her own life so that the child might live.

For her it was not just a decision about a medical procedure. It was a matter of faith. The faith she had lived her whole life. The faith she had modeled in her practice. The faith she was instilling in her other children. She made a choice out of conscience as both a doctor and as a mother.

The book contains 5 pencil drawings by Rick Powell. This is the only book in the series illustrated by Powell's. But He does a wonderful job. They include Gianna receiving her first communion. The birth of their first child, her treating a patient and two others. But you will need to read the book to find out what they are.

This book shows us with following God in hard choices could mean. It also shows us a saint who lived in this last century, who lived a life of service and dedicated to God every day. In her work, in her family life and at play. The prayer to this saint in the book is:

Saint Gianna, you've taught us-not only with words, but through your example-some very important truths. One is that God wants all our families to be centers of love. Remind me that the love and understanding I practice in my own family can help to make the world a better place.

You've also shown us that every unborn baby is a precious and unrepeatable gift of God whose life should never be taken away. Saint Gianna, ask God that all people may come to understand and believe this. Remind me to pray every day for an end to abortion. I want to do what I can to respect and protect the life of each and every person because every human being has been created by God in his own image.

Saint Gianna, you loved life. You knew it was a great gift. Help me to know what God wishes me to do with my life; to spend it well and for the good of others, just as you did. You found joy by trusting God in everything. Help me to do the same. Please pray for me. Amen.

This book as mentioned is part of the Encounter the Saints Series; from Pauline Books and Media. I have now read about a third of the series this year. This is another inspiring book in a wonderful series and I highly recommend both the book and the series.