Loving and Working Well
“Deep waters cannot quench love, nor rivers sweep it away” (Song of Songs 8:7).
I received the book “An Exemplary Couple: Saint Gianna Beretta and Pietro Molla” by Valentina Di Marco at just the right time in my life. God in His Providence knew I needed the friendship of Saint Gianna and her very holy husband Pietro in a season of change and challenge. We had recently moved to a new state, were getting settled in our new home, and were adjusting to my husband’s new work schedule.
As I devoured the book each night before bed, I excitedly shared snippets with my husband about Gianna and Pietro’s childhood, their engagement, marriage, and her ultimate sacrifice. I woke up each morning emboldened to love and serve like they did and place greater trust in God. When I learned that both Gianna and Pietro had married later in life, like my husband and I, that she had suffered two miscarriages just like we had, and had uterine fibroids like I do, I knew I had discovered a true soul friend.
Letters of Affection
Throughout their engagement and seven-year marriage, Pietro and Gianna wrote more than 73 letters to each other, sharing daily concerns, encouraging one another in the faith, and affirming one another in their vocations as husband and wife. Pietro traveled often in his role as an executive of a growing national match production company, and the couple stayed connected through their intimate letters.
Throughout the book, Di Marco does an excellent job of providing historical details about both spouses while naturally weaving in quotes from their letters. The book concludes with a heart-warming letter from their living daughter, Dr. Gianna Emanuela Molla, about what it was like to have such saintly parents and what she has learned about the gift of suffering. The conclusion also includes an insightful analysis of the lives of Gianna and Pietro in relation to various papal reflections on marriage and family life.
The Value of Work
As a Catholic business owner, there were two aspects that most inspired me about this book. The first was Di Marco’s emphasis on the value of Gianna’s work as a pediatric doctor and how it blessed her vocation as a wife and a mother. According to her husband, Pietro:
“Gianna had asked me to continue her profession as a doctor at least as long as her commitments as a spouse and especially as a mother would have allowed it. I did not object because I knew well the enthusiasm with which she practiced her profession, and her attachment to her patients. Then, by mutual agreement, we had made the decision that she would stop at the birth of our fourth child. With this purpose, she continued her profession until her last admission to the clinic.”
Pietro supported his wife’s ambitions and call to service both inside and outside the home. Through prayerful discernment, the couple decided that it was best for Gianna to continue working if it did not impact her role as a wife and mother. She was able to do so successfully, juggling her work and mothering very well. According to Di Marco, this was made possible by the support she received from family members and domestic helpers.
Gianna’s desire — with Pietro’s support — to integrate their family life and work is in line with Saint John Paul II’s words in Familiaris Consortio:
“There is no doubt that the equal dignity and responsibility of men and women fully justifies women’s access to public functions. On the other hand, the true advancement of women requires that clear recognition be given to the value of their maternal and family role, by comparison with all other public roles and all other professions. Furthermore, these roles and professions should be harmoniously combined, if we wish the evolution of society and culture to be truly and fully human.” (Number 23)
Like many Catholic businesswomen who also stay at home with their children, I often find myself filled with guilt at the times I spend working and my desire for professional interests outside the home.
However, I am beginning to recognize that my time rearing our two-year-old and my time working on my business do not have to be at odds with one another. It is a gift to be at home with him, and it is a gift to have outside pursuits that recharge me and allow me to bless others. Neha Ruch said it best in her Time essay, “The New Face of Stay-at-Home Motherhood:” “My work is made better from the superpower of perspective, experience, [and] creative experimentation gained in those seemingly ordinary days.”
The Necessity of Support
The second aspect of the book that most inspired me was Di Marco’s beautiful unveiling of Pietro Molla’s strength as a husband and spiritual pillar for the family. His fidelity to God and his family inspired Gianna and spurred her to the heights of holiness. Di Marco writes:
“He shares and nurtures every aspect of the family spirituality set forth with Gianna: the constant prayer of invocation and praise, the regular participation in the Eucharist sought even when abroad for work, the desire to form an authentically Christian family, the ability to accept difficulties by entrustment to God, and the openness to the gift of life. … Saint Gianna found precisely in her husband the model and strength to continue in a strong faith.”
Gianna’s enthusiasm for her family and her work, and Pietro’s faith and moral example, are true inspirations for Catholic businessmen and businesswomen everywhere.
Although I am grateful to have similar support from my husband, this book has convicted me of the importance of building and fostering a village of support so that I may continue to thrive in each of my vocations.
I highly recommend this book to any woman — married or single — who enjoys a good love story and needs encouragement from an inspiring couple who tackled their professional and spiritual lives with gusto while keeping first things first: God, their vocation, and then their careers.
Valentina Imhoff, MBA is a career coach helping women encounter God through their work. She has lived and worked in 6 countries and has over 10 years of experience in a variety of industries. In addition to coaching, she facilitates Called & Gifted workshops to help others discern their charisms. Her greatest loves are her husband, son, and trying new recipes in the kitchen. Connect with Valentina at fiatcareercoaching.com, or tune into her podcast on YouTube, Apple Podcasts or Spotify.