Mother Gives Her Life for her Unborn Child

Many are familiar with the story of St. Gianna Beretta Molla who after discovering a tumor on her uterus, chose to do whatever she could to save her unborn child.  After the birth of her baby Gianna died about a week later.  Now comes a very similar story about Chiara Corbella, the 28-year-old wife of Enrico Petrillo and mother of three (two of whom died from birth defects) who postponed cancer treatment to protect her third unborn baby.  Baby Francisco was born in May 2011 and Chiara passed away this month.  I won't be surprised if a canonization cause is opened for this young mother - what a great intercessor and example of a life well-lived (from CNA):

“I am going to heaven to take care of Maria and David, you stay here with Dad. I will pray for you,” Chiara said in a letter for Francisco that she wrote one week before her death....

...“The truth is that this cross – if you embrace it with Christ – ceases to be as ugly as it looks. If you trust in him, you discover that this fire, this cross, does not burn, and that peace can be found in suffering and joy in death,” Enrico explained.

“I spent a lot of time this year reflecting on this phrase from the Gospel that says the Lord gives a cross that is sweet and a burden that is light. When I would look at Chiara when she was about to die, I obviously became very upset. But I mustered the courage and a few hours before – it was about eight in the morning, Chiara died at noon – I asked her.

I said: 'But Chiara, my love, is this cross really sweet, like the Lord says? She looked at me and she smiled, and in a soft voice she said, 'Yes, Enrico, it is very sweet.' In this sense, the entire family didn’t see Chiara die peacefully, but happily, which is totally different,” Ernico said.

When his son grows up, he added, he will tell him “how beautiful it is to let oneself be loved by God, because if you feel loved you can do anything,” and this is “the most important thing in life: to let yourself be loved in order to love and die happy.”

“I will tell him that this is what his mother, Chiara, did. She allowed herself to be loved, and in a certain sense, I think she loved everyone in this way. I feel her more alive than ever. To be able to see her die happy was to me a challenge to death.”

"how beautiful it is to let oneself be loved by God, because if you feel loved you can do anything", "the most important thing in life: to let yourself be loved in order to love..." - are you allowing yourself to be loved by God and the people he has put in your life? are you choosing to love God and the people he has placed in your life?  Don't let this day go by without asking yourself these questions and taking them to prayer - these questions will profoundly effect your life because they deal with the very meaning of your existence.  You were made to be loved and to love.  If something seems awry in your life I can guarantee it can ultimately be traced back to this truth and these questions - are you allowing yourself to be loved and are you choosing to love?