Love Letters to My Husband (Saints and Holy People)

Rating:
Summary: Interesting--if protracted--snapshot of a holy relationship
Review: Blessed Gianna Beretta Molla once wrote:

"One should not enter into marriage without knowing how to love. To love means to desire your own and your beloved's perfection, to overcome your own selfishness. Love must be total, full, complete, regulated by the law of God, and must last for all eternity in heaven" (109).

This book contains dozens of letters exchanged between Gianna and her husband Pietro over the course of Gianna's lifetime (1922-1962), as the couple strives valiantly to work out this understanding of love & marriage in the chaos of daily life. Gianna's sacrificial spirit and eagerness to please shines through brightly, and she frequently comes up with thoughtful ways to integrate their shared catholic faith into the relationship. For example, even though Pietro was away on travel right before their wedding, they were united by celebrating a "mass tridium": attending mass in their respective places each day for 3 days before the wedding, to prepare for the marriage.

All of that said, it should be noted that at 160 pages this is probably a lot longer than it really needed to be. The beautiful nuggets of faith and wisdom like those mentioned above are buried deeply within the drudge and details of their daily life ("Pietro, did the gas coupons I sent you arrive yet?"). At first this was charming--because it was so real--but halfway through the book it became tedious reading.

Reccommended only for dedicated, patient readers...