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maria’s WidoWHood

The loss of Luigi greatly challenges Maria’s joy of life: «The
intensity of pain is given by the intensity of love. […] Humanly
speaking, there is no longer any value or interest or attraction; since
he is not there, you feel detached from everything» .
11
This is a pain which, however, is not closed to God: «But should
not this pain be mitigated by the security of one’s present happiness
in the possession of God? [...]. Perhaps I do not take enough account,
Lord, of the graces you have granted to me, giving me such a life,
which was supreme joy and above all a ladder to lead me closer to
you. [...] And it seems to me that there is an empty space next to it, in a ENGAGEMENT, MATRIMONY AND CHILDREN
void of expectation. It is a place that I must reach, that I must conquer
even with these tears that fill my heart and do not find the comfort in
crying. [...] Yes, that’s it, that’s it. As we have always hoped, believed
and loved together. Only then will the fabric be complete, in the
hands of the divine Weaver: it will be the last everlasting thread to be
inserted into the warp» .
12

Luigi and Maria were not the protagonists of extraordinary acts,
they did not face particular suffering or mourning, they simply fulfilled
their matrimonial vocation in an exemplary way. Jesus, present in
their love by virtue of the Sacrament of Matrimony, was able to
accomplish great things in them and through them, because He
found room in their hearts.

11 Erminia Catapano, Vincenzo Angrisani, Mistica Coniugale, op. cit., p. 80.
12 Maria Beltrame Quattrocchi, L’ordito e la trama. op. cit., pp. 17-18.