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3. a spiritual Guide
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Since the early years of her marriage, Maria relied on the
guidance of Father Pellegrino Paoli, who guided her progress also
through a “spiritual rulebook” that he wrote for her, suggesting
small but constant steps: “On this single foundation my daughter
must build her spiritual structure, aiming above all at an “inner
formation”, setting well in her mind the concept that holiness does
not consist in doing extraordinary things, but in doing well, with the
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greatest perfection, those things that are proper to our state» .
Inevitably, Father Paoli’s guidance also influenced, through
CONCRETE INSTRUMENTS OF HOLINESS
Maria’s behavior, the spiritual growth of Luigi and their children.

ideas For reFlection

• Our behavior, our gestures, can tell our spouse and family
members much more than our words.
• Let’s reflect upon something we do every day: how might we
do it “with greater inner perfection”?

4. Woven WitH God

«This is what Marriage is like: [...] thread by thread, woven in
God one with the other without interruption - never - until eternity. [...]
Life lived in this way even in old age. [...] A compact block, molded
into a single mass. [...] A block willed by God through the Sacrament
of Matrimony, composed, shaped, made compact and unbreakable
by the mutual understanding of love. It is luminous and incandescent
from the mutual elevation of souls in charity and grace» .
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ideas For reFlection

• Let us reflect together on the gift of “forever” which demands
human commitment, but is first and foremost a gift from God, in the
Sacrament of Matrimony.
• The power of the Holy Spirit (which is a free gift from God)
and our willingness to love (even when it causes us fatigue). How can
we make these two forces interact?

36 Giorgio Papàsogli, Questi borghesi, op. cit., p. 66.
37 Maria Beltrame Quattrocchi, L’ordito e la trama. op. cit., p. 12.