My Hero Pinocchio of Carlo Lorenzini

The story of Pinocchio is about a wooden puppet carved by a friendly and lonely man called Geppetto .  Pinocchio, the puppet made out of pine comes alive but has to learn how to love in order to become fully human.  The Blue Fairy who represents the supernatural realm brings the puppet to life because Geppetto loves children and never had a son of his own. The Blue Fairy tells Pinocchio that he cannot become a real boy until he proves his worthiness. A talking cricket, Il Grillo,Parlante accompanies Pinocchio as his conscience, telling him right from wrong and warning him that his bad decisions and actions have severe consequences.
Pinocchio learns many lessons through all his mischievousness. The first lesson we learn as readers is that Geppetto is a very loving father who sacrifices for his son by selling his only jacket to provide a schoolbook for Pinocchio. Here  is the first example of sacrificial love that we witness in this supposedly innocuous children's tale. In each adventure or chapter of Pinocchio there is temptation, remorse, forgiveness, redemption and salvation. The adventures of Pinocchio teaches him how to become human or in other words, teaches him how to truly love and  he learns to truly love through the noble actions of his self-sacrificing father, Geppetto and through the compassionate actions of his supernatural mother through the character of the Blue Fairy. One could say that Pinocchio is on a real journey on life's road to learn about Caritas (sacrificial love) , the same love that is the central theme in Dante's Divine Comedy as he journeys through hell, purgatory, and heaven in order to also ultimately learn how to love sacrificially or perfectly. Italians read Pinocchio as children and as older students they read Dante's Divine Comedy yet the overarching theme in both of these great works is how to love perfectly.

So many of the deadly sins are supplanted in the character of Pinocchio and as I observed my own children growing up, I would always humorously point out to my students how my own children would act just like Pinocchio with his naïveté, with his innocence and with his concupiscence.

I find then a law, that when I have a will to do good, evil is present with me. For I am delighted with the law of God, according to the inward man: but I see another law in my members, fighting against the law of my mind, and captivating me in the law of sin, that is in my members. Unhappy man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death? (Romans 7:21-25)

"Christ by His death redeemed mankind from sin and its bondage. In baptism the guilt of original sin is wiped out and the soul is cleansed and justified again by the infusion of sanctifying grace. But freedom from concupiscence is not restored to man, any more than immortality; abundant grace, however, is given him, by which he may obtain the victory over rebellious sense and deserve life everlasting."

Catholic Encyclopedia

 Sin is a condition in which we fail to grow in a fully human way. Pinocchio's negative behavior turns him always to himself and his own selfish needs and thus, his vices or sins, if you will, are  "deadly" because they take him from life to death or in eschatological terms, they could conceivably take him from eternal life to eternal damnation. Pinocchio's choices turn him away from his fullest humanity. Pinocchio has a free will that allows him to continually fail and to learn from his errors. He is continually restless and unsatisfied as he tests the muddy, tempting waters of life. Saint Augustine in his Confessions tells us that "God made us for Himself and our hearts are restless until they rest in Thee." Dante, in his Divine Comedy from the Middle Ages, organized the Mount of Purgatory into seven terraces which beginning with pride, the sinful mounted to expiate their sins and learn of their opposing virtues.  For example, the sinful in pride learn how to be humble or the sinful in sloth learn how to be charitable. Pinocchio learns with his intellect and his heart the same type of lessons that transform vice into virtue. The old monastic writers knew instinctively that to turn away from the isolation of self and to turn toward the other is to Love! It is better to give than to receive as Saint Francis of Assisi demonstrated so passionately in the way he lived his life which was totally Christocentric. He saw Jesus Christ in everyone and everything that God made in Creation. Pinocchio sees Christ in the paternal love that he unconditionally receives from his temporal father, Geppetto who always forgives him when he goes astray as well as seeing Christ in the maternal love that he unconditionally receives from the supernatural mother of the Blue Fairy who also forgives him when he errs from the straight and narrow path. She also helps to comfort him when he is suffering, encourages him even when she knows he is deviating from the right path and patiently waits to bring him home when he has lost his way. Pinocchio fears both his  natural father and supernatural mother but it is a good,filial fear that increases his hope in being transformed into a human being and ultimately, with temperance to avoid sin, and have perpetual life. 

Alla prossima ( Until next time) Tante belle cose to my Pinocchiophiles!

A Growth Mindset through Faith

I have always been a leader and self-reliant sort of person but when I take an introspective look at myself I realize that I cannot do anything without God. When I pray daily I realize that after I thank and praise the Lord I am forever asking Him for help. Jesus always offers me hope and that always makes me feel free. It is difficult to express failure or anxiety to others but to Jesus I can express all that I am feeling. My crosses have drawn me nearer to God so I know that God allows difficulties so that I can get closer to Him. Jesus has drawn me into his place of wounding and when I was filled with Him then and only then could I be healed and resolve my problems with strength, hope, determination, drive, and perseverance. I have always known that I cannot fix my problems on my own even though I am quite resourceful when I need to be using strategies and assistance from others to resolve my problems. The Church has always taught me that the process of healing needs the process of grace. When I have recognized my weakness is when I was able to persevere and to work through it. I need to pray for all of the virtues of the Holy Spirit with joy, hope, peace, trust, and courage.I need to have a growth mindset not a fixed mindset in order to succeed or to overcome my obstacles and NEVER GIVE UP! I always tell my students that when we fall down we need to use it as a learning lesson and try again in moving forward little by little. "Rome was not built in one day!"

We need to process our wounds so that we can begin to discover and heal them.Others can make it through others who have experienced what you have  experienced so they can help you better because they have been there where you are at. That person can be a contagion to you. You can be a Eucharist  to them and they can be a Eucharist to you! To doubt and to fear is healthy and normal. God is always working in us. Life is a process and God has a plan. To lose HOPE is a sin but God does hear the cry of the poor and we must stay strong! We need to go forward with joy through our challenges of life because LA VITA E BELLA!