BIOGRAPHY of ST GEMMA GALGANI - Get a Free Blog

miracle, and verified the complete nature of the cure, he said nothing except these words: 'Pray for me,
Gemma.' And he, too, went away and never came back.
Six days after her cure Gemma wrote to tell a relative of the grace she had obtained: 'Let whoever read
these lines know that I have been granted the cure of my soul and body, not through my own merits, but
through the prayers of so many good people who have had pity on me. I could not have obtained
anything….'
Holy and precious humility! how pleasing both to God and men.
CHAPTER IX SEEKING THE WAY -HER HEART'S DESIRE
Having been cured in such an extraordinary way from a disease that would certainly have caused her death,
Gemma henceforth considered that her life was not her own, but belonged to God -to Jesus, towards whom
all her aspirations were now directed. For her a new life was opening-a life more angelical than human. Our
minds must be raised high above the earth in order to follow with the eyes of Faith the heavenly flights of her
soul. Nearer and nearer she approached the eternal Sun of Justice, allowing nothing to distract her attention
or delay her progress, until she should reach her goal and blissfully lose herself in God.
Gemma's first thought upon regaining her health was to consecrate herself to God in the religious state. She
spoke to her family about it and received no opposition, although maybe they thought that in view of her past
illness, it might not be easy to carry out her intention.
It was of course natural that Gemma should desire to become a religious. Nevertheless her vocation seemed
rapt in mystery. The question on which she had to make up her mind was what order she should select.
St. Margaret Mary Alacoque, a Visitation nun, had had an important part in her cure, and it seemed to
Gemma that out of gratitude she to embrace the kind of life the Saint had followed. For the same reason
Monsignor Volpi urged her to take this step. It would appear that Heaven was leading her towards the
Convent of the Visitation.
On the day of her cure, before she got up, a voice had said to her: 'Renew all the promises you have made,
and add that in the month consecrated to Him you will also consecrate yourself entirely to Him.' In an
account written six days after her cure, she confessed: 'I should like to flyaway immediately to where Blessed
Margaret Mary wishes me to be. a how badly off are those who live in the world! From the moment I left my
bed I have experienced an aversion for everything-· an aversion I cannot explain.' Whilst she was thus
feeling a distaste for everything that did not concern God, she also had an immense hunger for Him, that is,
for Holy Communion-a hunger she thought she could never appease except in the religious state.
On March 10, therefore, Gemma went to the Visitation Convent to thank her heavenly benefactress, and to
ask her-these .are her own words that everything might be arranged for the best, that is, as she explained,
that she might be able to shut herself within the walls of that Convent. Because it seemed so long to wait
until June, the nuns promised that they would take her in the month of May, and that in June, if she so
desired and if she had a true vocation, they would receive her into the Convent for good.
AT THE FEET OF JESUS CRUCIFIED
The long days from March to the beginning of May passed, and finally Gemma found herself within the
Convent. To compensate her for the pain of that time of waiting, God had showered upon her an abundance
of heavenly graces. On Holy Thursday she wished to make the Holy Hour that had recently been taught to
her by Sister Julia Sestini. Making the Holy Hour for the first time in good health, she wished to prepare for it
by a general confession of her whole life. The following is her own description of what took place on that
occasion:
‘I began therefore to make the Holy Hour for the first time out of bed, but I felt such an intense sorrow for my
sins that I spent days of continual martyrdom. In the midst of this sorrow, however, I had one consolation,
one source of relief, namely, tears. I passed the whole hour praying and weeping. Being extremely tired I sat
down, the feeling of sorrow continuing. A few moments later I felt my whole being wrapped in recollection.
Then, all of a sudden, I began to lose the use of my senses. I tried with all my strength to get up to lock the
door of my room. Where was I? I found myself there and then before Jesus Crucified. Blood was flowing
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