I am thankful for a retreat I attended some time in 2017, otherwise I wouldn’t have uncovered such a gem, Gemma Galgani. To which the title of this blog suggests, I see her as a hidden gem. Most people I’ve mentioned her to haven’t heard her name before and neither had I, until on that one Sunday afternoon, at that retreat, she found me.
The consecrated woman who ran the retreat told us that each participant was to pick one small square card from the table. So, it was my turn and I picked up a random card, flipped it over and there I saw St. Gemma’s picture. I remember beginning to read the small quote underneath aloud to the group,
“Jesus is the owner of my heart, and belonging to Him I find that I can smile, even in the midst of tears.””… Oh Jesus, it is you alone that I wish to love!”
And I stopped at the last line. My eyes started welling up and stumbled through the last line,
“I no longer belong to myself. I am Yours…”
It hit me hard. I knew that I belonged to Jesus but those words struck me more profoundly than I had ever understood this truth before. As embarrassing as it was, crying in front of a room of adults- thankfully they were all women, so they were gracious and understanding of me having a ‘moment’. But those words packed a punch. It was as if when I spoke it aloud He felt so near- as if Jesus was whispering this to me in a warm embrace and I felt so loved.
Its such a treasure when you experience these moments of utter consolation and that moment has been etched into my memory ever since. That was the beginning of my knowing exactly what her quote really meant. To my surprise I learnt of her sufferings and trials, yet she earnestly sought to love Jesus more. Also to find how she loved Jesus so immensely that she experienced stigmata, Christ’s wounds from his Passion. I uncovered a great deal of her and from her. What a blessing it is to have Saints like St. Gemma who can inspire us to find our worth in Christ, no matter how heavy our burdens may be.
St Gemma Galgani,
Pray for us!
maya.
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