St. Gemma Galgani

In the Passionist Order, today marks the feast date of St. Gemma Galgani. A contemporary saint ( she died in 1903 at the age of 25) , her extraordinary life was marked by the sufferings and trials saints so often bear in the service of Our Lord. St. Gemma was gifted with the wounds of Christ at age 21.

I am enthralled and inspired by the life of this beautiful, humble saint. Divine grace surrounded her always, and Our Lord and Our Lady appeared to her often. She used to send letters to her spiritual director, Father Germano, through a very special delivery service….

However, the most unusual angelic errands were the one’s that Father Germano writes about in Gemma’s biography. Gemma would write a letter to him (Father Germano) seeking some spiritual guidance, and then place it in a “Little Manger Shrine” that was in the Gianinni home (her "adopted" family -editor), and because she had no money for stamps, she would request her angel to deliver the letter for her. Father Germanus, living several hundred miles away in Rome at the time, would soon “find” the letter unstamped on his desk, or another such place. (yet another reason for the angelic deliveries was the fact that Father Germanus travelled extensively in his preaching ministry, and Gemma never knew where to reach him)Realizing how unusual this was, Father Germano asked Heaven for a sign that these "angelic deliveries" were it was in accord with God’s Will. Afterwards, while he was staying at the Passionist house in Corneto, Italy, a "young boy" knocked at the door asking for him. Father Germanus answered the door and the boy handed him a letter from Gemma, and ubruptly turned and left without saying a word. Who was the boy and how could Gemma have known that he was visiting at Corneto? He opened the letter and immediately realized that God anwered his prayer as to the authentcity of these "angelic" deliveries. After Gemma’s death, he wrote: “I always received the angelic letters faithfully. The fact is unusual … I confess I do not understand it at all....To how many tests did I not I submit this singular phenomenon in order to convince myself that it took place through a supernatural intervention! And yet none of my tests ever failed; and thus I was convinced again and again that in this, like in many other extraordinary things in her life, Heaven was delighted in amusing itself, as it were, with this innocent and dear maiden.”

For more on St. Gemma, please visit this outstanding site . It is one of my favorite places to visit when I have a free moment in the day!

Angelic Thoughts

For Catholics, belief in angels is not optional. Angels are part of the doctrine of the faith.

They appear at key points in the gospel, and they are always serving God - whether it is helping Tobias in a time of need, offering counsel to a troubled Joseph or announcing to the Virgin Mary that she would become the Mother of Our Lord.

Celebrated Catholic author Peter Kreft offers the following:

Angels: The Twelve Most Important Things to Know About Them

1. 
   They really exist. Not just in our minds, or our myths, or our symbols, or our culture. They are as real as your dog, or your sister, or electricity.



2. 
   They’re present, right here, right now, right next to you, reading these words with you.


3. 
   They’re not cute, cuddly, comfortable, chummy, or “cool”. They are fearsome and formidable. They are huge. They are warriors.


4. 
   They are the real “extra-terrestrials”, the real “Super-men”, the ultimate aliens. Their powers are far beyond those of all fictional creatures.


5. 
   They are more brilliant minds than Einstein.



6. 
   They can literally move the heavens and the earth if God permits them.


7. 
   There are also evil angels, fallen angels, demons, or devils. These too are not myths. Demon possessions, and exorcisms, are real.


8. 
   Angels are aware of you, even though you can’t usually see or hear them. But you can communicate with them. You can talk to them without even speaking.



9. 
   You really do have your very own “guardian angel”. Everybody does.



10. 
    Angels often come disguised. “Do not neglect hospitality, for some have entertained angels unawares”—that’s a warning from life’s oldest and best instruction manual.



11. 
    We are on a protected part of a great battlefield between angels and devils, extending to eternity.



12. 
    Angels are sentinels standing at the crossroads where life meets death. They work especially at moments of crisis, at the brink of disaster—for bodies, for souls, and for nations.

Your Guardian Angel protects you out of service to God. He or she has seen you at your best and your worst, and knows all of your sins and good works.

It must hurt our Guardian Angels terribly when they see the offenses to God we cause when we sin.

So, I offer apologies and gratitude to my Guardian Angel.

I am sorry for any pain I have caused you.

And thank you so much for loving and serving the Lord by watching over me.

With Jesus' help, I will try to make your job a little more enjoyable.