Page 51 - FLIPBOOK - Life of Saint Gerard Majella - Vassall-Phillips

LIFE OF SAINT GERARD MAJELLA

the very man for whom I will now most gladly seek a treasure. Only
do as I bid you, and the treasure is yours.”
So together they walked, deep in conversation, until at last they
reached a forest thick with brushwood. Gerard was the first to enter.
His companion, full of suppressed excitement, thought that now his
desires were on the very point of being realized. When at last they
were in the midst of a tangled copse, the Brother took off his cloak,
slowly and mysteriously laid it on the ground, and then beckoned to
his new friend to advance. The young man began to quake and
tremble with fear. Every shadow cast by the trees seemed to be a
living form; every moment he expected to behold an apparition of
the Prince of Darkness. Gerard saw that his opportunity had arrived.
Suddenly he took out his crucifix, and holding it up before the eyes
of the astonished lad, said gently:
“Yes! I promised you a Treasure. Behold it here! The Treasure of
all treasures. The Treasure which you have so madly bartered for the
wages of sin.”
The hour of grace had struck. The poor boy was touched to the
quick. He burst forth into bitter sobs. Gerard, seeing him thus
pierced with sorrow for having offended Our Blessed Lord, pressed
him lovingly to his heart. He then brought him home to the Convent,
where he kept him several days, and induced him to make his peace
with God by a good Confession of the evil past.
Truly a wizard indeed!

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