Page 70 - FLIPBOOK - Life of Saint Gerard Majella - Vassall-Phillips

O. R. VASSALL-PHILLIPS

surpassed in the matter of personal austerity by any of the Saints —
Saint Gerard goes on to his good desires. These he sums up as
follows:
To love God, to love Him much.
Always to be united to God.
To do all things for the sake of God.
To be always conformed to His Holy Will.
To suffer much for God.

Having next spoken of his great desires to become a Saint, and
after recalling the solemn truth that the abundant opportunities given
us during life for the work of our sanctification, being once lost, are
lost for ever, Gerard goes on thus to apostrophize himself:
Brother Gerard, make up thy mind to give thyself up to God
altogether. From the present moment be thou well convinced, and
never forget that to become a Saint one thing alone is necessary —
prayer and unbroken contemplation. The best contemplation consists
in being as God pleases, in doing the Will of God without reserves,
and in spending thyself freely every moment of thy life for the love of
God. This, then, is what the Lord demands of thee. Be not a slave of
the world or of thyself. It is enough to have God present, to be
always united to Him. Most true I hold it that all which is done for
God becomes a prayer. Some undertake one thing, some another; my
only undertaking must be to do the Will of God. All pain vanishes
when we act for God.
We now come to Saint Gerard's great series of resolutions. They
deserve to be most carefully meditated. As we study them, we see
unrolled before us that love of God and man which was the
mainspring of all his energy and strength. Here we may recognize the
very kernel of all his sanctity. So practical and so full of spiritual
common sense are they, that we may one and all find in some of
these resolutions matter, not merely for admiration, but also for
everyday imitation in the conduct of our lives.
My Lord Jesus Christ, behold me in Thy sight, ready to write
down, and to promise Thy Divine Majesty that I will faithfully
observe these my resolutions. It is long since I first made them. Now
with the permission I have received, I confirm them all. Grant, Lord,
that I may be found faithful. Woe is me! I cannot trust in myself,
unable as I am of myself to perform the smallest undertaking. But I

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