Page 75 - FLIPBOOK - Life of Saint Gerard Majella - Vassall-Phillips

LIFE OF SAINT GERARD MAJELLA

my desires to my Mother Mary.”
XXXVIII. I will have all possible veneration for Priests, beholding
in them Jesus Christ Himself, and striving to be penetrated with the
greatness of their dignity.
From his resolutions, Saint Gerard turned to the explanation of
the wonderful Vow that he had made always to do that which was
most perfect.
Explanation of my Vow. I have obliged myself always to do that
which is most perfect. By this I mean that which seems to me to be
the most perfect course to take in the sight of God.
It is an obligation which extends to all my actions, even the
smallest, compelling me to perform them always with the greatest
self-renunciation and the utmost perfection. In order to be freed
from perplexity, I will suppose myself ordinarily to have from your
Reverence a general permission for this.
Limits of my Vow. Any actions performed in moments of
distraction or through inadvertence do not fall under this Vow. Also
I shall not be acting against my Vow in asking for some dispensation
when out of the house. I make this reservation in order to avoid any
scruple which might hamper the freedom of my actions. I always
preserve the power to ask from my Confessor for a dispensation
from this Vow. On his side he will always be free to liberate me from
it, should this seem good to him.

After the statement of this heroic Vow in all deliberate actions to
do the most perfect thing, Saint Gerard proceeded to give a list of his
daily practices of piety. He even gave his Director a long list of the
Saints whom he venerated as his special patrons, such as those most
distinguished for their great devotion to the Sacred Humanity of Our
Lord, like St. Mary Magdalene, St. Bernard, and St. Philip Neri; those
whose hearts were devoured with zeal for souls as St. Francis Xavier,
and St. Teresa; or great mystics like St. Francis of Assisi, and St. Felix
Cantalice.
Finally, he concludes this unveiling of his inmost self by the
following words of fire:
“O my God!” he cries out, “that I were able to convert as many
sinners as there are grains of sand under the sea and on the earth; as
there are leaves upon the trees, plants in the fields, stars in the
heavens, rays from the sun, or atoms in the air. Would that I could

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