Page 79 - FLIPBOOK - Life of Saint Gerard Majella - Vassall-Phillips
P. 79

LIFE OF SAINT GERARD MAJELLA

              hearted and loyal trust, which was proof against the most untoward
              appearances,  wrote  him  letters  of  affectionate  sympathy  and
              encouragement, that he could not fail to value highly. But the Holy
              Spirit, the Comforter, was Himself His servant's supreme Consoler in
              this his hour of dire distress.
                 During  the  years  of  his  triumphs,  when  ecstasies  and  miracles
              were habitual with him, when he was held in the universal esteem of
              his fellow-men, and regarded by all who knew him as a marvellous
              Saint,  he  was  being  purified  the  while  in  the  crucible  of  terrible
              interior sufferings. Men called him the spoiled favourite of Heaven,
              and he all the time, though they knew it not, was a prey to mysterious
              trials, known in all their intensity only to the greatest of God's chosen
              servants.
                 The fear lest, in punishment of that which his tender conscience
              deemed  his  infidelities  to  grace,  he  should  be  cast  away  from  the
              Presence of the Divine Majesty for all Eternity, haunted him by night
              and  gave  him  no  peace  by  day.  A  darkness  that  could  be  felt
              enveloped  his  soul.  Would  it  truly  ever  be  his  to  see  the  Beautiful
              Face of Jesus Christ? Would it ever be his to stand with Prophets and
              with Martyrs, with the Forerunner of the Messias, with Virgins and
              with  Confessors,  with  the  Apostles  of  the  Lamb,  with  the  great
              Foster  Father  of  Our  Lord  and  the  Immaculate  Mother  of  God
              herself, in the Ranks of the Redeemed round about the Throne of the
              Eternal? Dared he raise his hopes to such a height as this? And then
              there came from Satan a dark temptation — the full anguish of which
              can  only  be  realized  by  those  who  love  God  with  the  love  of  the
              Saints — the temptation to despair. Never for one moment did he
              yield, though the onslaughts of the enemy seemed to rend his very
              heart in twain.
                 “As the gold is tried in the fire, so is the acceptable man in the
              furnace of tribulations.”
                 But now that he was in deep disgrace, even with St. Alphonsus his
              Father, now that many looked upon him askance, as upon a hypocrite
              who  had  been  found  out  —  now  was  the  time  of  Divine
              Compensations. Light and grace flooded his soul with heavenly joy.
              God seemed once more to speak face to face with His faithful son.
              The sensible consolations of his childhood were once more renewed.
              In  a  different  form,  indeed,  but  none  the  less  truly,  were  they  his
              again. He seemed almost to enjoy the unveiled vision of his God.



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