Page 80 - FLIPBOOK - Life of Saint Gerard Majella - Vassall-Phillips

O. R. VASSALL-PHILLIPS

Deprived, as we know through no fault of his own, of the true
Bread of Life that God in His wondrous love bestows on the
wayfarer, lest journeying painfully through the weary desert of human
miseries, he faint beneath the burden and heats of the day —
deprived of the Blessed Eucharist, Gerard feasted by faith with the
Saints above on the Divine Essence Itself, to which he was united
more and more closely each hour that passed, drawn ever upwards
even to the heights of sublimest contemplation.
He was asked one day how he could live without Communion. He
replied immediately:
“I recreate myself in the Immensity of my God.”
Thus did he himself experience the truth of the maxim which we
find in one of his letters.
“Only suffer for God, and your very sufferings will bring you
Heaven on earth.”
So true it is that they alone are happy with a perfect happiness
who do the Will of God with a perfect freedom and a perfect service,
even as it is done before His Throne on high.
After a time, as Gerard still made no sign, St. Alphonsus sent him
to Ciorani, in order to give him a complete freedom of conscience, in
case he might wish to go to Confession to a stranger. We thus
perceive that he still rested under grave suspicion, and that in the one
quarter where he must have felt suspicion the most keenly. A
fortnight was spent by Saint Gerard at Ciorani. He was then again
removed to another house, and allowed to go to Holy Communion
once a week.
But the clouds were soon to break. The wretched calumniators of
his innocence were at length touched with remorse. They wrote to
acknowledge that their statements had all been a tissue of lies
composed at the instigation of the enemy of mankind.
St. Alphonsus was overwhelmed with joy. He immediately recalled
Gerard to Nocera, and declared that the virtues which he had
practised during this time of trial were in themselves enough to prove
him to be a great Saint.
The Holy Founder once asked Saint Gerard why he had not said
so much as one word to prove his innocence.
“Father,” answered Gerard, “does not the Rule forbid us to
excuse ourselves?”
St. Alphonsus was touched to the heart.

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