Letter of Saint Gemma on Christmas Eve to her spiritual director, Father Germanus C.P.
24 December, 1900
My dad, when you recieve this letter, baby Jesus will be born. Be sure that today, Christmas day, I pray to Jesus to make me hear from You more often.
Do you know what I would do myself, my dad, with Jesus? I would like to do what the angels do with Him; but since I can't, I would like to offer Him the warmest affections of my devotion; and I pray to my Mom [Blessed Virgin Mary] to offer to Jesus, just born, these little sacrifices and affections that often come to me. I often cry, you know, and I have stopped [offering her sacrifices to Jesus] but I promise again not to complain anymore; and do you know why? This morning after Holy Communion I thought what great pain my Mom had after Jesus was born; to know that they would crucify Him! What agony She must have always carried in Her heart! How many sighs to heaven and how many times She was obliged to cry! And yet She never complained. Poor Mom! Then when She really saw Him crucified, that poor Mom was pierced by so many arrows, because I know that any harm done to the son in the presence of the father or mother also injures the parents.
Therefore this Mother of mine was crucified alongside Jesus. And yet She never complained. And after these reflections I did not complain anymore about my way of living....
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In website news, thanks be to God this website has just surpassed 1 million page visits! -May God be blessed and honored in everything.
Also for those interested, there is an article here about a mausoleum in the Holy Name Cemetery in Jersey City, NJ. which has just installed a large mosaic dedicated to the Holy Name of Jesus in the mausoleum chapel. Saint Gemma was one of the 12 Saints chosen for the large mural "because of her devotion to Jesus".Concerning this new mosaic the article goes on to explain: "It was designed and executed by The Rambusch Company, a renowned, international liturgical arts and art studio located right in Jersey City. Martin Rambusch, 45, and his brother, Edwin, own and run the company. He described the mosaic “as a group effort.”
"Monsignor Richard Groncki, who at the time was the Rector (now retired) of Sacred Heart Cathedral in Newark and associate director of the archdiocesan liturgy office, helped Rambusch design the concept. “I guided them through the preparatory art work,” said Monsignor Groncki, who was inspired by a stained glass at Holy Name Church in Garfield....
"The chapel was named the Holy Name of Jesus so he thought it would be important to depict art with saints who had devotions to the name of Jesus.
The mural is very large, 21-foot long and 7-foot wide, and eight people in Tuscany, Italy (in the region where St Gemma is from) fashioned over a million tesserae (small tiles or ceramic rich glass) for the entire piece, which was then cut into one square foot patches that were shipped to the U.S. and then pasted together in the mausoleum.
Those interested can read more and view additional photos here.
-St Gemma, pray for us!
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