Ecstasy of St. Gemma: 100-105
The Ecstasies of St. Gemma, a powerful testimony of faith
Ecstasy 101
Humiliated and confused by the infinite goodness of the celestial Spouse, she seeks him, invokes him, she wants the wings to fly to him in paradise (Cf. P. GERM. N. VII)
[June-July 1902]
Let me embrace you, heavenly Groom, cause of all my consolations. Or who am I, that I dare to speak thus to you? It’s true, I’m your creature, but I’m bad; it is true that I am the workmanship of your hands, and those same hands, Jesus, I pierced with nails… I moved too late, Jesus, to come to you… I found you, Jesus; I have found you, Jesus. I call you, I invoke you, because I am sure.
But where are you, where are you hiding? I can smell you. Give me wings, Jesus, to fly to your home, to Heaven…
Ecstasy 102
In presenting his soul to Jesus, he recalls the nobility of the human soul, created by God, sanctified, chosen as his dwelling place, and whose longings only God can satisfy. Pray to Jesus to establish his abode in her forever and burn her with his divine fire (Cf. P. GERM. N. IX).
Tuesday 1 July 1902.
Here I am before you, O Jesus. Before you I present my soul: this soul, O Jesus, which you created not of your substance, but through the Word… of no other elementary matter. This spiritual soul that you created, which always lives, which you have sanctified, purified with your holy washing.
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Now I’m satisfied and I have nothing left to desire… because, if inside me I desired something else, it would be clear that you are not there. If down here the good in itself brings pleasure, what delight will you not bring, who are the king of goods?… The joy that is felt down here on earth, of created things, is completely different from that which is felt in you, that you are the creator. You see, O Jesus: when a creature desires something, it dies from the desire to possess it; but even when she manages to have it, she is not happy, she is never satisfied. You alone make everyone satisfied, you alone make everyone pure, you alone make all those within you immaculate…
I found your home, O Jesus. You live in that soul that you created in your image; not in the one that prefers things down here to you.
Oh! my soul, so poor, understood them, it understood the riches of your love. My soul is too vile, O Jesus, for your habitation. It’s too vile… Oh my God, if I were a little certain that I had never offended you!… Oh! I don’t deny it, I am a sinner; but for this reason I don’t want to despair, because if I despaired, I would deny that you are merciful. My Jesus, I love you; but if I love you a little, make me love you more… I don’t know, I don’t know, no, to what point I’ll get… I don’t know to what point I’ll get… to what extent is enough …
O Jesus, how are you in my heart?… In the narrow cell of my loving chest, say, O Jesus, how are you?
And establish it, O Jesus, as your abode forever… establish it from this morning, now, from this moment, from this moment…
My Jesus, we will never be separated again. Even if the human heart is great, even if it is magnanimous: it must surrender to the strength of your love, it must give in. My God… my Jesus… my father… my husband… my sweetness… my consolation… consolation of all creatures… love… love that sustains me!
O fire that always burns, without ever going out, would it please you that I would be all ablaze with it! Would that this fire in me were perfected! O Jesus!… O love!… My life, my support, my strength!…
Ecstasy 103
The infinite mercy of Jesus almost moves her to rejoice at having been born a sinner. Who could ever resist such charity from Jesus? (Cf. P. GERM. nn. XXVIII and XX).
Wednesday 2 July 1902 [about 9 am].
It is beautiful to love, O Jesus, to love someone who is never angry with someone who offends them. Indeed, many times I have seen, O Jesus, that if your justice is obligated to punish me, you work to prevent this punishment, or rather to withdraw it. I found a Jesus so infatuated with my heart that he doesn’t know how to harden it…
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He wants them all for himself in compensation for my sins. It is almost a beautiful fate for me to have been born a sinner, because the veins of my Lord are always open, full of that sacramental blood!
O my God!… What would you like to do, merciful Jesus?… Would you like to make all your merits mine, to appropriate to me all that is yours?… And what will that heart be that will not give in to so much charity? overcome? What will be that soul that will not let itself be earned? What will be that will that will not let itself be kidnapped by you?
O my soul, how long do you want to be so stingy with Jesus?… Why so negligent towards Jesus, who produced you? why so lazy towards Jesus, who redeemed you? Who do you want to love if you don’t want to love Jesus? Oh my god!… .
Ecstasy 104
He consecrates all his tenderness to Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament and longs for the ineffable delights of paradise (Cf. P. GERM. n… XX and XXVI).
Wednesday 2 July 1902, 11 am.
Jesus, Holy Host, I consecrate all my tenderness to you. I realized, O Jesus, that your affection was looking for me, and I ran; your charity called me, and I came immediately.
O Paradise, Paradise!… Leave me alone, O Jesus; let me think about Heaven. Oh, would it please your divine goodness, that after having had a strong pain of sins, like one of the last of your daughters… O Paradise! It’s been a long time since… Who could ever tell you?…
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A desire that never torments with satiety, that never gets boring! How must those souls be!… How come that close to you, who are all light, did they become so luminous?… How come that in the midst of your immutable eternity, mutable as they were, did they become immutable? .
What joy, O Jesus, to live in your Paradise! Isn’t it you, O Jesus, who gave me this desire?…
Yes, my Jesus, to do nothing other than your will!… Jesus in life, Jesus after life, Jesus forever!… My Jesus, my love!…
Ecstasy 105
Jesus in his eyes is the greatest treasure; he would like to undo himself in singing his praises; she would always like to think of him, converse with him, love him alone. He asks for purity of heart to be admitted into paradise (Cf. P. GERM. N. XXVI).
Thursday 3 July 1902 [around 9 am]
O Jesus, I see you greater than all the treasures of the earth. Yes, oh my sweetest God, my most lovable Jesus: in my eyes you are greater than the greatest treasures on earth. How willingly I would join your Angels! How willingly I would completely undo myself in your praise! How willingly I would always remain before you!
But what do I say when I talk about you?… I say what I can, never what I have to. And if I don’t know how to do it… so I’ll keep quiet? No, because my Jesus must be loved and honored by everyone!… Don’t look at what I tell you with your mind, look at my insides… .
All my secrets are manifest to you, O Jesus… So are you certain that I love you more than heaven and earth? Indeed, all the very things on earth, which are worthy of being loved, [are such] only for the glory of your heart…
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I have loved you, O Jesus… Allow me to love you more, so that during the day my thoughts may be directed to you alone, and at night, even while sleeping… I would like my spirit to always speak with you, my soul always talked to you. I would still like my heart to always be illuminated by your holy light; that you were my love, my guide… I would like to fly from virtue to virtue… otherwise, I won’t be able to come to Heaven to see you; because it’s been a long time since I saw you. But to come to Heaven you need purity of heart; give it to me, my Jesus… Yes, I long for purity of heart!… .