St Gemma Galgani

http://www.stgemma.com/index.html

i've never read about St. Gemma before.. i just finished reading her story. woww... it's really amazing how much she loved the Lord and the graces she received. she has such a beautiful soul.
after reading this.. i want to spend more time in prayer.. and to sin less; to seek greater holiness than i currently have. unfortunately sin is so ingrained in me.. for most of my life, i lived without God and without repentance, and i have all these bad habits that i can't seem to break. i wish i had always known Him..and that i had been protected from all the really terrible sins i did. but..i think God can really be glorified in a sinners life too by giving the grace to turn away from all that sin! i pray that my life would bring glory to Him.

Prayer of St. Gemma..
"Oh Jesus, why am I not burned up with love for you? Why is it that my heart is not consumed with Love's flame? Why is it that my love does not correspond to yours? Oh Jesus, how much time I have lost! How many years I could have loved You and I did not do so. But your bounty makes me hope to be able to make up for lost time.

Why did you suffer for me, dear Jesus? For love! The nails.., the crown.., the cross... all for love of me. For You I sacrifice everything willingly. I offer You my body with all its weakness and my Soul with all its love. My God, dear Jesus, remove whatever malice may be at the bottom of my offering, and then accept it. Do not abandon me, Jesus, I am yours. Take care of my soul. Think of what you have borne to save it. Surely they are right who say, 'To suffer is to love.'"

another thing i find so encouraging about St. Gemma is that she was not a nun, but a lay person.
that encourages me because it shows that someone could live in the world yet still spend lots of time in prayer and know God so closely.. i must admit though sometimes there are so many distractions all around.. this is something that must be overcome, we should not let ourselves be distracted from God.

i read that she had the stigmata.. this is a very new concept for me. i think some people have faked it in the past but for others it was real.. (like St. Francis of Assisi, St. Padre Pio, St. Gemma of course)
i guess that is how these people shared in Christ's suffering and understood more of His pain and love on the Cross..