St. Gemma, with her stigmata. Gemma’s grief over the sins of the world caused her to sweat blood and even to weep tears of blood. (Loschermo image)
In the last few years of her life, St. Gemma Galgani stayed at the home of Cecilia Giannini. During the process of Gemma’s beatification, Cecilia gave testimony regarding her spiritual life:
“The Eucharist was her principal devotion. Communion meant everything to her, and she prepared for it the night before. In the church she remained beside me, with her eyes fixed upon the tabernacle. When the moment came to receive Holy Communion I got up first and she followed me, and she always kept beside me with her hands under her mantle. Afterward we went to some place where there were no people, because as she herself used to say, she went, as it were, out of herself … As a rule we heard two Masses, if there were two and if there was time. She continued her thanksgiving right through the morning, even after she went home and was occupied with her household duties.”
“At Benediction in the evening she was as recollected as in the
morning, with her eyes fixed upon the tabernacle. Sometimes we made the
Stations of the Cross, and one evening after we had made them with greater
devotion and recollection than usual, she said: ‘Let us always make them like
that!’ And I believe she said this because we had prayed a little longer,
especially at the Death of Jesus.”
Gemma had a great love for Our Lady. She said, “I have now no earthly mother,
but instead I have a Heavenly Mother.” She loved to call Our Lady “Mom.”
One day when Gemma was before the altar of Our Lady of Sorrows in the Servite Church, she said to Cecilia: “You also call her Mom, and you will see how pleased she will be!” Gemma loved the Rosary. However, she seldom got beyond the first decade without falling into ecstasy.
Gemma shared the Passion of Christ in very special and mysterious ways. She received the stigmata, and she participated in the suffering of Christ in the Garden of Gethsemani. When anyone blasphemed in her hearing, she would sweat blood. Gemma’s grief over the sins of the world caused her to sweat blood and even to weep tears of blood. Cecilia recalled: “She used to sweat blood because of the sins that gave such great offence to God, often saying in ecstasy: ‘Revenge Thyself on me, but spare all sinners!’”
Gemma experienced the pains of the crown of thorns and the scourging. She even experienced the thirst of Christ on the cross. She wrote to her spiritual director: “Yesterday was Friday and I felt ill. All my nerves were racked, and this caused a tremendous thirst … I have had this thirst before but never so great as this time. And then I noticed this curious thing. Water, or anything one drinks, ought to quench my thirst, but instead it only increased my thirst and tormented me more.”
Christ said to Gemma: “Do you know why I desire to send crosses to the souls that are dear to Me? I desire to possess them entirely, and for that reason I surround them with crosses, and I shut them in with tribulations so that they may not escape out of My hands; for that reason I spread thorns everywhere so that giving their affections to no one they may seek all their pleasure in Me alone. My daughter, if the Cross was not felt, it could not be called a Cross. Be certain that if you stand beneath the Cross you will never be lost. The Devil has no power over those souls who weep near the Cross. My daughter, how many would have abandoned Me, if I had not crucified them. The Cross is a very precious gift, and many virtues can be learned through it.”
吉瑪分享基督的苦難
聖吉瑪.金錦妮生命最後的幾年，在采琪.賈妮妮家中渡過。吉瑪被教會宣福的過程中，采琪見證她的靈修生活，說：「敬禮聖體是吉瑪主要要做的敬禮 ── 聖體是她的所有。為了領聖體，她早一天的晚上已經做準備。聖堂內，她在我座鄰，雙目注視著聖體龕。到領聖體時，我先起立，她跟著我，她常在我身旁，兩手放到披風下。之後，我們會找個無人的角落靜下來，因為，一如她自己所說，她好像走出了自己。......通常如果隨後仍有兩台彌撒，我們又有時間的話，我們會參與兩台彌撒。吉瑪會利用整個早上感謝聖體，回家後操作著家務時仍是。」
「參與黃昏的聖體降福時，吉瑪像早上一樣，收斂心神，注視聖體龕。有時我們會拜苦路。曾經一次，我們特別熱心和收心地拜苦路，她說：『讓我們恆常這樣地拜苦路吧。』我相信她說這話是因為我們用了較長的時間祈禱，特別在耶穌聖死的苦路處。」
吉瑪十分熱愛聖母；她說：「我現在沒有世上的母親，但我有我的聖母。」她愛稱呼聖母為「媽媽」。一天，在西維迪的憂苦聖母堂內，吉瑪對采琪道：「你也稱呼聖母做媽媽吧。你會看到她將如何喜歡！」吉瑪喜歡誦唸玫瑰經；不過，她很少把第一端唸完，因為她早已神魂超拔了。
吉瑪以獨特和超然的方式，分享基督的苦難：她領受五傷、參與基督山園祈禱的憂傷和恐懼。當聽到有人褻瀆天主，她會流出血汗；事實上，吉瑪對罪惡的悲哀，會令她流血汗和灑血淚。采琪憶述：「吉瑪因重大冒犯天主的罪惡而流血汗。她在神魂超拔中常說：『在我身上報復吧！但請寬恕所有的罪人！』」
吉瑪又經歷基督受茨冠和鞭笞的劇痛，甚至感到基督在聖架上的乾渴。她曾給神師寫道：「昨天的瞻禮六，我病了，全身的神經線受到折磨，這使到我非常乾渴 …。我以前曾有這種經歷，不過，沒有這次厲害。奇怪的是：水或任何飲料，非但不能解渴，只會增加我乾渴和更折磨我。」
基督對吉瑪說：「你知道為什麼我願意向我所愛的人靈施予苦架嗎？我願意完全擁有他們，因此我用苦架包圍他們，並以磨難閉著他們，好使他們不能逃出我手；為了這原因，我到處伸展荊棘，好使他們不對任何人傾心，而只在我內尋覓一切喜樂。我的女兒，假如十字架是不感到的，那便不可能被稱為十字架了。你要確知，如果你站在十字架下，你將永不失落。接近十字架而痛哭的人，魔鬼無所施其技。我的女兒，如果我不把他們釘在十字架上，會有多麼的人離棄我。十字架是非常珍貴的禮物，透過它可以學習到很多的聖德。」