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St. Gemma Galgani
Gemma Umberta Pia Galgani
(1878-1903)
Gemma Galgani died on Holy Saturday, 1903 in Lucca, Italy. Her death should have been completely unnoticed. She was often sickly in her 25 years of life and had to be taken care of. She left no children or family/. No hospitals, schools or any human achievement bear her name. Disappointments marked her life at every turn. She never got her wish to enter the Passionist Nuns or any other religious community.
Yet, at the news of her death on Holy Saturday, her neighbors gathered quickly in the Lucca’s ancient streets proclaiming “A saint has died.” Today in the Easter season we’re celebrating her feast.
Holy Saturday, the day after Jesus suffered and died, is the day before Jesus rose from the dead and appeared to his disciples. They report that he ate and drank with them for some days before ascending into heaven. He showed them the wounds in his hands and his side. He appeared to them, not just to prove he was alive, but affirm his love for them and for the whole world. He promised life.
Gemma knew the mysteries of Jesus’ death and resurrection in a special way. She spoke familiarly with the Risen Jesus, as we see from her writings, and in a unique way she bore his wounds in her body.
“Poor Gemma”, she called herself; but she was’t poor. Frail in body and mind, she wasn’t a failure. In declaring her a saint, Pope Pius XII said that Gemma experienced what the great apostle Paul experienced: “I have been crucified with Christ and the life that I live is not my own: Christ lives in me.
The stigmata, the bodily experience of the wounds of Christ, is a rare experience. It was not reason Gemma was declared a saint. Her heroic life of faith, patience and humility revealed her union with Christ, living in her.
The stigmata is a rare experience given to individuals, but it’s not meant for individuals themselves; it’s given to strengthen the belief of many. In Gemma’s time, “enlightened” thinkers like Freud and Jung were beginning to explore the human person. They were little concerned with God’s presence in human life. They would likely have dismissed Gemma’s spiritual experiences as delusional. A number of Lucca’s “enlightened” people had that opinion of her.
Gemma’s Passionist spiritual director, Father Germano, was introduced to her while preaching in Lucca. He saw God working in her. The church concurred in his judgment by declaring Gemma a saint in 1940.
Many today still define humanity in human terms and sees success here on earth as our ultimate goal. Gemma is a strong reminder of God’s presence in humanity, in ordinary people, even in unsuccessful, imperfect people. Her devotion to the Passion of Jesus gave her a deep sense that Jesus loved her and lived in her. She saw her life fulfilled in him and she believed his promise of life beyond this.
Many today think the spiritual world faraway; for Gemma it wasn’t faraway at all– saints and angels, Jesus himself, were ever at her side. She once wrote: “Often I seem to be alone; but really I have Jesus as my companion…I am the fruit of your passion, Jesus, born of your wounds. O Jesus, seek me in love; I no longer possess anything; you have stolen my heart.”
We’re not alone. Jesus Christ is our companion as well.
You can get St. Gemma’s Autobiography or a The Life of St. Gemma Galgani by writing to the Passionist Nuns, 1151 Donaldson Highway, Erlanger, Kentucky 41018
(859)371 8568
“Then one day I became very discouraged because I saw that it was impossible for me to become a Passionist, because I have nothing at alI: all I have is a great desire to be one. I suffer much seeing myself so far from realizing my desires. No one will be able to take this desire away from me. But when will it come about?” Letter to Germano
Gemm’a buried at the Convent of the Passionist Nuns in Lucca, Italy. The house where she lived before she died has been turned into a museum honoring her. Both places worth a visit.
Her feast day is May 16th.
Voice of the Faithful: Acts 18: 23-38
Apollos is mentioned in Saturday’s reading from the Acts of the Apostles (18,23-28). He reminds us that Peter, Paul and the other apostles were not the only teachers in the early church. Others brought the message of Christ to the cities and towns of the Roman Empire. Apollos was one of them.
He’s an eloquent, learned teacher who came to Ephesus from Alexandria, one of the great centers of Jewish and Christian learning, and he drew a following by preaching about Jesus. But Apollos doesn’t know everything, so a Jewish couple, Priscilla and Acquila, “took him aside and explained to him the Way of God more accurately.”
They were disciples of Paul who supported him with a job in their tent business. They traveled with Paul and certainly listened to his teaching, but I don’t think they were ever considered teachers as he and Apollos were. They were considered “hearers of the word,” more likely. Well informed, for sure, but still among those we would call today “the faithful.”
Yet, let’s not forget what important teachers “the faithful” are, as Priscilla and Aquila remind us.
I remember a story a brilliant priest told me long ago about a baptism he was conducting for an infant born to a member of his family. His father was the baby’s sponsor and according to the rite then was expected to recite the Creed.
“Can you say the Creed, Dad?” the priest said to his father.
“Who do you think taught it to you?,” the father sharply replied.
Faith can’t survive in this world without the faithful, ordinary Priscillas and Aquilas explaining it and passing it on. It begins with parents, godparents and family passing on the faith to children. It continues in daily life as ordinary Christians share their faith with others. The church today needs to strongly acknowledge this key mission of the laity.
Pope Francis is urging the laity to speak out in his call for a synodal church.
The Ascension of Jesus into Heaven
Homily
The firstborn of the new creation
Here’s St. Gregory of Nyssa, commenting on our feast today:
The reign of life has begun, the tyranny of death is ended. A new birth has taken place, a new life has come, a new order of existence has appeared, our very nature has been transformed! This birth is not brought about by human generation, by the will of man, or by the desire of the flesh, but by God.
If you wonder how, I will explain in clear language. Faith is the womb that conceives this new life, baptism the rebirth by which it is brought forth into the light of day. The Church is its nurse; her teachings are its milk, the bread from heaven is its food. It is brought to maturity by the practice of virtue; it is wedded to wisdom; it gives birth to hope. Its home is the kingdom; its rich inheritance the joys of paradise; its end, not death, but the blessed and everlasting life prepared for those who are worthy.
This is the day the Lord has made – a day far different from those made when the world was first created and which are measured by the passage of time. This is the beginning of a new creation. On this day, as the prophet says, God makes a new heaven and a new earth. What is this new heaven? you may ask. It is the firmament of our faith in Christ. What is the new earth? A good heart, a heart like the earth, which drinks up the rain that falls on it and yields a rich harvest.
In this new creation, purity of life is the sun, the virtues are the stars, transparent goodness is the air, and the depths of the riches of wisdom and knowledge, the sea. Sound doctrine, the divine teachings are the grass and plants that feed God’s flock, the people whom he shepherds; the keeping of the commandments is the fruit borne by the trees.
On this day is created the true man, the man made in the image and likeness of God. For this day the Lord has made is the beginning of this new world. Of this day the prophet says that it is not like other days, nor is this night like other nights. But still we have not spoken of the greatest gift it has brought us. This day destroyed the pangs of death and brought to birth the firstborn of the dead.
I ascend to my Father and to your Father, to my God and to your God. O what wonderful good news! He who for our sake became like us in order to make us his brothers, now presents to his true Father his own humanity in order to draw all his kindred up after him. Gregory of Nyssa
Feast of St. Matthias: May 14
May 14th is the Feast of St.Matthias, chosen by lot to take the place of Judas. Appropriately, the feast falls in the Easter season, the time he was selected. Matthias brings the number of apostles back to twelve, symbolic of the twelve tribes of Israel who await the promises of God. The Spirit comes after Matthias is selected in Luke’s account.
The qualifications for a new apostle seem simple enough. Peter says it should be someone “who accompanied us the whole time the Lord Jesus came and went among us, beginning from the baptism of John until the day on which he was taken up from us. He joins us as a witness to his resurrection.”
Two have those qualifications. Joseph called Barsabbas and Matthias.
Then, they pray:
“You, Lord, who know the hearts of all,
show which one of these two you have chosen.”
Then they gave lots to them, and the lot fell upon Matthias,
and he was counted with the Eleven Apostles.” (Acts 1,15-17, 20-25)
Yet, it isn’t as easy as it sounds. To be a witness to Jesus it wasn’t enough to get all the details right about what Jesus did or said, as a reporter or witness at a trial might do. In John’s gospel read for Matthias’ feast, Jesus describes a disciple as one who abides in him, who remains in him– a friend committed to him. So, a disciple cannot be just an on-looker, but one who enters the mystery of Jesus’ death and resurrection. He’s one who weathers doubts and uncertainties as the disciples listening to Jesus’ Farewell Discourse did. He’s like Thomas who sees the wounds in the Lord’s hands and side and learns to trust and believe through them.
I think also that the disciples of Jesus were conscious of their own failures as they selected Matthias. They thought Jesus was the key to an earthly kingdom, but he was not. Surely, they wanted someone who looked beyond their vision as a successor for Judas. They were looking for someone with a new vision of things.
Rembrandt’s wonderful portrayal of Jesus showing his wounds to Thomas (above) presents Thomas, not as a lonely skeptic, but someone representing all the disciples. All the disciples must look at Jesus’ wounds.
Pope Francis in a homily spoke of the importance of the wounds of Christ for a disciple of Jesus. We’re on an exodus beyond ourselves, he said, and there are two ways open for us. “one to the wounds of Jesus, the other to the wounds of our brothers and sisters.”
“If we are not able to move out of ourselves and toward our brothers and sisters in need, to the sick, the ignorant, the poor, the exploited – if we are not able to accomplish this exodus from ourselves, and towards those wounds, we shall never learn that freedom, which carries us through that other exodus from ourselves, and toward the wounds of Jesus.”
The wounds of Christ and the wounds of our brothers and sisters– we learn from both to see victory over death and to trust in the passion of Jesus.
Like Matthias, we’re called to be witnesses..
Vine and Branches
The Jesus Seminar, a group of scripture scholars formed about 50 years ago, aimed at discovering the authentic words of Jesus. They claimed his words in this part of John’s gospel are so different from his words in other gospels that they are not his, but were created by a later disciple.
Many New Testament scholars, among them Raymond Brown, see the Last Supper Discourse as an example of the way many ancient writers summarized the teachings and mission of great figures as they leave their disciples in death. John’s gospel, then, is a summary of Jesus’ teaching and mission in the context of the Passover.. Jesus addresses his disciples as “little children”, as a father might address his children during Passover, explaining to them the message of that saving feast.
He announces his glorification. He is going to the Father. His disciples will participate in his glory. “ I am the vine, you are the branches.” (John 15:1-8) They are to love one another as he has loved them. Loving one another is his supreme command to them. If they keep his commandments Jesus promises them a joy that no one can take from them.
Do we hear in the Last Supper Discourse words Jesus spoke to his disciples during his ministry and also words he spoke in the days after his resurrection? After Jesus rose from the dead, Paul tells his hearers in Antioch in Pisidia, “for many days he appeared to those who had come up with him from Galilee to Jerusalem. These are now his witnesses before the people.” ( Acts 13:30-32)
In the “many days” he appeared to them Jesus prepared them for his sacramental presence among them in signs. As he ate with them and drank with them he assured them he would remain with them in signs for ”a little while.” Still, we can hear they are disturbed. They “cling” to him. We hear their fears and anxiety in the words of Thomas and Philip. They were unsure and uncertain.
This icon, Christ the Vine, was painted by a famous fifteenth-century Cretan iconographer Angelos Akotantos (d.1450) before the Byzantine Empire collapsed, leading to the separation of Eastern and Western churches. The icon is a call for unity of the churches.
6th Week of Easter: Readings and Feasts
We’re reading about the journeys of St. Paul from the Acts of the Apostles this week of the Easter season. Luke notes the places Paul and his companions set up churches as they go from Jerusalem to Rome. Their journeys are often called travel journeys; bibles have maps following Paul from place to place. The gospel has to be preached everywhere in the world, Jesus said.
But Paul’s journeys are more than travel journeys for Luke: the gospel is being proclaimed to the world in many dimensions as we see in this week’s accounts. On Monday Paul speaks to women at their place of prayer along the water in Thessaloniki and he invites Lydia–or rather she invites herself–-to join him in his mission. Just as in his gospel, Luke sees women hearing the Good News and bringing its message to others.
On Tuesday Paul and Silas are thrown into prison at Philippi. (Acts 17:22-34) Not only are the jailor and his household converted to the gospel, but Luke notes the prisoners were listening as they prayed and sang in the night. And so, as Luke does in his gospel he points out the poor must hear the gospel. Most of these prisoners will never get to one of Paul’s house churches, but they hear the gospel all the same.
On Wednesday, Paul speaks to the intellectuals in Athens.The results of his preaching are not promising, only a handful seem to respond. But the gospel has to be brought to places like Athens. The gospel has to be brought into the world of learning and science. It has to be proclaimed to those searching for the truth.
On Thursday and Friday the readings tell us that Paul after his rejection at Athens, gets a better reception in Corinth, the tough seaport not far from Athens, but worlds away from that proud city. “Do not be afraid. Go on speaking, and do not be silent, for I am with you.” Jesus says in a vision.
On Saturday, Luke reminds us that Paul had great people with him like Priscilla and Aquila, the wife and husband, who instruct Apollos, a good speaker but weak in his theology. “When Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they took him aside and explained to him the Way of God more accurately.” Some time ago I told a cousin of mine who wasn’t sure about a sermon she heard in church. “You may be right and he’s wrong.”
The missionary journeys are more than Paul’s journeys from place to place, setting up churches. They meant to bring the gospel to the world in its many dimensions.
6th Sunday of Easter: I am in you
A Catholic Church
Our first reading at Mass today, the letter from the church of Jerusalem to the church in Antioch, offers an important teaching on the nature of the church. The church of Jesus Christ is meant for all peoples. “I will give you thanks among the peoples, O Lord.” www.usccb.org
The universality of our church may be a special gift to the world today, when wars are pitting one country against another, when so many countries are closing their borders in fear of foreigners, when nations are looking only to their own interests.
We’re living in a divided world. It’s longing for a voice reminding us of our common humanity. We’re all children of God.
Our church is called to be a model of what the world should be. A home for all, whatever your race, or color, or place on the social ladder. I think that’s one reason Leo XIV gets the worldwide welcome he does.
So let’s pray for him and stand with him. What does a pope stand for? He shepherd’s a church that’s a home for all. He proclaims the message of Jesus, God’s only Son. That’s why Pope Leo was chosen, not because he’s an American, but because he’s a missionary at home in the world itself.
On the day of his election, the new pope told the cardinals who elected him to join him in a mission to the world. On the day after, he asked the crowds in St. Peter’s square to join him too on that mission, to follow Jesus Christ and bring his message to all peoples.
We belong to the Catholic Church. We have to keep our church catholic. We have to be catholic ourselves.
Take a look at this important summary of Pope Leo’s teaching from the Vatican site. https://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope/news/2026-05/the-pope-and-the-catecheses-on-the-council.html
The Council of Jerusalem: Acts 15; 7-21
Our reading at Mass from the Acts of the Apostles (Acts 15, 7-21) brings us to a critical moment in the life of the early church– the Council of Jerusalem, which decided whether and on what terms gentiles would be accepted into the new Christian movement. Its decision to admit the gentiles led to a rapid expansion of the church as non-Jews from all parts of the Roman world embraced the faith.
Luke Timothy Johnson has a fine commentary on this crucial event. (Acts of the Apostles: Sacra Pagina, Liturgical Press 1992)
Did a meeting really take place? Johnson writes “we can state with considerable confidence that in the first decades of the Christian movement an important meeting was held concerning the legitimacy and basis of the Gentile mission; that participants included Paul and Peter and James and Barnabas; that certain agreements were reached which, in one way or another, secured the basic freedom of the Gentile initiative. The most striking agreement between the sources comes, in fact, at the religious level. With only very slight variation, both Luke and Paul agree that the basis of the mission to the Gentiles was a matter of God’s gift, (Acts15,11. Gal 2,9) and that God was equally at work in the Apostle Paul as he was in the Apostle Peter. (Acts 15,7-8.12; Gal 2,8)”
Notice the hesitancy of the original Jewish followers of Jesus to accept gentiles into their ranks. That’s evident in Peter’s strong reluctance to meet the Roman centurion Cornelius as he visits believers of his own kind around Joppa. Not only are the disciples slow to recognize their Risen Lord, they’re slow to accept his plans for expanding their ranks. Peter must see signs of God at work in Cornelius before baptizing him and his household. Paul, James and Barnabas also must see God’s gifts in the outsiders they meet before they recognize that God is calling them to believe.
God sows seeds of faith, but we’re as slow to recognize the action of God in others as the first disciples were. We have trouble seeing God’s action in the stranger and in the unexpected. We need enlightenment.
Johnson notes that the Church’s journey through time is marked by conflict and debate. We must accept those conditions today too. Those who follow Jesus will not always agree with each other; there are strong opinions and differences among believers.
One thing I would add. Besides conflict and debate, our reading today speaks of the “silence” that comes as they debate. We’re in the presence of our transcendent God, whose ways and thoughts are above ours. We need silence to discern God’s will. Too much talk can get in the way.
The Victor's Place 