[continued from previous message]   
      
   Many from the Order watched and prayed in his cell with him, as they   
   knew his moment of death was close at hand. They were moved to tears   
   by his devotion, and by the love with which he implored the comfort of   
   Jesus, Mary, and Joseph. By their records, Gabriel suddenly turned his   
   eyes to the left and above him, gazing in rapture upon some heavenly   
   vision. With a peaceful smile, he died, never letting go of his   
   beloved picture. Not yet a priest when he died at age 24, Gabriel was   
   buried at the Passionist retreat in Isola di Gran Sasso, Italy.   
      
   Since his death, numerous miracles have been reported via his   
   intercession. For example, Saint Gemma (1878-1903), a young woman with   
   numerous ailments including deafness from meningitis, paralysis,   
   abscesses, and curvature of the spine was miraculously cured after   
   praying a novena to Saint Gabriel. In her own words, "I grew in   
   admiration of his virtues and his ways. My devotion to him increased.   
   At night I did not sleep without having his picture under my pillow,   
   and after that I began to see him near me. I don’t know how to explain   
   this, but I felt his presence. At all times and in every action   
   Brother Gabriel came to mind.”   
      
   When she was approximately 20, and on her deathbed, Gemma began her   
   novena to Saint Gabriel. While trying to sleep, she heard the rattling   
   of a Rosary and he appeared to her, saying, “Do you wish to recover?   
   Pray with faith every evening to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. I will   
   come to you until the Novena is ended, and will pray together to this   
   Most Sacred Heart.” On the last night of the Novena, Gemma was   
   miraculously cured of all her ailments, a scientific impossibility at   
   the time. Saint Gemma went on to be visited by the Blessed Virgin   
   Mary, and bore the stigmata throughout her prayerful life, committed   
   to Jesus.   
      
   One of his brothers wrote of him: “In the garden within the monastery   
   walls at Isola stands a large crucifix. A seed fell to the ground   
   before it. A plant sprang up, and twined itself around the cross until   
   it reached the feet of the figure nailed upon it. It then bent   
   outward, as if to behold what was above. A bud formed, swelled, burst   
   into bloom, and gazed in loving awe upon the figure of Christ   
   Crucified. Lo! it was a true flower of the Passion! Its heart was   
   pierced and stamped with the signs of Him Who hung upon the cross. The   
   seed that fell at the foot of the crucifix was Francis Possenti. The   
   plant that grew there from and flowered was Gabriel of Our Lady of   
   Sorrows, Passionist.”   
      
   While he was alive, Gabriel did not work miracles. For six years he   
   lived a quiet, ordered life, devoted to the Blessed Mother, and   
   content to sit in adoration of the Blessed Sacrament. Meditating on   
   the Passion and Sacred Heart of Jesus was his comfort, as he worked to   
   grow closer to God and leave behind his worldly desires. His   
   conversion reminds us of the ties we have to the physical world, those   
   things that we struggle to give up, those things that pull us away   
   from God and His plan for our lives. What do we cling to instead of   
   the cross? What do we put before our Lord in importance, turning our   
   focus away from what should center us? What change is the Lord calling   
   us to make this Lenten season?   
      
      
   Saint Quote:   
   “I will attempt day by day to break my will into pieces. I want to do   
   God’s Holy Will, not my own”   
   --Saint Gabriel of Our Lady of Sorrows   
      
   Reflection:   
   "Jesus, in your name the blind see, the lame walk, and the dead are   
   raised to life. Come into our lives and heal the wounds of our broken   
   hearts. Give us eyes of faith to see your glory and hearts of courage   
   to bring you glory in all we say and do."   
      
      
   <><><><>   
   THE PRAYER, FATHER OF MERCIES.   
      
   Father of mercies,   
   God of all comfort,   
   hear our prayers for the souls of the faithful departed.   
   Console them in their sorrowful exile   
   from the kingdom prepared for them   
   from the creation of the world.   
   We make our prayer for them through Jesus Christ, Your Son,   
   who loved them and delivered Himself up for all of us. Amen.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)