Bl Maria Gabriella

MY ONLY DESIRE IS TO LOVE
From the final letter of Blessed Maria Gabriella to her mother 2
◊◊◊
I do not want you to get ideas and begin to pray for my recovery. Pray
instead that the Lord will do with me whatever is to his greater glory… I am
always content to do the will of God, whatever it might be, for that is my joy, my
happiness, my peace… Remain firm in your dispositions of abandonment to the
will of God and bless him always for whatever he chooses to do with me. Forget
that I am sick and think only about the Lord: thank him and bless him for the
graces and the gifts he has given me.

I feel that I love my Spouse with all my heart, but I would like to love him
even more. I would like to love him for those who do not love him, for those who
scorn him, for those who offend him. In short, my only desire is to love.

My happiness is great and no one can take it from me. It is greater than
that enjoyed by rich people in their mansions who, while they enjoy themselves,
perhaps have death in their hearts. There is no happiness greater than being
able to suffer something for Jesus and for the salvation of souls… You must be
happy as well, mother, and thank the Lord for this grace which he has given to
you and to me… I want you all to be as happy as I am… Resign yourselves and
rejoice, all of you, in the Lord.

Do not think that I am not well cared for—on the contrary, I am taken
care of hand and foot. The Reverend Mother is so good that she does not spare
herself anything in order to give me every possible assistance… No mother’s
heart could outdo her in the love and attention she demonstrates towards me.
I thank the Lord, and will thank and bless him always for all he has done for me
and for you, but I feel that I will never be able to thank him enough.

2
from Martha Driscoll, OCSO, The Silent Herald of Unity, Kalamazoo, MI: Cistercian Publications, 1990, pp. 99-
100.