Two of my favorite saints are Padre Pio and Saint Gemma Galgani and I pray to them every day. For about a year I have been praying to Padre Pio for a certain grace but that grace has not been granted to me. So I have decided that from now on I am going to start praying to Saint Gemma for that grace instead of Padre Pio. So I ask you if you can to pray for me to Saint Gemma for the grace I am asking for. It is of a personal nature so I do not want to reveal what it is except that it is important to me. Thank you.

 

 

Two of my favorite saints are Padre Pio and Saint Gemma Galgani and I pray to them every day. For about a year I have been praying to Padre Pio for a certain grace but that grace has not been granted to me. So I have decided that from now on I am going to start praying to Saint Gemma for that grace instead of Padre Pio. So I ask you if you can to pray for me to Saint Gemma for the grace I am asking for. It is of a personal nature so I do not want to reveal what it is except that it is important to me. Thank you.

Your words remind me of a catechism question I grew up having to memorize...

Q. Why is it that God does not give us what we ask for?

A. Either because we have not prayed properly for it, or because He sees that what we are asking for is not good for us.

There have been many times in my life that I have asked God to help me overcome a number of my faults and imperfections, and I would get upset when He did not answer my prayers.  In the long run I began to realize that He did not want me to overcome them too quickly for that would make me become more proud than I already am, and that it is by allowing me to make mistakes that He keeps me more humbled.  

Of course, none of the mistakes are His fault, but sometimes we want something and do not realize that maybe it is not the best thing for us at the present moment...

Not that this is the same in your case, but just thought that it might give you some perspective.

At any rate, please know that you are in my prayers, Matt!  You have a good heart and wish to do well.  Now, trust in God completely and He will surely lead you where you need to be and give you the graces that you need to acquire, whatever they may be!  :-)

I was reading her biography again and I thought this was most important.

According to her confessor,

" . . . during the whole twenty-five yers of her life, Gemma never committed even one deliberate venial sin . . . "

Imagine that! I remember reading about Saint Therese of Lisieux and was impressed by reading that her confessor believed that she had never committed a single mortal sin. But this is amazing. Her confessor after hearing her general confession declared that not only had she never committed a mortal sin but that she never committed a single deliberate venial sin. How can we compare to such sanctity? Is it even possible for a soul to be so holy, other than Jesus or the Blessed Mother who were not stained with original sin?