Cancer (and tuberculosis and other terminal diseases) really are the disease of Paradise…
I have been reflecting on the experience of Saint Gemma Galgani. Saint Gemma was an extraordinary Italian woman who died of tuberculosis at the age of 25 in 1903. Saint Gemma was the eldest daughter of a poor pharmacist. As her mother died whe she was eight years old, and her father died when she was eighteen years old, she cared for her seven brothers and sisters until her death. I her twenties – through prayers to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, Saint Gabriel of Our Lady of Sorrows, and Saint Marguerite Marie Alacoque – Saint Gemma was cured of spinal meningitis. However, her poor health prevented her from becoming a nun.
Gemma saw her guardian angel daily, and had visits from Jesus, Mary, Saint Gabriel of Our Lady of Sorrows, as well as the devil who tempted and tortured her physically and mentally.
Saint Gemma was known as the Flower of Lucca and often referred to as the “Daughter of Passion” because of her intense replication of the Passion of Christ. Her experiences were heavily documented through letters, an autobiography and many witnesses.
During her life, she experienced the stigmata on her hands and feet from Thursday to Saturday each week (after those days the bleeding would stop, and she would be left with white scars instead) until her confessor encouraged her to pray for their disappearance due to her declining health. The marks did disappear eventually but left thin white scars on the saint’s flesh until her death.
Saint Gemma eventually contracted tuberculosis and died of the disease after great pain and suffering when she was only twenty-five years old.
And I have been reflecting on this experience of this saint. You see, she was not the only saint to contract this dreadful disease. Saint Bernadette Soubirous, Saint Therese of Lisieux, Saint Rafqa, Saint Faustina and many others succumbed – after much suffering – to this terrible disease.
Today – primarily in the developing world – tuberculosis kills approximately 1.6 million people each year and cancer kills approximately 10 million people each year…
That is a lot of suffering and pain and anguish for a lot of souls…
And I have been thinking about that today. You see, there is an awful lot of suffering in a disease like that. And an awful lot of merit to be gained. After all, such terrible diseases allow the human time to reflect on their mortality and give the soul an opportunity to prepare to meet God Himself.
And when I stop and think about it like that, I truly can understand why I have heard it said that Cancer (and tuberculosis and other terminal diseases) really are the disease of Paradise… For they are the diseases that allow the soul (and those around them) to reflect most closely upon the unimaginable suffering of God who – for love of ME – placed Himself into Time and Space to suffer and die to save ME…
For with prayer, I stand on Holy Ground where everything is clear. Here. At the Foot of the Cross.