I Will Never Be Able to Thank Enough
A Little Soul
Blessed Maria Gabriella was “a little soul.” She has affinities with Saint Thérèse of the Child Jesus and of the Holy Face, Blessed Elizabeth of the Trinity, Blessed Charles de Jésus, Saint Thérèse Couderc, and the young Trappist priest, Blessed Marie–Joseph Cassant.
Grateful Confidence and Surrender to the Will of God
Maria Gabriella’s life was marked by two characteristics:
1) Gratefulness to the Mercy of God. She compared herself to the prodigal son of Saint Luke’s Gospel. She was full of thanksgiving for her monastic vocation, for her community, and, above all, for the Mercy of God which called her, set her apart, and sustained her. Even in her final agony, Maria Gabriella was full of gratefulness.
2). The desire to respond to the Grace of God with all her strength, offering herself to the perfect fulfillment of His Will in her.
In her grateful confidence in the Mercy of God and surrender to His Will, Blessed Maria Gabriella’s holiness participates in and reflects that of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Although she lived first in a remote village of Sardinia, then in a Trappist cloister, and finally in a hospital room, Maria Gabriella’s holiness is universal, because it shines with the light of the Beatitudes and of the Gospel of Saint John. Blessed Maria Gabriella’s body, found intact in 1957, reposes in a chapel at the Trappist Cistercian Abbey of Vitorchiano. Since her beatification the abbey has been blessed with numerous vocations and has founded new monasteries in Italy, Argentina, Chile, Venezuela, Indonesia, and the Philippines.
Her Own Words
“In simplicity of heart I gladly offer everything, O Lord.”
“The Lord put me on this path, he will remember to sustain me in battle.”
“To His mercy I entrust my frailty.”
“I saw in front of me a big cross…, I thought that my sacrifice was nothing in comparison to His.”
“I offered myself entirely and I do not withdraw the given word.”
“God’s will whatever it may be, this is my joy, my happiness, my peace.”
“I will never be able to thank enough.”
“I cannot say but these words: ‘My God, Thy Glory.'”
