"I Will Give God the Best I Have"

A MEMBER of the "24 Club", St. Gabriel of Our Lady of Sorrows is a special inspiration to the young, students, clerics, and novices whose patron he is. In his short life, he rose heroically from an average, even worldly, life to one of great perfection, as is exhibited by the resolutions which guided his brief religious life.

LEAD by our Lady to join the Passionists, he became a great champion of her sorrows. A saint known for his cheerfulness, this trait was carefully cultivated amid great personal suffering and tribulations, not the least of which were caused by the ravages of tuberculosis, the disease that caused his early death. During his final illness, St. Gabriel destroyed most of his spiritual writings, fortunately leaving us some of his resolutions, resolutions he kept steadfastly and which we would do well to adopt as our own.

EXCERPTS FROM HIS RESOLUTIONS

• ​I will keep my rule, even the smallest thing.
• I will shun idleness.
• I will obey the sound of the bell as though it were the voice of God.
• I will receive all things from the hand of God, as being sent by Him for my own personal benefit.
• I will profit by every occasion for mortification that may occur.
• I will fulfill exactly my ordinary duties, mortifying self in whatever would prove an obstacle to perfect obedience.
• I will not inquire after anything through curiosity.
• I am poor and I should act accordingly.
• I should be willing to put up with any inconvenience gladly.
• I will mortify myself in ordinary things and whatever I feel inclined to do, saying in my heart: “O my God, I will not do this thing through mere inclination, but because it is thy will”.
• I will never excuse myself when I am blamed or corrected, nor even resent it interiorly, much less put the blame upon others.
• I will not judge ill of anyone.
• I will consider everyone my superior, treating all with humility and reverence.
• I will rejoice at the success of others.
• I will practice charity and kindness, assisting, serving and pleasing all.
• I will close my heart against disquiet of any kind.
• I will obey the voice of the Superior as if it were the voice of God himself.
• In my obedience I will neither examine the why nor the wherefore.
• I will not employ time in conversing about purely worldly matters.
• “Faithfulness in little things” is the motto I will always follow in my efforts to reach holiness.
• I will try to reproduce in myself whatever I see edifying and virtuous in the conduct of others.
• I will give to God the best that I have — the entire affection of my heart.

“O my God, I will not do this thing through
​mere inclination, but because it is thy will.”