Br. Krzysztof Makowski, CSsR pens his vocation story of being a Redemptorist Brother on the occasion of the 300th anniversary of the birth of Saint Gerard.
Who do we associate with the word “saint”? Most often, we think of great mystics who had the grace to see God during their lives and speak with Him. People who spent entire days in prayer, practicing corporal mortification, or fasting intensely.
You too, dear reader, probably have a patron saint in your life to whom you dedicate special devotion in your daily life. Perhaps it is the saint whose name you bear, or the saint through whose intercession you received a special grace.
For me, this special saint, whom I have chosen as a guide for my religious journey, is a religious brother just under thirty years old, Saint Gerard Majella, a Redemptorist, protector of pregnant mothers and patron of good confession.
Currently, we are celebrating the Jubilee Year marking the 300th anniversary of the birth of Saint Gerard in the Redemptorist Congregation. He was born in 1726 in a small village, Muro Lucano, in southern Italy. His mother instilled in him a belief of God’s infinite love. His father died when Gerard was 12. Despite poverty and various hardships, he was happy because he felt God’s closeness and his guiding hand, as well as the maternal protection of Mary. In Saint Gerard’s biography, we find no mention of a sudden change or conversion. He simply grew steadily in God’s love.
In 1749, the Redemptorists arrived in Muro to preach missions in the future saint’s hometown. Gerard, captivated by their lifestyle and preaching, asked to be admitted to the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer as a religious brother. Initially, the mission superior denied him due to his poor health, but the young man eventually won him over with his determination.
Upon entering the Congregation, Gerard had the firm will to belong exclusively to God and to do His will. He said, “I want to act in this world as if only God and I existed.” He vowed that he would always fulfil God’s will with the utmost perfection at all times.
In the monastery, he led a seemingly simple life, working as a gardener, tailor, and doorman. However, from the beginning, he was imbued with a desire for holiness. He was constantly busy, saying, “Let’s get to work! I want to become a saint!” He could spend hours before the Blessed Sacrament, conversing with Jesus. He prayed for a living faith in the Blessed Sacrament of the Altar, so that he could contemplate the love revealed in Christ’s offering.
Saint Gerard was a friendly man who easily connected with people. His words and advice were filled with warmth, and his love for God and his neighbour did not allow him to be indifferent to the life choices of others. Although he had not studied theology, he was so immersed in the love of God that he was able to explain the mysteries of faith to his listeners in an accessible yet profound way.
For me, Saint Gerard is a model of a man who completely entrusted his life to Jesus and found in Him the source of hope and the fullness of life. His life story is the story of a man who gratefully welcomed and was captivated by what we call abundant redemption. This abundant redemption became the meaning and strength of his life. This attitude springs from God’s infinite love. He was able to translate what he experienced in his heart into a language of love and mercy addressed to all men, without discrimination or distinction. He did so unconditionally and radically that he managed to involve God’s omnipotence in this sharing of love when his own possibilities and means proved insufficient.
Brother Gerard is a man who lived his life in a spirit of thanksgiving, in the spirit of the Marian hymn, the Magnificat. The motherhood of God, revealed to Mary by the angel Gabriel, does not lead her to focus on herself, but is expressed in the service of mercy she brings to Elizabeth. Mary is unable to keep to herself what she has received from God. She shares with her relative the experience of faith and of acting according to the logic of God’s plan, as interpreted in the history of salvation and in her own life story. It is the logic of God that exalts the humble and humbles the powerful, satisfies the hungry and sends the rich away empty-handed.
Saint Gerard also lived according to this logic, entrusting himself completely to God’s mercy. By sharing the lives of the humble and the poor, he became a witness to the adoption that the Holy Spirit accomplishes in each of us.
Thus, rooted in the experience of divine sonship, Saint Gerard is not afraid to face weakness. He is convinced that, as Saint Paul says, “The Spirit helps us in our weakness” (Rom 8:26). Nor does he succumb to crisis due to various difficulties, because he accepts them and lives them before the cross of “his beloved Redeemer.” He is convinced that seeking and fulfilling God’s will is not a form of mortification or the acceptance of a burden difficult to bear. For Gerard, God’s will, is the divine plan that aims at the realization of fullness and happiness. In this way, Saint Gerard’s life offers us an example of evangelization, as a service of hope for today’s world and for humanity, who so greatly needs it.
Finally, dear reader, allow me to share my personal experience of “encountering” our holy Brother Gerard, memories I cherish like precious photographs in a family album. Since I entered the Redemptorist Congregation 23 years ago, I have often heard my older brothers speak of Brother Gerard, his life, and his miracles.
Many years ago, I had the opportunity to make a pilgrimage to Italy. One of the many places I visited was the Shrine of Saint Gerard in Materdomini. It was there, on the eve of his feast day, October 16th, that I was able to pause before his tomb. From that moment on, my holy brother Gerard became an invisible companion throughout my life.
I still have a vivid memory of the crowds flocking to the basilica, singing, and praying, to ask Saint Gerard for the graces one needed and to thank him for the miracles performed through his intercession. Since then, I have often wondered why this humble religious brother, a Redemptorist, captivates so many hearts.
May Gerard, our jubilant, patron, and holy brother, obtain for us the gift of vocations to our Redemptorist family, especially the vocation of religious brothers.
Br. Krzysztof Makowski, CSsR.
Province of Warsaw
