Missionaries of the Blessed Sacrament

Before St. Gerard was five years old, he went into the Church after playing outside one day. As he was praying before the statue of Our Lady, the Christ Child in her arms got down to play with St. Gerard! Because St. Gerard was hungry, the Child Jesus gave him a loaf of bread. When he got home St. Gerard's mother asked him where he got the bread. He told her that a little boy had given it to him. This happened for several days. Finally, St. Gerard's sister followed him to see where he was getting the bread from. When she peeked into the Church, she saw St. Gerard playing with the Christ Child! Then, He gave St. Gerard a loaf of bread.

During Mass St. Gerard often saw the Child Jesus, really present in the Holy Eucharist, too. St. Gerard could see Jesus after Consecration until Holy Communion was over.

When he was seven years old, St. Gerard wanted to receive Holy Communion very much. It used to be that people didn't receive Jesus until they were 14 years old! But, St. Gerard thought that since Jesus loved him and he loved Jesus it would be okay to receive Him. The priest realized that St. Gerard wasn't old enough to receive Jesus, so he didn't give the child Holy Communion.
For the rest of the day, St. Gerard cried because he didn't get to receive Jesus. When St. Gerard went to bed that night he couldn't sleep. All of a sudden, an amazing light appeared in his room and St. Michael the Archangel appeared to give him Holy Communion!

Even during his life, St Gerard was called the "wonder-worker" because so many miraculous things happened through his intercession. He was given extraordinary knowledge and heroic penance, which caused him to suffer in silence when falsely accused of immoral behavior. St Gerard, through your intercession, grant that we may faithfully follow our vocation and reach that perfection which You held out to us in Your Son.