The writings of Saint Gertrude open a window to Heaven, illuminating the divine effects of each prayer, choice, and liturgy here on earth. Her sweet wisdom and angelic language will strike your soul and lift you to the clouds of devotion. Read on to experience Saint Gertrude’s gift of the stigmata.
I believe it was during the winter of the first or second year, when I began to receive these favors, that I met the following prayer in a book of devotions:
“O Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the living God, grant that I may aspire towards Thee with my whole heart, with full desire and with thirsty soul, seeking only Thy sweetness and Thy delights, so that my whole mind and all that is within me may most ardently sigh to Thee, who art our true Beatitude. O most merciful Lord, engrave Thy Wounds upon my heart with Thy most precious Blood, that I may read in them both Thy grief and Thy love; and that the memory of Thy Wounds may ever remain in my inmost heart, to excite my compassion for Thy sufferings and to increase in me Thy love. Grant me also to despise all creatures, and that my heart may delight in Thee alone. Amen.”
Having learned this prayer with great satisfaction, I repeated it frequently, and Thou, Who despisest not the prayer of the humble, heard my petitions; for soon after, during the same winter, being in the refectory after Vespers, for collation, I was seated near a person to whom I had made known my secret.
I relate these things for the benefit of those who may read what I write, because I have often perceived that the fervor of my devotion is increased by this kind of communication; but I know not for certain, O Lord my God, whether it was Thy Spirit, or perhaps human affection, made me act thus, although I have heard from those experienced in such matters that it is always better to reveal these secrets—not indifferently to all, but chiefly to those who are not only our friends, but whom we are bound to reverence.
Yet, as I am doubtful, as I have said, I commit all to Thy faithful Providence, whose spirit is sweeter than honey. If this fervor arose from any human affection, I am even more bound to have a profound gratitude for it, since Thou hast deigned to unite the mire of my vileness to the precious gold of Thy charity, that so the precious stones of Thy grace might be encased in me.
Being seated in the refectory, as I said before, I thought attentively on these things, when I perceived that the grace which I had so long asked by the aforesaid prayer was granted to me, unworthy though I am; for I perceived in spirit that Thou hadst imprinted in the depth of my heart the adorable marks of Thy sacred Wounds, even as they are on Thy Body, that Thou hadst cured my soul, in imprinting these Wounds on it, and that, to satisfy its thirst, Thou hadst given it the precious beverage of Thy love.
But my unworthiness had not yet exhausted the abyss of Thy mercy, for I received from Thine overflowing liberality this remarkable gift—that each time during the day in which I endeavored to apply myself in spirit to those adorable Wounds, saying five verses of the Psalm Benedic, anima mea, Domino (Ps. 102), I never failed to receive some new favor.
At the first verse, “Bless the Lord, O my soul,” I deposited all the rust of my sins and my voluptuousness at the Wounds of Thy blessed Feet; at the second verse, “Bless the Lord, and never forget all He hath done for thee,” I washed away all the stains of carnal and perishable pleasures in the sweet bath of Blood and Water which Thou didst pour forth for me; at the third verse, “Who forgiveth all thine iniquities,” I reposed my spirit in the Wound of Thy Left Hand, even as the dove makes its nest in the crevice of the rock; at the fourth verse, “Who redeemeth thy life from destruction,” I approached Thy Right Hand, and took from thence all that I needed for my perfection in virtue; and being thus magnificently adorned, I passed to the fifth verse, “Who satisfieth thy desire with good things,” that I might be purified from all the defilement of sin, and have the indigence of my wants supplied, so that I might become worthy of Thy presence— though of myself I am utterly unworthy—and might merit the joy of Thy chaste embraces.
I declare also that Thou hast freely granted my other petition—namely, that I might read Thy grief and Thy love together. But, alas, this did not continue long, although, I cannot accuse Thee of having withdrawn it from me, but I complain of having lost it myself by my own negligence. This Thine excessive goodness and infinite mercy has hidden from itself, and has procured to me, without any merit on my part, the greatest of Thy gifts—the impression of Thy Wounds—for which be praise, honor, glory, dominion and thanksgiving to Thee for endless ages!
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This article is taken from a chapter in The Life and Revelations of Saint Gertrude the Great by Saint Gertrude the Great which is available from TAN Books.
