Okay about St. Gertrude
Saint Gertrude the Great. Today when and if you search the internet you may notice she is confused with the abbess of her order, and natural sister of St. Mechtildes who were born of an llustrious family; confused because they had the same name. Even pictures of St. Gertrude are mistaken for the Gertrude abbess because of the crosier, a symbol of authority.
Our Saint Gertrude was never an abbess and Holy Church has distinguished her from all others of her sex by adding to her name the honorable title, "the Great." She is the queen-flower of the Benedictine Order, the most beautiful lily among the holy virgins who flourished during the glorious middle ages. One thing remarkable in the life of St. Gertrude, the like of which cannot be found in the life of any other saint: it is the extraordinary promises made to her by our Savior in favor of those who venerate her. Gertrude was confided to the care of St. Mechtilde, mistress of the alumnate and sister of the Abbess Gertrude. From the first she had the gift of winning the hearts, and her biographer gives many details of her exceptional charms, which matured with advancing years.
Gertrude entered the cloistered convent of Helfta at the early age of 5 years old. Because of her abandonment there her birthplace, parentage and ancestry have remained shrouded in obscurity. When however, Gertrude had reached the proper age, she answered the call of heaven which beckoned her to the venerable Order of St. Benedict.
Gertrude's heart sought God alone, and found Him everywhere. To please Jesus in all things was the one aim of her life. Her life became daily more supernatural; at times she received Divine directions and profound illuminations, whose inspiration seemed to carry her spirit into the fathomless depths of the Divinity; again she was transported into heaven to anticipate its delights, to enjoy its beauty.
Blind trust in God's mercy, unlimited confidence in His love, is one of the secrets to obtain sanctity. The Holy Fathers have always taught that the measure of our hope and confidence is the measure of the graces which we receive from heaven. They have realized that, through our unreserved confidence, God is most honored and glorified. Nothing will be denied to an unlimited confidence. Our Lord revealed: "It is impossible that anyone should not receive all that he has believed and hoped to obtain. It gives Me real pleasure when men hope great things from Me and I will always grant them more than they expect."
In all things, Gertrude had recourse to Jesus as a child has to its mother. Nothing, in her eyes, was too trivial to be recommended to Him. On one occasion, having lost a needle in a pile of straw, she besought Him to find it for her. "O dear Jesus," she said, "vainly, indeed, would I search for this needle. It would be lost time. Please get it for me Thyself." Extending one hand, and turning away her head, she immediately found the needle between her fingers. Again and again, Our Lord encouraged this confidence so dear to Him.
In all Gertrude's writings, we find but one passage breathing the spirit of severity to men seeking Him in the Eucharist. It refers to those communicants who permit their tongue to be stained by sins of uncharitableness and criticism. One day after Holy Communion, as St. Gertrude was thinking with what care she should use her tongue, honored and sanctified as it was above all the members of her body by the Body of Christ being laid thereon in Holy Comunion, Our Lord instructed her thus: - "One who does not abstain from vain, idle, or sinful discourses, and who approaches Holy Communion without repentance, is like a person who gathers a heap of stones at the threshold of his door to throw at his guest when he comes to visit him, or beats him cruelly on the head with a rod."
Our Savior frequently impressed upon St. Gertrude the exceeding value our sufferings acquire when united to those of His life and Passion. "Whoever in his trials aned adversities unites himself with My sufferings, and strives to imitate My patience and resignation, will truly repose on My Heart and participate in all the merits of My life."
It was not till 1677 that the name of Gertrude was inscribed in the Roman Martyrology and her feast was extended to the universal church, which now keeps it on 15 November, although it was at first fixed on 17 November, the day of her death, on which it is still celebrated by her own order. In compliance with a petition from the King of Spain she was declared Patroness of the West Indies; in Peru her feast is celebrated with great pomp, and in New Mexico a town was built in her honour and bears her name.
Topic: Prayers Against Lust (Read 8131 times)