Chapter 1: Our Lord gives His Blessed Mother to St. Gertrude to be her mother, in order that she may have recourse to her in all her afflictions

St. GERTRUDE having learned by Divine revelation that she was about to endure some trial * for the increase of her merit, began to fear through human weak ness -, but the Lord had compassion on her infirmity, and gave her His most merciful Mother, the Empress of Heaven, for her mother and for her dispenser ; so that, when the burden of her grief appeared beyond her strength, she might always have recourse to this Mother of mercy, and by her intervention obtain relief.

Some time after, as she was much grieved because a devout person obliged her to reveal the singular favours with which God had honoured her on the preceding feast, she had recourse to the Mother of the afflicted, in order to learn from her what she ought to do on this occasion. " Give freely what you possess," she replied ; " for my Son is rich enough to repay all that you expend for His glory." But as the Saint desired to conceal as much as possible the great favours granted to her, even while she partly revealed them, she desired to know from her heavenly Spouse how far her conduct was agreeable to Him. Prostrating herself at His feet, she implored Him to make known His will to her, and to give her the desire of accomplishing it. Her confidence merited for her this reply, which she received from the Divine Mercy : " Give My money to the bank, that when I come I may receive it with usury " (Luke xix. 23). And thus she learnecj that the reasons which she had considered good, and even inspired by the Spirit of God, were merely human; so that from henceforth she imparted more freely what was revealed to her, and not without reason ; for Solomon has declared : "It is the glory of God to conceal the word, and the glory of kings to search out the speech " (Prov. xxv. 2).