Chapter 2: Adversity is the spiritual ring with which the soul is betrothed to God

As Gertrude offered to God in her prayers all that she suffered in body and mind, and all the pleasures of which she had deprived herself, whether in the flesh or the spirit, our Lord appeared to her, and showed her the pleasures and the pains which she had offered to Him under the form of two rings, enriched with precious stones, which He wore to adorn His hands. The Saint, perceiving this, repeated the offering frequently; and when suffering a corporal affliction some time afterwards, she beheld Jesus her Lord touch her left eye with the ring which He carried in His left hand, and which represented corporal afflictions and sufferings ; and from this moment she felt extreme suffering in this eye, which she had beheld our Lord touch in spirit, and this pain was never entirely removed.

She knew from this that, as the ring is the sign of espousal, so also sufferings in body or mind are testimonies of the spiritual espousal of the soul with God ; so that who ever suffers may say confidently, with all truth : " My Lord Jesus Christ has espoused me to Him with His ring ; " and if he recognises in those afflictions the graces which he has received, and returns thanks, he may add : " He has adorned me with a crown as His spouse;" because thanksgiving in tribulation is a crown of glory more bril liant than gold, and incomparably more precious than topaz.