Chapter 26: Of the merit of a good will, and instructions on some words of the Divine Office

AT the Mass Vein et ostende the Lord appeared to St. Gertrude, full of sweetness and grace, breathing forth a holy and vivifying odour, and pouring forth from the august throne of His glory the influences of His love for the sweet Feast of His Nativity.

Then, the saint having prayed Him to enrich all who had been recommended to her prayers with special grace, He said to her : "I have given to each a tube of pure gold ; of which such is the virtue, that by it they may draw forth all they need from My sacred Heart." By this mystic tube she understood that good will by which men may acquire all the spiritual riches which are in heaven and on earth. For example : if any one, burning with the fire of pure and holy desires, endeavours to give God as much thanks and praise and as many testimonies of service and fidelity as certain of His saints have rendered to Him, the infinite goodness of God regards this good will as if it had really been effected. But this tube becomes more brilliant than gold when men thank God for having given them so noble and elevated a will, that they might have acquired infinitely greater advantages by it than the whole world could bestow.

She knew, also, that all her sisters who surrounded Jesus Christ received Divine grace by similar tubes. Some appeared to receive it directly from the Heart of Jesus

*Introit for Saturday in Ember "Week; Advent, "Come, O Lord, and show unto us Thy face," &c.

Christ, others from His Hands; but the farther from His Heart they drew these graces, the more difficulty they had in obtaining them ; whereas those who drew them from His Divine Heart obtained them more easily, more sweetly, and more abundantly. Those who drew directly from His sacred Heart represented those persons who conform them selves entirely to the Divine will, who desire above all things that this will should be .accomplished in them, both in regard to spirituals and temporals. And these persons touch the Heart of God so powerfully, and render it so favourable to them at the time that God has determined, that they receive the torrent of Divine sweetness with as much abundance and pleasure as they have abandoned themselves perfectly to His holy will. But those who endeavoured to drawtheir graces fromthe other members of the Body of Jesus Christ, represent those persons who endeavour to acquire vir tue according to their natural inclinations ; and the fear and difficulty they experience is proportionate to the extent to which they have relied on their own judgment, and have failed to abandon themselves to Divine Providence.

§ 1. Of the most perfect manner of offering our hearts to God,

As Gertrude offered her heart to God in the following manner, — "Lord, behold my heart, which is detached from all creatures ; I offer it to Thee freely, beseeching Thee to purify it in the sanctifying Waters of Thy adorable Side, and to adorn it with the precious Blood of Thy sweetest Heart, and to unite it to Thee by the odours of charity," — our Lord appeared to her, and offered her heart to His Eternal Father, united to His own, under the form of a chalice, the two parts of which were joined together by wax. The Saint, perceiving this, said, with extreme fer- vour : " Grant me the grace, most loving Lord, that my heart may be always before Thee like the flasks * which princes use, so that Thou mayest have it cleansed and filled and emptied, according to Thy good pleasures, when ever and however Thou wiliest." This request being heard favourably by the Son of God, He said to His Father : " Eternal Father ! may this soul pour "forth for Thy infinite glory what Mine contains in My Humanity ! " And from that moment, whenever the Saint offered her heart to God, saying the words above mentioned, it seemed to her so filled, that it poured itself forth in thanksgiving and praises, augmenting the joy of the blessed in heaven, and contri buting to the adornment of the just on earth, as will be seen hereafter. From this moment the Saint knew that God willed her to commit to writing what He had re vealed to her, that it might be for the benefit of many.

§ 2. Of confidence in God, and of reparation for the con tempts offered to Him.

In Advent, by the response Ecce venitj she knew that if any one formed in their heart, with a firm purpose, a perfect desire of submitting in all things to the adorable will of God, alike in prosperity as in adversity, they would, by His grace, render the same honour to God by this thought as if they crowned Him with a royal diadem.

And by these words of the Prophet Isaias : " Arise, arise ! stand up, 0 Jerusalem ; " she understood the advan tage which the Church militant receives from the devotion of the elect. For when a soul, full of love, turns to God

"Flasconum, qui ad refectionem dominornm deferuntur.'' V. Response, ii. Nocturn, 2d Sunday in Advent : "Behold, the Lord our Protector cometh, the Holy One of Israel."

with her whole heart, and with a perfect will of repairing, were it possible, all the dishonour done to Jesus Christ, she appeases His anger by her loving charity, so that He is willing to pardon the sins of the whole world.

By the words, " That hast drunk the cup of His wrath even to the bottom" (Isa. li.), may be understood how she has averted the severity of Divine justice. But by the fol lowing words, "That hast drunk even to the dregs," she knew that the reprobate have the dregs of this chalice for their portion, and can never obtain redemption.

§ 3. Of refraining from useless words.

By these words of Isaias, " Thou dost not thy own ways, and thy own will is not found to speak a word " (Iviii. 13), she knew that he who regulates his words and actions thoughtfully, and abstains even from those that are lawful when they are not necessary, will obtain a triple advantage : first, he will find a greater pleasure in God, according to these words, " Thou shalt be delighted in the Lord ; " secondly, bad thoughts will have less power over him, for it is said, " I will lift thee above the high places of the earth ; " and thirdly, in eternity the Son of God will communicate the merits of His most holy life more abun dantly to him than to others, because by it he has been victorious over every temptation, and gained a glorious vic tory, as these words express : "I will feed thee with the inheritance of Jacob thy father."

God made known to her also by these words, " Behold, his reward is with him" (Isa. xxxix.), that our Lord Himself, by His love, is the reward of His elect ; and He insinuates Himself into their souls with such sweetness, that they may truly say they are rewarded beyond all their deserts. " And his work is before him ; " that is to say, when we abandon ourselves entirely to Divine Providence, and seek only the accomplishment of the will of God in all things, grace has already rendered us perfect in the sight of God.

By the words, " Be ye holy, children of Israel," Gertrude learned that those who repent promptly of the sins they have committed, and set themselves with a sincere heart to keep the commandments of God, are as truly sanctified and as promptly cured as the leper to whom our Lord said : "I will: be thou made clean." By the words, "Sing ye to the Lord a new canticle " (Ps. cxlix.), she knew that he sings a new canticle who sings with devotion ; because; when he has received the grace from God to understand what he sings, his chant becomes agreeable to God.

§ 4. God sends afflictions to cure our souls.

By the words, " The Spirit of the Lord is upon me ; He hath sent me to heal the contrite of heart" (Isa. Ixi.), she understood that the Son of God, having been sent by His Father to heal contrite hearts, was accustomed to send some affliction to His elect, even should it be only exterior, in order to heal them. But when this happens, He does not always deliver them from the affliction which has made them contrite, because it is not hurtful to them ; for He prefers to cure that which might cause them eternal death.

By the words, In splendoribus sanctorum * — " In the brightness of the saints " (Ps. cix.), she knew that the light of the Divinity is so great and so incomprehensible, that even if each saint who has lived or who will live, from the

N time of Adam to the end of the world, were given a special knowledge of it, as clear, as elevated, and as extended as could be given to any creature, so that none should be able to explain it to the other, nor to share in their knowledge, — even should the number of saints be a thousand times greater than it is, — the Divinity would still remain infinitely beyond their conception. Thus it is not written splendore, but in splendoribus — "In the brightness [plu.] of Thy saints; from the womb, before the day-star, I begot Thee."

§ 5. How we must carry our cross after Jesus Christ, and how the mercy of God chastises the elect.

At the Antiphon Qui vult * — " If any man will come after Me, let him take up his cross and follow Me" (Matt, xvi.), Gertrude beheld our Lord walking on a road which seemed pleasant because of the beauty of the verdure and flowers which covered it, but which nevertheless was narrow, and rough with thorns. Then she beheld a cross which went before Him, and separated the thorns from one another, making the road wider and more easy; while the Saviour turned to those who came after Him, and en couraged them, looking at them with a sweet and loving countenance, and saying : " Let him that will come after Me, take up his cross, and deny himself, and follow Me." By this she knew that our temptations are our crosses. For example : it is a cross to one person to be obliged by obedience to do what she dislikes ; to another, to be re strained. Now, each ought so to carry his cross as to be willing to suffer with a good heart all that crosses him, and yet to neglect nothing which he thinks may be for the glory of God.

As they chanted this verse, " The words of the wicked have prevailed over us " (Ps. Ixiv.), she knew that when any one who has sinned through human frailty is too severely reprehended for it by another, this excessive severity draws down the inercy of God on him, and in creases his merit.

As they sung the Salve lieyina, at the words, " Turn on us those merciful eyes of Thine," as the Saint desired that our Lord would cure her of a bodily infirmity, He said to her, with sweet familiarity : " Do you not know that I look on you with eyes of mercy whenever you suffer any pain of body or mind 1 "

On another occasion, as they sung the words Gloriosuin sangainem^ on the Feast of some Martyrs, she knew that even as blood, which naturally inspires a feeling of horror when considered in itself, is nevertheless praised in Scrip ture when it is poured forth for Jesus Christ, so omissions of religious duties, from charity or obedience, are so agreeable to God, that they may be justly termed glorious. She knew also, on another occasion, that God, by a secret dispensation of His judgments, sometimes permits sinners to receive a reply which serves only to harden them in their obstinacy, when they seek by artifice to ascertain from the elect what is hidden from them. Even as the Prophet Ezechiel writes : " He that shall place his uncleannesses in his heart, and set up the stumbling-block of his iniquity before his face, and shall come to the prophet, inquiring of Me by him ; I, the Lord, will answer him according to the multitude of his uucleannesses " (Ez. xiv.)

• " VerbainiquorumprcBvaluerunt super nos," 2dPs. at Lauds, feria quarta, and in the Office of the Dead. •{• Kesponse after ii. Lesson in the Common of many Martyrs.

§ 6. That without the consent of the will we do not sin, and how we are obliged to reprove evil-doers.

As they sung these words in honour of St. John, Haurit virus hie letale she understood, that as the virtue of faith preserved John from the poison, so the action of the will which resists sin preserves the soul pure, however mortal the venom may be which glides into the heart against its will. By the versicle Dignare, Dominerf she knew that when man has recourse to God, and beseeches Him to pre serve him from sin, even though he should seem afterwards, by a secret permission of Providence, to fall into some con siderable fault, his fall nevertheless will not be nearly so great as it would otherwise have been, and the grace of Jesus Christ will so sustain him that he will easily repent.

When they chanted the Response Benedicens^she stood demanding the benediction in the person of Noah. On receiving it, the Lord in His turn seemed to ask hers. By this she understood that man blesses God when he repents for having offended his Creator, and when he asks His help to avoid sin for the future. By the words, Ubi est § (Gen. iv.), she knew that the Lord would demand an account from every religious of the sins which her neighbour had committed, and which she might have prevented, either by warning the person herself or by informing her supe rior ; and that the excuse of those who say, " It is not t "Vouchsafe, O Lord, to keep us this day without sin," at Prime, and in the Te Deum.

J ix. Response, iii. Nocturn, Sexagesima Sunday. But the word there is Benedixit—" God blessed Noah and his sons," &c.

§ i. Nocturn, ii. Lesson, v, Feria after Septuagesima— " Where is thy brother Abel ? "

my place to correct others;" or, "I am as bad as they are," will be no more accepted by God than the words of Cain : "Am I my brother's keeper 1 "

For each is obliged before God to turn his brother from sin, and to assist him to advance in virtue ; and he who neglects this duty against his conscience offends God. It is useless for him to pretend that he has received no commission, for his own conscience will teach him that God requires it from him ; and if he neglects it, God will demand an account from him even more strictly than from a superior who was absent when the evil was committed, or who did not notice it when present. Thus we find these words in Scripture : " Woe to him who sins, but a double woe to him who assists in sin." We make ourselves guilty of the sin of others, if we consent to it by concealing it when we might procure glory to God by discovering it.

§ 7. They who labour for the advancement of religion are rewarded as if they had clothed the Saviour — Angels encompass the blest.

By the Response which commences Induit me Ger trude learned that he who labours by his works and by his words for the advancement of religion and the defence of justice, acts as if He clothed God Himself with a magni ficent and sumptuous garment ; and the Lord will recom pense him in the life eternal, according to the riches of His royal liberality, by clothing him with a robe of gladness, and crowning him with a diadem of glory ; but, above all, that he who suffers for the promotion of good, or for reli gion, is as agreeable to God as a garment which warmed and covered him would be to a poor man ; and that if he •who labours for the good of religion makes no progress on account of the obstacles he meets with, his reward will not be the less for this before God.

While they chanted the Response Vocavit angelus she knew that the choirs of angels, whose assistance is so powerful, surround the elect to defend them. But God, by His paternal Providence, sometimes suspends the effect of this protection, and permits the just to be tempted, that He may recompense them gloriously when they have gained a victory with less help from on high and from their angels.

At the Response Vocavit angelus Domini Abraham, she learned that as Abraham satisfied the claims of obedience by raising his arm, and merited to be called by an angel, so, when the elect bend their minds and their wills to per form any painful work for the love of God, they merit to taste at that moment the sweetness of grace, and to be con soled by the testimony of their own conscience. And this is a favour which the infinite liberality of God bestows even before those eternal recompenses which shall be given to each according to the measure of his works. As the Saint reflected on some trials which she had formerly suffered, she inquired of God why she had been thus tried by these persons. " When the hand of a father wills to chastise his child," replied our Lord, "the rod cannot oppose itself. Therefore, I desire that My elect should never attribute their sufferings to those whom I make use of to purify them ; but rather let them cast their eyes on My paternal love, which would not allow even a breath of wind to approach them unless it furthered their eternal salvation ;

and therefore they should have compassion on those who stain themselves to purify them."

§ 8. Of offering our actions through the Son to the Eternal Father.

One day the Saint offered a painful duty to the Eternal Father, saying : " Lord, I offer Thee this action through Thy only Son, in the power of the Holy Spirit, for Thy eternal glory." And it was made known to her that this intention gave an extraordinary value and price to her work, and elevated it above a mere human action ; and that this offering was very agreeable to God the Father. And even as objects appear green when seen through green glass, or red when seen through red glass, so all that is offered to the Eternal Father through His only Son becomes most pleasing and acceptable to Him.

§ 9. Of the utility of prayer when it does not produce sensible fruit.

Gertrude inquired of God what advantage some of her friends had gained by her prayers, since they did not seem better for them. The Lord instructed her by this comparison : " When a child returns from visiting an emperor, who has enriched him with vast possessions and an immense revenue, those who behold him in the weakness of childhood little imagine the treasures of which he is in possession, although those who have been present are well aware how powerful and important his wealth will render him hereafter. Do not, therefore, be surprised if you do not see the fruits of your prayers with your bodily eyes, since I dispose of them, according to My eternal wisdom, to greater advantage. And know that the more you pray for any one, the happier they will become, because no prayer of faith can remain un- fruitful, although we do not know in what manner it will fructify."

§ 10. Of the eternal recompense of directing our thoughts to God.

Gertrude desired to know what advantage there was in referring our thoughts to God, and she received this in struction : that when man raises his mind to heaven by meditation or reflection, he presents, as it were, before the tbrone of God's glory a bright and shining mirror, in which the Lord beholds His own image with pleasure, because He is the Author and Dispenser of all good. And the more difficulty any one finds in this elevation of soul, the more perfect and agreeable this mirror appears before the Most Holy Trinity and the saints, and it will remain for the eternal glory of God and the good of this soul.

§ 11. That adversity prevents occasion of sin, and of the good effects of a good will.

On a fast-day, when the Saint was unable to chant from severe indisposition and headache, she inquired of God why He so often permitted these infirmities to visit her on fes tivals. Our Lord replied : " It is to prevent you from dis sipating yourself by the pleasures of the harmony of the chant, and so being less disposed to receive grace." "But," she inquired, "could not Thy grace prevent this misfor tune 1 " To this our Lord answered : " It is a greater advantage to men to turn away occasions of falls by trials, because then they have a double merit — that of patience and that of humility."

Once also the Saint exclaimed with ardour : " 0 my Saviour ! why have I not a fire sufficiently strong to melt my heart, so that I might pour it forth entirely into Thee?"

" Your will," replied the Lord, " will be to you the fire which you desire." And from this she knew that by the effort of his will man may fully accomplish all that he desires to do for the glory of God.

As the Saint often sought by her prayers to obtain the extinction of all vices, both in herself and in others, it appeared to her that this favour could only be obtained by the removal of inclination to evil, so that the soul should fce enabled to resist evil as easily as she is inclined to it. But she perceived the admirable wisdom of Divine Provi dence for the salvation of mankind, which, for the increase of our eternal glory, permits us to combat with our vices, that we may be crowned more gloriously in heaven.

§ 12. Of tlie effects of Divine love.

Having heard a preacher declare that no person could be saved without the love of God, and that all must at least have so much of it as would lead them to repent and to abstain from sin, the Saint began to think that many, when dying, seemed to repent more from the fear of hell than from the love of God. Our Lord replied : " When I behold any one in his agony who has thought of Me with plea sure, or who has performed any works deserving of reward, I appear to him at the moment of death with a countenance so full of love and mercy, that he repents from his inmost heart for having ever offended Me, and he is saved by this repentance. I desire, therefore, that My elect should ac knowledge this mercy by thanksgivings, and that they should praise Me for this amongst the great number of benefits which they receive from Me.

Once also, as Gertrude meditated on her own sinfulness and depravity, she began to marvel how she could be agreeable in the sight of God, who must behold a thousand imperfections where she saw only one. But our Lord con soled her by this reply : " Love makes all agreeable." * And she learned that if on earth love has such power that it makes even deformity pleasing, how much more easily can that God who is Love render those pleasing to Himself by love -whom He loves !

§ 13. The merit of conforming one's will to God for life or death.

As the Saint desired, like the Apostle, to be dissolved and to be with Christ, and poured forth many sighs to God for this end, she was consoled by this reply : " Whenever any one desires with all their heart to be delivered from the prison of the body, and yet, at the same time, is perfectly willing to remain therein so long as it shall please God, Jesus Christ unites the merit of His adorable life to theirs, which renders them marvellously perfect in the sight of the Eternal Father."

§ 14. That God does not always expect a, full return for the graces He bestows, and of the value of fervent de sires.

As the Saint reflected on the little profit she had gained, either for herself or for others, from the many graces which had been bestowed on her, she was consoled by this as surance : " That God does not bestow His graces on His elect in such a manner as to expect a perfect return, as human frailty often prevents this ; but His excessive liber ality cannot contain itself, though He knows that man can not exercise himself in all ; nevertheless, He continually communicates new graces of supererogation, in order to raise

' "Amor facit placentiam."

him thereby to the highest blessedness in the world to come. And even as wealth is bestowed on a child so that he may profit by it hereafter, though he knows not as yet the value of it, so the Lord communicates His grace to His elect in this life, that He may amass treasures for them, the enjoyment of which will render them happy in heaven."

§ 15. Our Lord prefers su/ering without devotion to devotion without suffering.

On another occasion, as the Saint grieved in her heart that she could not form as ardent desires for the glory of God as she wished to do, she was taught by God that He is perfectly satisfied with our desires when we are not able to do more ; and that they are great in proportion to our desire that they should be great. When, therefore, the heart forms a desire, or wishes to have a desire, God takes the same pleasure in abiding therein as men do in dwell ing where flowers are budding forth in the spring-time. Once also, when she found herself negligent and distracted from infirmity, and, entering into herself, began to confess her fault to our Lord with humble devotion, — though she feared that it would be long before she should recover the sweetness of Divine grace of which she had been deprived, — the infinite mercy of God was moved towards her, and He said to her : " My daughter, thou hast been always with Me, and all that I have is thine." Then she knew by these words, that when, through frailty, we fail to refer our intentions to God, His mercy still esteems our will worthy of eternal recompense, provided only that our will has not strayed from Him, and that we often make acts of contrition for our sins.

As the Saint felt an illness coming on her immediately before a festival, she desired that our Lord would preserve her health until it was over, or at least permit her to have sufficient strength to assist at it ; still, she abandoned her self entirely to the will of God. Then she received this reply from the Lord : " In asking Me these things, and at the same time in submitting entirely to My will, you lead Me into a garden of delights, enamelled with flowers, which is most agreeable to Me. But I know that if I grant what you ask, and allow you to assist at these services, I shall be obliged to follow you into the place which pleases you ; whereas, if I refuse you this, and you still continue patient, you will follow Me into the place which I prefer, be cause I find more pleasure in you if you form good inten tions in a state of suffering, than if you have devotion accom panied by pleasure."

§ 16. The pleasure of the senses deprives of spiritual pleasures.

As the Saint one day reflected on the arrangements of Providence, by which some are filled with consolation, whila others experience only dryness, God made known to her that He had created the human heart to contain pleasure, as a vase contains water. But if this vase lets out the water by little holes, it soon becomes empty ; or if any water remains, it will eventually dry up. So, if the human heart, when filled with spiritual delights, pours itself out through the bodily senses, by seeing, hearing, &c., it will at last become empty, and incapable of tasting the pleasures which are found in God, as each may know by his own experi ence. If we give a glance or say a word without reflection, it passes away like water emptied from a vessel. But if we do ourselves violence for the love of God, celestial sweet ness will so increase in our hearts that they will seem too email to contain it. Thus, when we learn to restrain the pleasures of the senses, we begin to find pleasure in God, and the more this victory costs us, the more joy we find in God.

Once, as the Saint was exceedingly troubled about a matter of little consequence, and offered her trouble to God, for His eternal glory, at the moment of the Elevation, it seemed to her that our Lord drew her soul by the Host as if by a ladder, until He made it repose on His bosom, and then He spoke thus lovingly to her : " In this sacred couch you shall be exempt from every care;f but whenever you leave it, your heart will be filled with a bitterness as an antidote against evil."

§17. Of the caresses with which God favours a faithful soul, and of the esteem we ought to have for patience.

Gertrude, finding herself one day depressed by weak ness, said to God : " Lord, what will become of me, and what dost Thou design to do with me ]" "I will comfort you," He replied, " even as a mother comforts her child." He added : " Have you never seen a mother caress her child ?" As she did not reply, because she did riot remember a circumstance of the kind, our Lord showed her a mother whom she had beheld caressing a little child about six months before, and He made her remark three things which she had not observed.

First, that this mother often offered to embrace this child, and that the child rose up to come to her, though still weak and frail. He added, that thus she ought to rise up by the love of contemplation to the enjoyment of the Adorable Object of her love.

Secondly, that the mother often tried her child, asking him would he have this or that, and -yet not giving him what she offered. Thus God sometimes tempts man by allowing him to fear afflictions which never happen ; and yet, if he submits freely, God is satisfied with his resigna tion, and it obtains an eternal reward for him.

Thirdly, that none of those who were present, except the mother, understood what the child said, because he could not yet speak plainly. Thus God alone knows and understands the intentions of men, and judges them accord ingly ; in which He acts very differently from their fellowcreatures, who only consider the exterior.

Gertrude inquired one day of our Lord how He desired her to employ her time at that hour. " I will that you should learn patience," He replied ; for at the time she Avas very much disquieted. "But," she replied, "ho\v, and by what means, can I learn it 1 " Then our Lord, like a charitable master who takes up his little scholars in his arms, began to teach her three different letters by which she might learn patience. " Consider," He said, " in the first place, how a king honours those who are most like him with his friendship ; and learn from this how the love which. I bear you is increased when, for love of Me, you suffer con tempts like those which I endured. Secondly, consider how much the court respects him who is most like the king, and is most intimate with him : and judge from this what glory is prepared for you in heaven as the reward of your patience. Thirdly, consider what consolation the tender compassion of a faithful friend gives to his friend, and learn from this what compassion I feel in heaven for eveii the least thought which afflicts you here."