Chapter 52: The value of a good will

A CERTAIN nobleman having sent to the monastery to ask the religious to found a convent, Gertrude — who was always anxious to accomplish the will of God, though she was un able to comply with this request — cast herself before a cru cifix, and offered herself to God with her whole heart, pray ing that His holy will might be accomplished. It seemed to her that our Lord was so deeply touched by this offering, that He descended from the cross to embrace her with ex treme affection and gladness, and received her with marks of ineffable joy — even as a sick person who had been given over by the physician would receive a remedy which he had long desired, and which he hoped might restore his health — and having then gently approached .her to the adorable Wound of His Side, He said to her : " You are welcome, My beloved ; * you are the balm of My wounds, and the sweetener of all My griefs." Gertrude knew by these words that when any one abandons his will without reserve to the good pleasure of God, whatever adversity may be impending, our Lord receives it as if he had anointed His Wounds, even at the very hour of His Passion, with the most precious and healing ointments.

After this, as Gertrude prayed, she began to think of many things by which she hoped to procure the glory of God and the advancement of religion. But after a time she reproached herself for these reflections, which perhaps could never bear any fruit, because she was so weak that she seemed more likely to die than to be able to undertake any laborious work. Then the Lord Jesus appeared to her in the midst of her soul, radiant with glory, and adorned with roses and fair lilies ; and He said to her : " Behold how I am adorned by your good will, even as I was by the stars and the golden candlesticks, in the midst of which St. John, in the Apocalypse, declares that he saw the Son of Man standing, and having seven stars in His right hand ; and know that I have received as much pleasure from the other thoughts of your heart as from this sweet and agree able garland of lilies and roses."

" 0 God of my heart ! " exclaimed the Saint, " why dost Thou embarrass my soul with so many different desires, which are all without effect, since it is so short a time since Thou didst give me the thought and desire of receiv ing extreme unction, and disposed my soul to receive it by filling me with such joy and consolation ? And now, on the contrary, Thou dost make me desire the establishment of a new monastery, although I am still so weak that I am scarcely able to walk." " I do this," replied our Lord, " to accomplish what I have said at the commencement of this book, that 'I had given you to be the light of the Gentiles ;' that is, to enlighten many people : therefore it is necessary that your book should contain information on many sub jects, for the consolation and instruction of others. And as two persons who love each other often find pleasure in con versing on subjects which do not specially concern them, — as a friend often proposes to his friend the most difficult and intricate questions, — so do I take pleasure in proposing many things to My elect which will never happen to them, in order to prove their love and fidelity for Me, and to reward them for many purposes which they cannot carry into effect, counting all their good intentions as if they had been carried into action. So I inclined your will to desire death ; and, consequently, made you feel this wish to receive extreme unction. And I have preserved in the depth of My Heart, for your eternal salvation, all that you have done in thought or act to prepare yourself for this Sacra ment. Thus you may understand these words : ' The just man, if he be prevented with death, shall be in rest.' t For if you were deprived of this Sacrament by sudden death, or if you receive it after you had lost consciousness, — which often happens to ,My elect, — you would not suffer any loss thereby, because all the preparation for death which you have made for so many years is preserved in the unfading spring-time of My Divinity, where, by My cooperation, it always remains green and flourishing, and fructifying for your eternal salvation."