Chapter 12: For the Saturday before Quinquagesima

Devotions for the time of the Carnival— Of the value and efficacy of suffering.

ON the Saturday before Quinquagesima Sunday, as St. Gertrude disengaged herself from all exterior cares, and recollected herself in prayer, she was received into the bosom of the Divine goodness, where she enjoyed the sweet influences of His delights with such perfect power, that it appeared to her as if she disposed of the kingdoms of hea- vcn and c;irth with her Spouse. The day passed in these spiritual delights ; but towards evening she began to be troubled about a trifling matter, so that she no longer enjoyed them. At last, before Matins, as she had passed the greater part of the night in this disquiet, which pre vented her from sleeping, she besought our Lord that He would remove this obstacle to her enjoyment of His Divine delights, if it was for His glory. The Lord replied : " If you desire to soothe My pains, you must bear your own, and stand at My left, so that I may recline upon yon, and look into your heart, where the sweet concert of your holy desires, your perfect confidence in Me, and the ardour of your zeal for the eternal salvation of all mankind, may move me powerfully, appeasing My justice. Further : as the rich treasures of your heart will be open to Me, I may impart them to those who are in need, and whose wants and necessities you would desire to relieve as far as you could. For if you stood on My right hand, that is in prosperity, you would deprive Me of these delights."

Then the Saint asked our Lord to prescribe some exer cise by which she might serve Him lovingly during these three days, on which men commit so many crimes and excesses. Our Lord replied : " You could not please Me better than by suffering patiently all that grieves or tires you, whether interior or exterior, in memory of My Pas sion, and by doing whatever you find most difficult ; and you will do this most effectually by controlling and restraining your senses. Whoever acts thus in memory of My Passion may hope for a great reward from Me." " But," continued the Saint, " I desire ardently to know from Thee, O most loving Teacher, what sufferings are most capable of appeasing the just anger which Thou feelest during these three days of excess." Our Lord replied : " You can do nothing more acceptable to Me than to say the Pater nosier three times, or the Psalm Laudate Dominum, omnes gentes ; and at the first repetition, offer to God all the wearinesses and labours of My Heart for the salvation of men ; and suffer or labour, praise or give thanks, in reparation for all the unlawful pleasures in which the human heart indulges at this time. At the second repetition, offer to God My Father all the abstinences and mortifications of My lips, whether in eating, speaking, preaching, or praying, in satis faction for all the sins of the tongue now committed. At the third repetition, offer to God my Father all the actions and movements of My most holy Body, and of each mem ber thereof, with all the bitterness of My Passion and Death, in satisfaction for all the sins which men commit now against their own salvation."

At the hour of Terce, our Lord appeared to St. Ger trude in the position in which He was when tied to the pillar between two executioners, one of whom tore Him with thorns, and the other bruised Him with a whip full of large knots ; both striking His Face, which seemed so disfigured, that her very heart melted away with com passion ; nor could she restrain her tears whenever she recalled that mournful spectacle during the day, since it appeared to her that none upon earth had ever been so cruelly used as her sweet Lord Jesus. Even the very pupil of the eye was torn and inflamed, both by the thorns and the blows of the scourge. It appeared also to her that her Lord turned His blessed Face from side to side ; but when He turned it from one executioner, the other struck it still more furiously; then He turned to her, and exclaimed : " Have you not read what is written of Me : Vidimus earn tanquam leprosum ? " — " We have thought Him as it were A leper" (Is. liii. 4). The Saint replied : " Alas, Lord ! what remedy can we find to soothe the agonising pains of Thy Divine Face ! " Our Lord replied : " The most efficacious and the tenderest remedy which you can prepare for Me is to meditate lovingly on My Passion, and to pray charitably for the conversion of sinners. These two executioners represent the laity, who offend God openly, striking Him with thorns, and the religious, who strike Him still more unpitiably with the knotted cords of secret sins. But both offend Him to the face, and outrage the very God of heaven."

She then understood that the Passion of our Lord is read in the Gospel that it may be recalled to mind by His special friends, for His glory and for the good of the Church ; that the scourging is mentioned therein twice according to the vision which she beheld ; and that charity is recommended in the Epistle to exercise us in the love of God arid our neighbour ; suffering with God all the op probriums which men made Him suffer, and pitying the neighbours for the misery to which they reduce themselves by offending God in this manner.

At Mass the Saint began to invoke the Divine assist-

OUK iA)KD ASKS HER TO DEFEND HIM. 349 ance in the words of the lutroit ; * but our Lord appeared to use the same words in addressing her as if He needed her assistance against the evils and cruelties then exercised against Him, saying to her : " You are my beloved one ; be My protector, by your resolution of being My defence against all those who injure Me and treat Me with con tempt ; for I come to you to hide Me." Then the Saint embraced her Lord, striving with all her power to draw Him into her very soul ; but she became so ravished in God, that she did not know whether the sisters stood or sat in the choir. When she was told that she was not conforming to the accustomed usage, she besought our Lord that nothing might be observed of what was passing within her. He replied : " Let your love keep your place near Me ; and as for yourself, you can attend to your ex terior deportment." " O most loving Lord," she replied, " if it is true that my love can keep my place near Thee, I hope that reason will suffice to guide my exterior con duct, that I may love Thee more freely." And she obtained this gift from God ; for while she continued absorbed in God, she still followed exactly the common exercises of the other religious.

350 THE 11EVELATIONS OF ST. GEETliUDB.