Chapter 38: For Ascension- Day

Of the renunciation of our own will— And certain exercises of piety for this Festival.

ON the Feast of the Ascension, as the Saint prepared her self in the morning to offer the tenderest love and devotion

"Uncus." This word is sometimes used poetically, by classical authors, for an anchor.

t " Hail, Jesus, beautiful Spouse ! I salute and praise Thee in Thy ascension joys."

to our Lord, at the hour of His Ascension, He said to her : " Give Me now all the testimonies of joy which you are pre pared to give Me at the hour of My Ascension ; for all the joy which I then experienced will be renewed in Me, as I am about to enter into you by the august arid holy Sacra ment of the Altar." " Ah, my only Love ! " exclaimed the Saint ; " teach me how to perform our usual procession well, that I may fittingly honour the admirable procession which Thou didst make when conducting Thy disciples to Bethania." Our Lord replied : " As Bethania signifies the ' house of obedience,' you cannot make a better procession, or one more pleasing to Me, than to offer Me the entirety of your will, when you conduct Me within you, grievim; sincerely for having followed your own will on so many occasions in preference to Mine, and determining firmly for the future to perform My will perfectly in all things."

As she received Communion, our Lord said to her : " Behold, I come to you, My Spouse, not to bid you fare well, but to take you with Me and present you to God My Father." She understood by this, that when our Lord enters into a soul by the holy Sacrament of His Body and Blood, He attracts the- desires and good-will of this soul to Himself, as a seal makes an impression upon wax ; and that He presents the representation of them thus formed to His Father, to obtain from Him the graces which this soul needs. The Saint then offered Him her prayers, and those of some other persons, to serve as an ornament to His sacred Wounds, for the day of His glorious Ascension. Then the Lord Jesus appeared before His Father, adorned with these prayers, as with so many precious stones ; and His Father appeared to draw all these offerings of the elect to Himself, by His almighty power, and then ta cause them to fall in rays of glory on the throne pre pared from all eternity for those who had offered these prayers.

At the hour of None, as Gertrude was entirely absorbed in God, the Lord Jesus appeared to her again, more beauti ful than the children of men, and clothed in a green tunic and a crimson mantle. The green tunic indicated the glorious and vivifying works of His adorable Humanity ; the crimson mantle, the intense love which had compelled Him to endure such fearful sufferings, that His patience under these alone would have merited His glory. Our Lord then appeared to pass through the choir, accompanied by a multitude of angels, giving special testimonies of love to those who had communicated that day, and saying to them these sweet words : " I am with you unto the con summation of ages." * He also gave a golden ring to some in which a precious stone was set, saying : " I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you."

As the Saint was surprised at this, she inquired of our Lord if those to whom He had given the ring as a mark of special love would have more merit than others? Out Lord replied : " I have done this because, when they took their refection, they meditated on My goodness to My dis ciples, in eating and drinking with them before I ascended into heaven ; and for each morsel that they took, saying, ' 0 most loving Jesus ! may the virtue of Thy Divine love incorporate me entirely in Thee,' I have imparted a special brilliancy to the precious stones of their rings."

When the Antiphon Elevatis manibust was chanted, our Lord rose up by His own Divine power, accompanied t "He lifted up His hands and blessed them, and was taken up into heaven ;" iii. Ant. at vespers.

by a troop of angels, who attended Him with the utmost vigilance and reverence, giving His benediction to the whole community, saying to them : " Peace I leave with you, My peace I give unto you." By which she understood that our Lord had poured forth His grace so effectually into the hearts of those who had celebrated this festival with singular devotion, that whatever trouble might happen to them, He would still leave some of His peace in their souls, even as sparks of fire are hidden under ashes.