๐’๐ญ ๐†๐ž๐ซ๐ญ๐ซ๐ฎ๐๐ž ๐ก๐š๐ ๐๐š๐ข๐ฅ๐ฒ ๐ฏ๐ข๐ฌ๐ข๐จ๐ง๐ฌ ๐จ๐Ÿ ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐๐ฅ๐ž๐ฌ๐ฌ๐ž๐ ๐•๐ข๐ซ๐ ๐ข๐ง ๐Œ๐š๐ซ๐ฒ

Today is the feast of St Gertrude the Great. For twenty years Our Lord appeared to Gertrude at least once every day, except for a period of eleven days when He withdrew in punishment for a worldly conversation. Very often He urged her, as His Church urges us all, to come to Him through Mary.
When Gertrude asked Him what she could do to please Him more, Jesus answered: "๐—•๐—ฒ๐—ต๐—ผ๐—น๐—ฑ ๐— ๐˜† ๐— ๐—ผ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ๐—ฟ. ๐—˜๐—ป๐—ฑ๐—ฒ๐—ฎ๐˜ƒ๐—ผ๐—ฟ ๐˜๐—ผ ๐—ฝ๐—ฟ๐—ฎ๐—ถ๐˜€๐—ฒ ๐—ต๐—ฒ๐—ฟ ๐˜„๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐˜๐—ต๐—ถ๐—น๐˜†." In the early years of her conversion, Our Lord said to the Saint: "๐—œ ๐—ด๐—ถ๐˜ƒ๐—ฒ ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ๐—ฒ ๐— ๐˜† ๐˜€๐˜„๐—ฒ๐—ฒ๐˜ ๐— ๐—ผ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ๐—ฟ ๐—ฎ๐˜€ ๐˜๐—ต๐˜† ๐—ฃ๐—ฟ๐—ผ๐˜๐—ฒ๐—ฐ๐˜๐—ฟ๐—ฒ๐˜€๐˜€. ๐—œ ๐—ฐ๐—ผ๐—ป๐—ณ๐—ถ๐—ฑ๐—ฒ ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ๐—ฒ ๐˜๐—ผ ๐—ต๐—ฒ๐—ฟ ๐—ฐ๐—ฎ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ." And when during a trial Gertrude called upon Jesus to help her; He replied: "๐—œ ๐—ต๐—ฎ๐˜ƒ๐—ฒ ๐—ด๐—ถ๐˜ƒ๐—ฒ๐—ป ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ๐—ฒ ๐— ๐˜† ๐—ผ๐˜„๐—ป ๐—บ๐—ผ๐˜€๐˜ ๐—บ๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐—ฐ๐—ถ๐—ณ๐˜‚๐—น ๐— ๐—ผ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ๐—ฟ ๐—ณ๐—ผ๐—ฟ ๐˜๐—ต๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ฒ, ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ฑ ๐—ถ๐˜ ๐—ถ๐˜€ ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฟ๐—ผ๐˜‚๐—ด๐—ต ๐—ต๐—ฒ๐—ฟ ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฎ๐˜ ๐—œ ๐˜„๐—ถ๐—น๐—น ๐—ฑ๐—ถ๐˜€๐—ฝ๐—ฒ๐—ป๐˜€๐—ฒ ๐— ๐˜† ๐—ด๐—ฟ๐—ฎ๐—ฐ๐—ฒ๐˜€ ๐˜๐—ผ ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ๐—ฒ." Henceforth Gertrude always begged Mary to prepare her soul for her reception of Holy Communion, during which the Saviour often appeared to her and consoled her.
Once, as the Saint was praying to Jesus to offer His Mother something to make up for her own lack of devotion toward the Blessed Virgin, Our Lord arose, and offering Mary His Sacred Heart, He said: "๐— ๐—ผ๐˜€๐˜ ๐—น๐—ผ๐˜ƒ๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด ๐— ๐—ผ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ๐—ฟ, ๐—ฏ๐—ฒ๐—ต๐—ผ๐—น๐—ฑ ๐— ๐˜† ๐—›๐—ฒ๐—ฎ๐—ฟ๐˜. ๐—œ ๐—ผ๐—ณ๐—ณ๐—ฒ๐—ฟ ๐—ถ๐˜ ๐˜๐—ผ ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ๐—ฒ ๐˜„๐—ถ๐˜๐—ต ๐—ฎ๐—น๐—น ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฎ๐˜ ๐——๐—ถ๐˜ƒ๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ฒ ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ฑ ๐—ฒ๐˜๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐—ป๐—ฎ๐—น ๐—Ÿ๐—ผ๐˜ƒ๐—ฒ ๐˜„๐—ต๐—ถ๐—ฐ๐—ต ๐—ฝ๐—ฟ๐—ผ๐—บ๐—ฝ๐˜๐—ฒ๐—ฑ ๐— ๐—ฒ ๐˜๐—ผ ๐—ฐ๐—ต๐—ผ๐—ผ๐˜€๐—ฒ ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ๐—ฒ ๐—ณ๐—ผ๐—ฟ ๐— ๐˜† ๐— ๐—ผ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ๐—ฟ. ๐—œ๐—ป ๐˜๐—ต๐—ถ๐˜€ ๐—›๐—ฒ๐—ฎ๐—ฟ๐˜ ๐—œ ๐—ผ๐—ณ๐—ณ๐—ฒ๐—ฟ ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ๐—ฒ ๐—ฎ๐—น๐—น ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฎ๐˜ ๐—ณ๐—ถ๐—น๐—ถ๐—ฎ๐—น ๐—ฎ๐—ณ๐—ณ๐—ฒ๐—ฐ๐˜๐—ถ๐—ผ๐—ป ๐—ผ๐—ณ ๐˜„๐—ต๐—ถ๐—ฐ๐—ต ๐—œ ๐—ด๐—ฎ๐˜ƒ๐—ฒ ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ๐—ฒ ๐˜€๐—ผ ๐—บ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐˜† ๐˜๐—ผ๐—ธ๐—ฒ๐—ป๐˜€ ๐—ผ๐—ป ๐—ฒ๐—ฎ๐—ฟ๐˜๐—ต, ๐˜„๐—ต๐—ฒ๐—ป ๐˜๐—ต๐—ผ๐˜‚ ๐—ฑ๐—ถ๐—ฑ๐˜€๐˜ ๐—ป๐—ผ๐˜‚๐—ฟ๐—ถ๐˜€๐—ต ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ฑ ๐—ฐ๐—ฎ๐—ฟ๐—ฟ๐˜† ๐— ๐—ฒ ๐—ฎ๐˜€ ๐—ฎ ๐—น๐—ถ๐˜๐˜๐—น๐—ฒ ๐—ฐ๐—ต๐—ถ๐—น๐—ฑ ๐—ถ๐—ป ๐˜๐—ต๐˜† ๐—ฎ๐—ฟ๐—บ๐˜€. ๐—œ๐—ป ๐˜๐—ต๐—ถ๐˜€ ๐—›๐—ฒ๐—ฎ๐—ฟ๐˜ ๐—œ ๐—ผ๐—ณ๐—ณ๐—ฒ๐—ฟ ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ๐—ฒ ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฎ๐˜ ๐—ณ๐—ฎ๐—ถ๐˜๐—ต๐—ณ๐˜‚๐—น ๐—น๐—ผ๐˜ƒ๐—ฒ ๐˜„๐—ต๐—ถ๐—ฐ๐—ต ๐—ธ๐—ฒ๐—ฝ๐˜ ๐— ๐—ฒ ๐—ป๐—ฒ๐—ฎ๐—ฟ ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ๐—ฒ ๐—ฎ๐—น๐—น ๐— ๐˜† ๐—บ๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐˜๐—ฎ๐—น ๐—น๐—ถ๐—ณ๐—ฒ, ๐—ผ๐—ฏ๐—ฒ๐—ฑ๐—ถ๐—ฒ๐—ป๐˜ ๐˜๐—ผ ๐˜๐—ต๐˜† ๐˜„๐—ถ๐˜€๐—ต๐—ฒ๐˜€, ๐—ฎ๐˜€ ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐˜† ๐˜๐—ฟ๐˜‚๐—ฒ ๐˜€๐—ผ๐—ป ๐˜๐—ผ ๐—ต๐—ถ๐˜€ ๐—บ๐—ผ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ๐—ฟ. ๐—œ ๐—ผ๐—ณ๐—ณ๐—ฒ๐—ฟ ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ๐—ฒ ๐—ฒ๐˜€๐—ฝ๐—ฒ๐—ฐ๐—ถ๐—ฎ๐—น๐—น๐˜† ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฎ๐˜ ๐—น๐—ผ๐˜ƒ๐—ฒ ๐˜„๐—ต๐—ถ๐—ฐ๐—ต ๐—ผ๐—ป ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ ๐—–๐—ฟ๐—ผ๐˜€๐˜€ ๐—บ๐—ฎ๐—ฑ๐—ฒ ๐— ๐—ฒ ๐—ถ๐—ป ๐—ฎ ๐—บ๐—ฒ๐—ฎ๐˜€๐˜‚๐—ฟ๐—ฒ ๐—ณ๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐—ด๐—ฒ๐˜ ๐— ๐˜† ๐˜๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐˜๐˜‚๐—ฟ๐—ฒ๐˜€ ๐˜๐—ผ ๐—ฐ๐—ผ๐—บ๐—ฝ๐—ฎ๐˜€๐˜€๐—ถ๐—ผ๐—ป๐—ฎ๐˜๐—ฒ ๐˜๐—ต๐˜† ๐—ฏ๐—ถ๐˜๐˜๐—ฒ๐—ฟ ๐—ฑ๐—ฒ๐˜€๐—ผ๐—น๐—ฎ๐˜๐—ถ๐—ผ๐—ป ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ฑ ๐˜๐—ผ ๐—น๐—ฒ๐—ฎ๐˜ƒ๐—ฒ ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ๐—ฒ ๐—ถ๐—ป ๐— ๐˜† ๐—ฝ๐—น๐—ฎ๐—ฐ๐—ฒ ๐—ฎ ๐—ด๐˜‚๐—ฎ๐—ฟ๐—ฑ๐—ถ๐—ฎ๐—ป ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ฑ ๐—น๐—ผ๐˜ƒ๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด ๐˜€๐—ผ๐—ป (St. John, the Beloved Apostle). ๐—”๐—ป๐—ฑ ๐—น๐—ฎ๐˜€๐˜๐—น๐˜†, ๐—ฏ๐—ฒ๐—ต๐—ผ๐—น๐—ฑ ๐—ถ๐—ป ๐— ๐˜† ๐—›๐—ฒ๐—ฎ๐—ฟ๐˜ ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ ๐—น๐—ผ๐˜ƒ๐—ฒ ๐˜„๐—ต๐—ถ๐—ฐ๐—ต ๐—ฝ๐—ฟ๐—ผ๐—บ๐—ฝ๐˜๐—ฒ๐—ฑ ๐— ๐—ฒ ๐˜๐—ผ ๐—ฒ๐˜…๐—ฎ๐—น๐˜ ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ๐—ฒ ๐—ถ๐—ป ๐˜๐—ต๐˜† ๐—ฏ๐—น๐—ฒ๐˜€๐˜€๐—ฒ๐—ฑ ๐—”๐˜€๐˜€๐˜‚๐—บ๐—ฝ๐˜๐—ถ๐—ผ๐—ป ๐—ณ๐—ฎ๐—ฟ ๐—ฎ๐—ฏ๐—ผ๐˜ƒ๐—ฒ ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ ๐—ฆ๐—ฎ๐—ถ๐—ป๐˜๐˜€ ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ฑ ๐—”๐—ป๐—ด๐—ฒ๐—น๐˜€ ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ฑ ๐˜๐—ผ ๐—ฐ๐—ฟ๐—ผ๐˜„๐—ป ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ๐—ฒ ๐—ค๐˜‚๐—ฒ๐—ฒ๐—ป ๐—ผ๐—ณ ๐—›๐—ฒ๐—ฎ๐˜ƒ๐—ฒ๐—ป ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ฑ ๐—ฒ๐—ฎ๐—ฟ๐˜๐—ต."
And on a similar occasion, Gertrude saw Jesus go up to His Mother with the greatest respect, kneel down before her and, bowing His head, greet her in a most gracious and tender manner.
Once, when Gertrude prayed to Mary to fill her heart with such virtues that God would take pleasure in dwelling in it, Our Lady stooped down and planted in the Saint's heart various symbolic flowers: the rose of charity, the lily of purity, the violet of humility, the sunflower of obedience, and many others, showing thereby how promptly she assists those who invoke her.
The following day the lovely Mother of God appeared to Gertrude, in the presence of the Blessed Trinity, under the form of a dazzling white lily with three splendid leaves. Mary said to the Saint: "๐ˆ๐Ÿ ๐š๐ง๐ฒ๐จ๐ง๐ž ๐ ๐ซ๐ž๐ž๐ญ๐ฌ ๐ฆ๐ž ๐๐ž๐ฏ๐จ๐ฎ๐ญ๐ฅ๐ฒ ๐š๐ฌ ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐ˆ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐š๐œ๐ฎ๐ฅ๐š๐ญ๐ž ๐‹๐ข๐ฅ๐ฒ ๐จ๐Ÿ ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐Œ๐จ๐ฌ๐ญ ๐‡๐จ๐ฅ๐ฒ ๐“๐ซ๐ข๐ง๐ข๐ญ๐ฒ, ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐›๐ซ๐ข๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ข๐š๐ง๐ญ ๐‘๐จ๐ฌ๐ž ๐จ๐Ÿ ๐๐š๐ซ๐š๐๐ข๐ฌ๐ž, ๐ˆ ๐ฐ๐ข๐ฅ๐ฅ ๐๐จ ๐Ÿ๐จ๐ซ ๐ก๐ข๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ก๐š๐ญ ๐ˆ ๐œ๐š๐ง ๐ญ๐ก๐ซ๐จ๐ฎ๐ ๐ก ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐Ž๐ฆ๐ง๐ข๐ฉ๐จ๐ญ๐ž๐ง๐œ๐ž ๐จ๐Ÿ ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐…๐š๐ญ๐ก๐ž๐ซ, ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐–๐ข๐ฌ๐๐จ๐ฆ ๐จ๐Ÿ ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐’๐จ๐ง, ๐š๐ง๐ ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐ฌ๐ฎ๐ฉ๐ž๐ซ๐š๐›๐ฎ๐ง๐๐š๐ง๐ญ ๐ฆ๐ž๐ซ๐œ๐ฒ ๐ฐ๐ก๐ข๐œ๐ก ๐Ÿ๐ข๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ฌ ๐ฆ๐ฒ ๐ก๐ž๐š๐ซ๐ญ, ๐Ÿ๐ฅ๐จ๐ฐ๐ข๐ง๐  ๐Ÿ๐ซ๐จ๐ฆ ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐‹๐จ๐ฏ๐ž ๐จ๐Ÿ ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐‡๐จ๐ฅ๐ฒ ๐†๐ก๐จ๐ฌ๐ญ."
From that day Gertrude frequently greeted Mary with this prayer: "๐ผ โ„Ž๐‘Ž๐‘–๐‘™ ๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘’๐‘’, ๐ผ๐‘š๐‘š๐‘Ž๐‘๐‘ข๐‘™๐‘Ž๐‘ก๐‘’ ๐ฟ๐‘–๐‘™๐‘ฆ ๐‘œ๐‘“ ๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘’ ๐‘”๐‘™๐‘œ๐‘Ÿ๐‘–๐‘œ๐‘ข๐‘  ๐‘Ž๐‘›๐‘‘ ๐‘’๐‘ฃ๐‘’๐‘Ÿ ๐‘๐‘’๐‘Ž๐‘๐‘’๐‘“๐‘ข๐‘™ ๐‘‡๐‘Ÿ๐‘–๐‘›๐‘–๐‘ก๐‘ฆ, ๐‘๐‘Ÿ๐‘–๐‘™๐‘™๐‘–๐‘Ž๐‘›๐‘ก ๐‘…๐‘œ๐‘ ๐‘’, ๐‘‘๐‘’๐‘™๐‘–๐‘”โ„Ž๐‘ก ๐‘œ๐‘“ ๐‘ƒ๐‘Ž๐‘Ÿ๐‘Ž๐‘‘๐‘–๐‘ ๐‘’, ๐‘œ๐‘“ ๐‘คโ„Ž๐‘œ๐‘š ๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘’ ๐พ๐‘–๐‘›๐‘” ๐‘œ๐‘“ ๐ป๐‘’๐‘Ž๐‘ฃ๐‘’๐‘› ๐‘ค๐‘–๐‘ โ„Ž๐‘’๐‘‘ ๐‘ก๐‘œ ๐‘๐‘’ ๐‘๐‘œ๐‘Ÿ๐‘›, ๐‘Ž๐‘›๐‘‘ ๐‘ค๐‘–๐‘กโ„Ž ๐‘คโ„Ž๐‘œ๐‘ ๐‘’ ๐‘š๐‘–๐‘™๐‘˜ ๐ป๐‘’ ๐‘ค๐‘–๐‘ โ„Ž๐‘’๐‘‘ ๐‘ก๐‘œ ๐‘๐‘’ ๐‘›๐‘œ๐‘ข๐‘Ÿ๐‘–๐‘ โ„Ž๐‘’๐‘‘. ๐‘๐‘œ๐‘ข๐‘Ÿ๐‘–๐‘ โ„Ž ๐‘œ๐‘ข๐‘Ÿ ๐‘ ๐‘œ๐‘ข๐‘™๐‘  ๐‘ค๐‘–๐‘กโ„Ž ๐ท๐‘–๐‘ฃ๐‘–๐‘›๐‘’ ๐‘”๐‘Ÿ๐‘Ž๐‘๐‘’๐‘ !"
The Blessed Virgin Mary rewarded Gertrude's fervent devotion on one Feast of the Assumption when she rose from her throne in Heaven and beckoned Gertrude to come next to her place. But Gertrude drew back, exclaiming: "๐Ž ๐๐ฎ๐ž๐ž๐ง ๐จ๐Ÿ ๐ ๐ฅ๐จ๐ซ๐ฒ, ๐ฐ๐ก๐š๐ญ ๐œ๐š๐ง ๐ˆ ๐๐จ ๐ญ๐จ ๐ฆ๐ž๐ซ๐ข๐ญ ๐ฌ๐จ ๐ ๐ซ๐ž๐š๐ญ ๐š ๐Ÿ๐š๐ฏ๐จ๐ซ?" Then Our Lady explained that she could use her merits, especially Mary's purity, humility, and charity, and offer them to God to obtain this privilege. Thus, clothed in Mary's merits, the Saint received her Lord in Holy Communion. Finally, in a marvelous vision she saw the glorious Mother of God conducted up to highest Heaven by her Divine Son amid the rejoicing of all the Saints and Angels. Then with her Son's right hand, Mary blessed Gertrude's convent, and the nun saw a gold cross shine over each of her Sisters' heads.
The last of Mary's many touching favors to St. Gertrude occurred at the latter's death: brilliant with splendor, the merciful Virgin Mary came to console her loving handmaid, and bending down, she gently and affectionately supported the dying Saint's head, as the King of Glory with infinite tenderness descended toward His faithful servant and drew her beautiful soul to Himself forever.
Rand Miller
Gertrude is a beautiful and inspiring Saint.
hasboos
Thank you very much for sharing this, I read it many times with each time it gave me Joy. Thereโ€™s are no words can ever explain or demonstrate the Most Holy Mother of God.