December 19, 2017

St. Gertrude and the Crystal

Once, St. Gertrude was about to receive Communion but was troubled. She was contemplating her own ingratitude and negligence in not having shown proper devotion toward the Mother of God and the Saints. She then was told, by the Lord, that He had provided reparation for this fault Himself, through his communicating Himself to her.

Gertrude was still distraught. She feared that, even though He had provided compensation for her earlier faults, she would commit new ones in the future. Then He told her that He would give Himself to her in the Blessed Sacrament so completely that it would correct not only all her past faults, but her future ones as well. He admonished her, however, that after she received the Eucharist, she had to preserve herself from any stain of sin.

Now a new worry occupied Gertrude. How would she be able to accomplish this? The Lord then told her that, while she may in fact experience some stain of sin, she was not to allow them to “remain long in you, but as soon as you perceive them say, with all the fervor of your heart: ‘Lord, have mercy on me!’ or, ‘Jesus Christ, Who are my only hope, grant that all my sins may be effaced by the merit of Your saving Death!’”

Gertrude then went up to receive the Eucharist. She then saw her own soul as clear as crystal, with the Divinity of Jesus Christ, Whom she had just received, encased inside, shining like gold.

As reported by her colleague, the meaning of this experience was understood to be that every spiritual loss can be repaired by receiving the Body of Christ with a worthy and sincere reverence.

Source: St. Gertrude, and a religious of her monastery, The Life and Revelations of St. Gertrude the Great (Charlotte, North Carolina, Tan Books, 2010) p. 206-07.

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