The Revelations of St. Gertrude the Great COMPILED BY THE RELIGIOUS OF HER MONASTERY CATHOLIC TREASURES, NOVEMBER 1980 How we should prepare ourselves to receive the Body of Jesus Christ. Different exercises of piety which St. Gertrude practised towards this august Sacrament.  §1. The Three Persons of the Blessed Trinity communicate Their sanctity to Gertrude that she may communicate more worthily. As the Saint approached to receive the Blessed Sacrament of Life, when they sang the Sanctus, sanctus, sanctus, in the Antiphon Gaude et laetare, she prostrated herself on the ground, praying to God with her whole heart that He would be pleased to prepare her worthily to participate in the celestial Food for His glory and for the advantage of others. The Son of God then abased Himself quickly towards her and, embracing her soul while they sang the word sanctus, said: "At the word sanctus, which is referred to My Person, I will give you all the sanctity of My Divinity and My Humanity as a worthy preparation to approach these Holy Mysteries." The following Sunday, as she returned thanks to God for this favour, she beheld the Son of God, more beautiful than a million Angels, presenting her condescendingly to God His Father, clothed with His Own holiness, which He had given to her. The Eternal Father took such great pleasure in the soul, for the sake of His only Son, that, not being able to refrain from pouring forth His graces, He granted to her, with the Holy Spirit, the sanctity which is attributed to Them as holy (sanctus), that she might obtain the full blessing of all sanctity as well of that which emanates from Omnipotence, as of that which emanates from wisdom and love. §2. St. Gertrude preparing for Holy Communion, receives the assurance from Jesus Christ that He will never depart from her and that for her sake He will do good to others. On another occasion, when she was about to communicate and perceived that many were abstaining from it for different reasons, she rejoiced in spirit and being touched to the heart, said to God: "I give Thee thanks, my most loving Love and my God, that Thou hast placed me in this happy state, in which neither my relations nor any earthly consideration can prevent me from approaching Thy banquet of delights." To which the Lord replied, with His usual sweetness: "Since you have declared that there is nothing which can separate you from Me, know also that there is nothing in Heaven or earth, neither judgment nor justice, which can hinder me from doing all the good for you which My Divine Heart desires." On another occasion, as Gertrude approached Holy Communion and desired ardently that the Lord would prepare her worthily, this sweet and loving Lord consoled her by these tender words: "I will clothe Myself with your person in order that I may be able to extend My Hand to do good to sinners without being wounded by the thorns which surround them. And I will also clothe you with Myself in order that all those whom you remember before Me and even those who are naturally like you, may be raised to this high dignity, that I may do good to them according to My royal munificence."   §3. St. Gertrude is presented to the Holy Trinity by Jesus Christ. She obtains joy for the blessed, grace for the just, repentance for sinners and release for the Souls in Purgatory. One day when the Saint was about to partake of the Divine Food, she reflected on the graces which God had bestowed on her and recalled this passage in the Book of Kings: "Who am I and what is my father's family?" (1 Kings xvii.) Then, turning from these last words, as only proper for those who had always served God, she considered herself as a little plant which, on account of its proximity to the inextinguishable fire of the Divine Heart, received its benefits. She saw that she wasted it, hour after hour, by her faults and negligences. Being reduced as it were to ashes, she resembled a burned-out coal, which had been cast away. Therefore she turned towards Jesus Christ, her beloved Mediator, and besought Him to present to her to God the Father and to reconcile her to Him by the warmth of the love which came forth from the Wounds of His Heart and that He washed her in the water which flowed from it, watering her with the life-giving Blood which was contained therein. By degrees, she was transformed from the burned-out coal to a tree covered with foliage, whose branches were divided into three parts, like a lily, and the Son of God, having taken it, presented it, with marks of honour and thanksgiving, to the most holy and adorable Trinity; who received it with such love and tenderness, that the Eternal Father, by His omnipotence, attached to the highest branches of this tree all the fruit which the soul of the Saint might have produced if she had corresponded as she ought with the commands of the Divine Omnipotence. The Son of God and the Holy Spirit, in like manner, placed on two other parts of its branches the fruits of wisdom and charity. Having, therefore, received the Body of Jesus Christ, and contemplating her Lord, as we have said, under the similitude of a tree, whose root was in the Wound of the Side of Jesus Christ, it seemed to her that a kind of sap, formed of the Humanity and Divinity of Jesus Christ, came forth in a miraculous manner from this sacred Wound, and passed through the stem of this tree into all its branches, producing flowers and fruit, which appeared as bright, in comparison with her ordinary life, as gold exceeds crystal in its brightness.  This gave pleasure and an indescribable joy, not only to the Most Holy Trinity, but even to all the blessed who having risen out of respect, presented their merits to her individually, in the form of crowns and suspended them on the branches of this tree, to His praise and glory who had given them new joy through her merits. Then Gertrude prayed to God that all who were in Heaven, on earth or in Purgatory and who ought without doubt to have reaped some fruit from her works, had she not been so negligent, might at least receive some advantage from the graces which His Divine goodness had communicated to her. Then these good works, which were figured by the fruit of the tree, began to distill a nectar of extraordinary virtue: a part of which evaporated on high, filling the blessed with joy. Another portion flowed down into Purgatory, soothing the pains of those who suffered there, and part spreading itself forth upon the earth augmenting the sweetness of grace in the just and in sinners the bitterness of penance. §4. How advantageous it is to assist at Holy Mass. As Gertrude offered the adorable Host to the Eternal Father, at the moment of the Elevation, in satisfaction for all her sins and in reparation for all her negligences, she beheld her soul presented before the Divine Majesty with the same sentiments of joy in which Jesus Christ Who is the splendour and living image of the glory of His Father and the Lamb of God without spot offered Himself on the altar to God His Father for the salvation of the whole world. The Eternal Father considered her as purified from all sin by the merit of the spotless Humanity of Jesus Christ and enriched and adorned with all the virtues which, through the same Holy Humanity, adorned the glorious Divinity of His Son. As the Saint returned thanks to God for these graces with all her power and took delight in considering the extraordinary favours which He had communicated to her it was revealed to her that whenever anyone assists at Mass with devotion, occupied with God, Who offers Himself in this Sacrament for the whole world, he is truly regarded by the Eternal Father with the tenderness merited by the sacred Host which is offered to Him and becomes like to one who, coming out of a dark place into the midst of sunlight, finds himself suddenly surrounded by brightness. Then the Saint made this inquiry of God: "Is not he who falls into sin deprived of this good, even as one who goes from light into darkness loses the favour of beholding the light?" The Lord replied: "No, for although the sinner hides My Diving light from him, still My goodness will not fail to leave him some ray to guide him to eternal life. This light will increase whenever he hears Mass with devotion or approaches the Sacraments." §5. The spiritual vestments with which the soul should be adorned to receive the Holy Communion and of the necessity of sanctifying the tongue which has touched the Body of Christ. As Gertrude was about to communicate and feared she was not sufficiently prepared, though the moment was at hand, she addressed her soul thus: "Behold, thy Spouse calls thee: and how canst thou dare to appear before Him without being adorned as thou shouldst be?" Then, reflecting more and more on her unworthiness entirely distrusting herself and placing her confidence in the mercy of God alone she said to herself: "Why defer longer? Even had I a thousand years, I could not prepare as I ought having nothing which could serve to promote the right dispositions in me. I will meet Him with confidence and humility. When my Lord beholds me from afar, He can fill me with all the grace and the attractions with which His love desires that I should appear before Him." Approaching the Holy Mysteries in this disposition, she thought only of her negligences and imperfections. As she advanced, she perceived our Lord regarding her with an eye of compassion or rather of love and sending her His innocence, that she might be adorned therewith as with a white garment. He gave her His humility, which made Him converse with creatures so utterly unworthy of such a favour. This served her for a purple tunic. He filled her with that hope which would make her sigh ardently for Him whom she loved, to add the beauty of green to her garments. He presented her with His love of souls for a vestment of gold. He inspired her with the joy which He takes in the hearts of the faithful for a crown of precious stones. Lastly, He gave her for sandals that confidence with which He deigned to rest on the inconstancy of human frailty and which made Him find His delights with the children of men. Thus she was worthy to be presented to God. After her Communion, as she recollected herself interiorly, our Lord appeared to her under the form of a pelican as it is usually represented, piercing its heart with its beak. Marveling at this, she said: "My Lord, what wouldst Thou teach me by this vision?" "I wish," replied our Lord, "that you would consider the excess of love which obliges Me to present you with such a gift. After having thus given Myself, I would rather remain dead in the tomb, so to speak, than deprive a soul who loves Me of the fruit of My liberality. Consider also, that even as the blood which comes from the heart of the pelican gives life to its little ones, so also the soul whom I nourish with the Divine Food, which I present to it, receives a life which will never end." On another occasion after Holy Communion as the Saint was considering with what circumspection she should use that tongue, honoured above all the members of the body in being the depository of the most precious mysteries of Jesus Christ, she was instructed by this comparison: That one who does not abstain from vain, idle, or sinful discourse and who approaches the Holy Communion without repentance is like a person who gathers a heap of stones at the threshold of his door to throw at his guest when he comes to visit him, or beats him cruelly on the head with a rod. E-MAIL HOME-------------------------------SAINT GERTRUDE www.catholictradition.org/Gertrude/revelations14.htm