The Revelations of St. Gertrude the Great COMPILED BY THE RELIGIOUS OF HER MONASTERY CATHOLIC TREASURES, NOVEMBER 1980 Human consolation weakens that which is Divine. Gertrude received another clear testimony, although she did not understand it very well at first, that contradictions and privation of consolation in suffering greatly increase merit. On a certain day, about the Feast of Pentecost, as she suffered such severe pain in her side that those who were present feared her last hour had arrived, her Beloved, the true Consoler of her soul, retired from her and thus increased her suffering, although the cares and attentions of those who surrounded her were redoubled. When she was less carefully attended, this loving Lord remained near her, to solace the severity of her pain by His presence, thus making her understand that when we are deprived of human consolation the Divine Mercy regards us most favourably. Towards evening, as the Saint was worn out by acute suffering, she sought to obtain some mitigation of it from our Lord. But He raised His right arm and showed her the pain she had endured all day as a precious ornament on His bosom. As this ornament appeared so perfect and so complete in every part, she rejoiced, hoping that her suffering would now cease. But our Lord replied: "What you suffer after this will add brightness to this ornament." Certainly, although it was garnished with precious stones, the gold appeared dark and dull. What she suffered afterwards was not so grievous in itself, but she was more tried by being deprived of consolation than by the acuteness of the pain.   How vile and despicable are all transitory pleasures. About the Feast of St. Bartholomew, Gertrude felt herself overwhelmed with an exceeding sadness and a temptation to impatience. This caused such darkness in her soul, that she appeared insensible to all the pleasures which the presence of God imparted to her and light was not restored to her until the following Saturday through the intercession of the Mother of God, when they sang in her honour the Antiphon which commences "Mary, Star of the sea." The following day, as she rejoiced inwardly at the sweetness and tenderness with which God treated her, she began to reflect on her late impatience and her other faults. Then, feeling exceedingly displeased with herself, she prayed to God for her amendment, but with such discouragement that, beholding the enormity and the multitude of her faults, she cried out in despair: "God of mercy, set bounds to my malice, since I place neither end nor measure to it! 'Deliver me, O Lord, and set me beside Thee and let any man's hand fight against me'" (Job xvii. 3). Our Lord, compassionating her extreme affliction, showed her a small, narrow garden, filled with many beautiful flowers, but surrounded with thorns, through which a little stream of honey flowed. He said to her: "Would you prefer the pleasure which you might enjoy here to Me?" She replied: "Assuredly not, O Lord my God." Then He showed her another little garden, filled with mire and dirt, but covered with some verdure, and containing a few common flowers. Being asked likewise if she would prefer this, she turned away from it to show her aversion and exclaimed: "May I never prefer the fearful illusion of an apparent good, which conceals a real evil, to Him Who is the only sovereign, true, unchangeable and eternal Good!" Our Lord replied: "Why then, do you mistrust, as one deprived of charity; since the favours with which I overwhelm you are a proof that you possess it? And why do you speak despairingly because of your sins since Scripture testifies that charity covers a multitude of sins, when you do not prefer your will to Mine, although by following it you might live without trouble, and in honour, in the esteem of men and with a reputation for sanctity? I have represented this self-will to you under the figure of a garden filled with flowers and the pleasures of a sensual life by the verdure which covered the mire." She replied: "Oh, would to God a thousand times that, by the contempt of the garden of flowers, which Thou hast shown me, I may have altogether renounced my own will! But I fear the insignificance of the place disposed me to do so more easily." "It is thus," our Lord replied, "that, in guiding the consciences of My elect, I only let them see temporal advantages to a small extent in order to avoid exposing their weakness to great temptation and to inspire them more easily with contempt for the false pleasures of earth." Then Gertrude renounced entirely all the pleasures of Heaven and earth and cast herself with such constancy and fervour into the bosom of her Beloved, that she believed no creature would now be able to remove her for a single moment from His arms, where she tasted with joy that life-giving draught which flowed from the wounded Side of her Lord and whose sweetness infinitely surpassed that of the most precious balm.  E-MAIL HOME-------------------------------SAINT GERTRUDE www.catholictradition.org/Gertrude/revelations3.htm