The Revelations of St. Gertrude the Great COMPILED BY THE RELIGIOUS OF HER MONASTERY CATHOLIC TREASURES, NOVEMBER 1980  Of the efficacy of prayers for others. God having revealed to a certain person that He willed to deliver a great number of Souls from Purgatory, through the prayers of the community, a general prayer was enjoined for all the religious. As St. Gertrude prayed, one Sunday, in the manner prescribed, she pleaded most fervently with God for the deliverance of these Souls and being rapt in spirit, she beheld the Lord, like a king in the midst of His glory, occupied in distributing rewards and gifts. Not being able to discern exactly why He was thus so greatly occupied, she said to Him: "Most loving Lord! since you made known to me last year on the Feast of St. Mary Magdalen notwithstanding my unworthiness, that Thine Own goodness had obliged Thee to grant mercy to those who approached Thy sacred Feet, since so many persons prostrated themselves before Thee on this day, to imitate the blessed sinner, Thy faithful lover, do me the further grace to discover to the eyes of my soul the meaning of Thy present employment, which I do not understand." Our Lord replied: "I am distributing gifts." The Saint knew by these words that God was applying the prayers of the community to the Souls whom, however she was not permitted to see, although they were present. Then He added: "Will you not offer Me your merits to increase My gifts?" At these words she was deeply moved. Not knowing that the community were then occupied in the same way, she was filled with gratitude, believing that something special was required of her and replied joyfully: "Yes, Lord, I offer Thee not only my merits, which are worth nothing, but I offer Thee all the good done by my community, which I attribute entirely to the union which I have by Thy grace with my sisters. I offer it to Thee of my free will and most gladly, for the honour of Thy majesty and Thine infinite perfection." The Lord graciously accepted her offering. Then our Lord appeared as if disengaged and covering Himself and Gertrude with a light cloud, He inclined lovingly towards her and said: "Listen to Me only and taste the sweetness of My grace." She replied: "My God and my Beloved! why hast Thou deprived me of the favour Thou hast bestowed on another, of revealing to her with so much clearness the mercy which Thou didst desire to exercise towards those souls, since Thou hast revealed to me so many secrets?" He replied: "Reflect frequently that My graces usually serve to humble you, because you believe yourself unworthy of them and that you believe that they are only given to you as to a servant who is engaged for daily labour and as if you could not be faithful to Me without this reward. Hence you prefer others who serve Me faithfully without these favours. I have willed to render you like them in this, so that while you did not know more than others of the mercy which I desired to exercise towards those souls, you laboured for them with equal zeal. Therefore you are not deprived of an advantage you value so much for others." At these words she was exceedingly moved. Marveling at the amazing and ineffable condescension of the Divine goodness towards her, in pouring forth on her such abundant favours, and when giving less acting thus to preserve that humility which is the foundation of all graces. She learned then how God arranges, for the good of those whom He loves, the bestowal or the refusal of His favours. Being ravished out of herself in an excess of adoration and gratitude for the infinite goodness of God towards her she cast herself, fainting away in utter self-annihilation, into the arms of her Lord, saying to Him: "My God, my weakness is unable to bear the excess of Thy mercy." Then the Lord moderated in her a little the overwhelming power of this great thought and as she recovered her strength she said to Him: "Since thy inexplicable and incomprehensible wisdom wills that I should be deprived of this gift, I will desire it no longer. But, my God, wilt Thou not hear my prayers for my friends?" Then our Lord confirmed His words as with an oath, replying: "I will, by My Divine power." The Saint replied: "Hear then my petition for the person so often recommended to my prayers." And immediately she beheld a stream, pure as crystal, flowing forth from the Heart of the Lord into the person for whom she prayed. She then asked: "Lord, what will this person gain by this, since she does not see it flowing into her?" He replied: "When a physician gives a draught to a sick person, those who are present do not see him recover his health the moment he takes the remedy, nor does the sick man himself feel cured; nevertheless, the physician knows well the value of the remedy and how salutary it will prove to the patient." "But why Lord, dost Thou not deliver her from the ill-regulated habits and the other defects from which I have implored Thee so many times to deliver her?" He replied: "It is said of Me, when I was in My Childhood, that I 'advanced in wisdom and in age and in grace with God and man.' So will this person advance from hour to hour, changing her faults into virtues. I will deliver her from all the infirmities of nature, so that after this she may possess the blessedness which I have prepared for man, whom I have exalted above the Angels." As the hour at which the Saint was to communicate was now near, she prayed God to show mercy to as many sinners as would be saved for she dared not pray for the reprobate, as He had that day delivered Souls from Purgatory by the merit of the prayers which had been offered. But our Lord reproved her timidity, saying: "Is not the offering of My spotless Body and My precious Blood sufficient merit to recall even those who walk in the ways of perdition to a better life?" Then Gertrude reflecting on the infinite goodness testified by these words exclaimed: "Since Thine ineffable charity will condescend to my unworthy prayers, I beseech Thee, uniting my petitions to the love and desire of all creatures, that it may please Thee to deliver as many persons who live in sin and are in peril thereby as Thou hast delivered Souls from Purgatory, without preferring those who are my friends either by consanguinity or proximity." Our Lord accepted this petition graciously and certified its acceptance to her. "I would know further O Lord," she continued, "what I shall add to these prayers to make them yet more efficacious?" Then, as she received no answer, she continued: "Lord, I fear that my unfaithfulness does not merit a reply to this question, because Thou, who seest the hearts of all, knowest that I will not comply with Thy command." Then our Lord, turning towards her with a countenance full of sweetness, replied: "Confidence alone can easily obtain all things. If your devotion urges you to add anything further, say the Psalm Laudate Dominum, omnes gentes, three hundred and sixty-five times, in order to supply for those praises which men fail in offering to Me." E-MAIL HOME-------------------------------SAINT GERTRUDE www.catholictradition.org/Gertrude/revelations5.htm