Saint Gertrude: Jesus Wants to Change Our Lives

Today we celebrate Saint Gertrude "the Great"—of the 13th century Benedictine monastery in Helfta (Germany). She was one of the outstanding women of the medieval Church, a brilliant scholar, a counselor to many, and most importantly a mystic enraptured by the merciful and loving heart of Jesus.

This beautifully detailed testimony continues to be a source of encouragement and consolation to me, and I think it worth sharing again. In one of her deeply personal but also prophetic “visions,” Gertrude reports that Jesus said these words to her: "My Divine Heart, understanding human inconstancy and frailty, desires with incredible ardor continually to be invited, either by your words, or at least by some other sign, to operate and accomplish in you what you are not able to accomplish yourself. And as its omnipotence enables it to act without trouble, and its impenetrable wisdom enables it to act in the most perfect manner, so also its joyous and loving charity makes it ardently desire to accomplish this end."