Friday, July 12, 2024

St. Gertrude of Helfta: The Herald of Divine Love, III.51: The Heartbeats of the Lord

 


St. Gertrude of Helfta: The Herald of Divine Love, III.51: The Heartbeats of the Lord

 

When she saw the others assembling for the sermon, she complained within herself and said to the Lord: "You Know, my dearest, how gladly I would now hear the sermon with all my heart, were I not held back by sickness. " To which the Lord answered: "Would you like me to preach to you, my dearest?"? She answered: "I would, very much. " Then the Lord made her lean against his heart, with the heart of her soul close to his divine heart. When her soul had sweetly rested there a while, she heard in the Lord's heart two wondrous and very sweet pulsations.

 

The Lord said to her: "Each of these two pulsations brings about man's salvation in three ways. The first pulsation effects the salvation of sinners; the second, that of the just. With the first pulsation, first, I address God the Father, ceaselessly appeasing him and leading him to have mercy upon sinners. Second, I invoke all my saints, excusing the sinner with fraternal fidelity, and urging them to pray for him. Third, I address the sinner himself, calling upon him to repent, and awaiting his conversion with ineffable longing.

 

"With the second pulsation, first, I address God the Father, inviting him to rejoice with me for having shed my precious blood to such good purpose for the redemption of the just, in whose hearts I now find so many delights. Second, I address all the heavenly hosts, inviting them to praise the lives of the just, and to thank me for the benefits I have already bestowed upon them, and for those I will bestow in the future. Third, I address the just themselves, lavishing various favors on them for their salvation and admonishing them to progress from day to day and from hour to hour. And just as the pulsations of the human heart are not impeded by seeing or hearing or by any manual work, but always maintain their regular motion, so the government and disposition of heaven and earth and the whole universe can never affect in the very least these twofold pulsations of my divine heart, still them, modify them, or in any way hinder them, till the end of time."

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