Today is Nov. 16, optional memorial of St. Gertrude, virgin.
In the readings for today’s Mass, we hear St. Luke report, “Jesus told his disciples a parable about the necessity for them to pray always without becoming weary” (Lk 18:1).
Nov. 15 and 16 are charming, because we have back-to-back “great” saints. St. Gertrude the Great follows St. Albert the Great. What’s even more delightful is that they both represent the same time and, broadly speaking, the same spiritual school. German medieval mysticism is a powerhouse of spiritual richness that is only recently being rediscovered.
St. Gertrude was a Benedictine contemplative nun, who wrote marvelous treatises on prayer. Her writings, including “The Herald of Divine Love” and “The Revelations,” reveal her profound understanding of the love of Christ. And while other saints like the second-century St. Justin Martyr and Pope St. Gregory the Great write about the Sacred Heart, St. Gertrude is generally considered the first major expositor of the devotion.
She was known for being a woman of great prayer. But she had become dispirited concerning some of her prayers because it did not seem to her that they were doing any good. In a vision, Jesus consoled St. Gertrude, saying: “Do not, therefore, be surprised if you do not see the fruits of your prayers with your bodily eyes, since I dispose of them, according to My eternal wisdom, to greater advantage. And know that the more you pray for any one, the happier they will become, because no prayer of faith can remain unfruitful, although we do not know in what manner it will fructify.”
It’s that last bit that really strikes me. No prayer is unfruitful. It is perhaps for this reason that Jesus tells us that we ought to pray always, since plenty of things we do are not worth that much in the end, but prayer is always beneficial.
Let’s pray today that, through St. Gertrude’s intercession, we might be confident in the value of our prayers.
O God, who prepared a delightful dwelling for yourself in the heart of the Virgin Saint Gertrude, graciously bring light, through her intercession, to the darkness of our hearts, that we may joyfully experience you present and at work within us. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever. Amen.
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