The Blessed Trinity and Our Lady’s Heart

It was the morning of the feast of the Annunciation and the Hail Mary was of course being sung in Saint Gertrude’s monastery. During the singing she had a vision in which three streams gushed forth from the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost and gently flowed into Mary’s virginal Heart. The minute they reached Her Heart they bounded back to the source from where they had come.

From this Saint Gertrude learned that the Blessed Trinity has allowed Our Lady to be most powerful next to God the Father, the wis­est after God the Son, and the most loving after God the Holy Ghost.

She also learned that every time the Angelic Salutation is said by the faithful the three mysterious streams surround Our Lady in a mighty, swirling current and rush into Her Heart. After they have completely bathed Her in happiness they gush back into the bosom of Almighty God. The Saints and Angels share in this abundance of joy as do the faithful on earth, who say this prayer.

(St. Gertrude: Revelations Book IV, Chapter II)

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November 16th: St. Gertrude  (1256-1302)

Prayer to Saint Gertrude:

Model of total fidelity to the Heavenly Bridegroom and to your Cistercian Rule, the Lord was pleased to make available wonderful private revelations through you. Help religious to realize that where there is total generosity, trials are usually not lacking, but there is also God’s infinite love. Make all religious generous like you. Amen.

Prayer of Saint Gertrude to the Sacred Heart of Jesus:

O Sacred Heart of Jesus, fountain of eternal life, Your Heart is a glowing furnace of Love. You are my refuge and my sanctuary. O my adorable and loving Savior, consume my heart with the burning fire with which Yours is aflamed. Pour down on my soul those graces which flow from Your love. Let my heart be united with Yours. Let my will be conformed to Yours in all things. May Your Will be the rule of all my desires and actions. Amen.

Prayer of Saint Gertrude the Great to the Blessed Virgin Mary:

HAIL, MARY, queen of mercy, olive-branch of forgiveness, through whom we receive the medicine that heals our mortal sickness, the balsam of pardon; Virgin Mother of the divine offspring, through whom the grace of heavenly light has been shed upon us, the sweet-scented scion of Israel! Through thy Son, thy only Child who stooped to become the Brother of mankind, thou art become the true Mother of us all. For the sake of his love take me, all unworthy as I am, into thy motherly care.  Sustain, preserve, and enlighten my conversion; be thou for all eternity my incomparable cherished mother, tenderly caring for me throughout my earthly life, and enfolding me in thy arms at the hour of my death. Amen.

Prayer of Saint Gertrude the Great for the Souls in Purgatory:

Eternal Father, I offer Thee the Most Precious Blood of Thy Divine Son, Jesus, in union with the Masses said throughout the world today, for all the holy Souls in Purgatory, for sinners everywhere, for sinners in the Universal Church, those in my own home and within my family. Amen

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 Prayer and Devotions for the Holy Souls

In the Catholic Church, the month of November is traditionally given over to prayers for the Holy Souls. The most powerful form of prayer for the Souls in Purgatory is the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. A quote often used by Catholics in the UK is ‘Masses for our dead, not flowers’ and it makes perfect sense. Flowers decorate a grave but wither and die, with no benefit to the soul of the deceased at all. The benefit is for the donor and the surviving family members, often with pride as to how many wreaths have been donated. We have the opportunity to assist the Holy Souls in purgatory through the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. They cannot help themselves but they do remember us with gratitude in their prayers.

At every Holy Mass, we enter into the timeless reality of the perfect and acceptable Sacrifice of Christ to the Father for our sake. And from that Sacrifice, immeasurable graces flow for all people and especially for those for whom the Mass is being offered. This is particularly the case for the deceased who may be undergoing purification in purgatory to prepare them for the joy of heaven. We can offer the Holy Souls no better comfort and solace than to attend a Mass for them, or have Masses said for them.

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Homily #101116 ( 08min) Play – Just as Zacheus accepted the Lord’s salvation as soon as he realized that He was seeking to give His salvation to him in today’s Gospel, so too He seeks all souls to offer them the same gift. Let us respond like Zacheus and this starts now by first being on the lookout for him, again, like Zacheus.
Ave Maria!
Mass: St Gertrude the Great – Optional Memorial – Form: OF
Readings: Tuesday in the 33rd Week in Ordinary Time
1st: rev 3:1-6, 14-22
Resp: psa 15:2-3, 3-4, 5
Gsp: luk 19:1-10

Audio (MP3)

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Homily #131116 ( 10min) Play – St. Gertrude the Great teaches us how sufferings of the body, especially heavy ones, are great gifts from God which give us purer light and clarify the soul, while spiritual sufferings offer an even deeper purification. We continually thank God for His crosses and great love and mercy streaming from his Sacred Heart.
Ave Maria!
Mass: St Gertrude the Great – Opt Mem – Form: OF
Readings: Saturday 32nd Week of Ordinary Time
1st: wis 18:14-16, 19:6-9
Resp: psa 105:2-3, 36-37, 42-43
Gsp: luk 18:1-8

Audio (MP3)

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FOUR PRAYERS FOR THE DEPARTED

When St. Gertrude was about to say these prayers together with the psalter, she asked Our Lord whether they were acceptable to him, and received this answer: They are so acceptable to me that whenever a soul is liberated from Purgatory, it is to me as though my own soul were delivered out of captivity, and I will surely reward them in due time, in the omnipotence of my boundless compassion. Wherefore, although you cannot recite the whole psalter, say at least these four most effectual prayers, and after each of them say:

HAIL, Jesus Christ, Splendor of the Father; Hail, Prince of Peace, Gate of Heaven, Living Bread, Offspring of the Virgin, Vessel of the Godhead.

V. Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord.
R. And let perpetual light shine upon them.

Or, De profundis ( Psalm 129).

FIRST PRAYER

I ADORE, salute, and bless thee, O sweetest Lord Jesus Christ, and I praise thee and give thee thanks with the love of all thy creatures for the vast love wherewith thou didst condescend to be made man for us, to be born, to endure hunger and thirst, toils and sorrows, for thirty-three years, and to bestow on us thyself in the most holy Sacrament; beseeching thee that thou wouldst vouchsafe to unite and blend with the merits of thy most holy conversation and life this my prayer, which I make to thee for the soul of N. departed [or, for the souls of all the faithful departed]; and to supply from the great abundance of those merits, and perfectly to complete whatsoever he has neglected in thy worship and love, in thanksgiving and in prayer, in virtue and good works, and all the service due to thee, in all that by thy grace he might have done and has not done, or did from impure motives, or carelessly and imperfectly. Amen.

SECOND PRAYER

I ADORE, salute, and bless thee, O sweetest Lord Jesus Christ, and I give thee thanks for that love wherewith thou, the Creator of all things, didst condescend for our redemption to be seized and bound and dragged away to judgment, to be trampled upon, buffeted and spit upon, to be scourged and crowned with thorns, to be condemned, to bear thine own cross, to be stripped and nailed to the cross, to die a most bitter death, and to be pierced through with the lance. And in union with that love I offer thee these my unworthy prayers, beseeching thee to blot out and efface utterly through the merits of thy most holy Passion and Death whatsoever this soul for which I pray has ever done against thy will, by evil thoughts or words or deeds; and that thou wouldst vouchsafe to offer to God the Father all the sorrow and the anguish of thy torn Body and of thy desolated Soul, all thy merits and all thine actions, for all that chastisement which he has incurred at the hands of thy justice. Amen.

THIRD PRAYER

I ADORE, salute, and bless thee, O sweetest Lord Jesus Christ, and I give thee thanks for all the love and the faithfulness with which thou didst overcome death and rise from the dead, and glorify our flesh by ascending in it to the right hand of the Father; beseeching thee that thou wouldst now vouchsafe to render the soul for which I pray partaker of thy triumph and of thy glory. Amen.

FOURTH PRAYER

I ADORE, salute, and bless thee, O sweetest Lord Jesus Christ, and I render thee thanks for all the graces thou hast ever bestowed on thy glorious Mother and on all thine elect, in union with the gratitude with which all thy saints exult in the bliss thou hast obtained for them through thy holy Incarnation, Passion, and Resurrection; beseeching thee that thou wouldst vouchsafe to supply to this soul from the merits and prayers of the same glorious Virgin and all thy saints, whatever is lacking to his own. Amen.

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