CHAPTER 15
For the Monday after the First Sunday in Lent.

Of the true manner of spiritually performing the corporal works of mercy.

THE SECOND feria after the Sunday Invocabit, as these words were read in the Gospel,50 “Come, ye blessed of My Father; for I was hungry,” etc., St. Gertrude said to Our Lord: “O my Lord, since we cannot feed the hungry and give drink to the thirsty, because our Rule forbids us to possess anything of our own, teach me how we may participate in the sweet blessings with which Thou hast promised in this Gospel to reward works of mercy.” Our Lord replied: “As I am the Salvation and Life of the soul, and as I continually hunger and thirst for the salvation of men, if you endeavor to study some words of Scripture every day for the benefit of others, you will bestow on Me a most sweet refection. If you read with the intention of obtaining the grace of compunction or devotion, you appease My thirst by giving Me an agreeable beverage to drink. If you employ yourself in recollection for an hour each day, you give Me hospitality; and if you apply yourself daily to acquire some new virtue, you clothe Me. You visit Me when sick, by striving to overcome temptation, and to conquer your evil inclinations; and you visit Me in prison, and solace My afflictions with the sweetest consolations, when you pray for sinners and for the souls in Purgatory.” He added: “Those who perform these devotions daily for My love, especially during the holy season of Lent, will most certainly receive the tenderest and most bountiful recompense which My incomprehensible omnipotence, My inscrutable wisdom, and My most loving benevolence, can bestow.”