CHAPTER 43
For the Feast of the Blessed Trinity.

How we may glorify the Most Holy Trinity by our Lord Jesus Christ. And what obstacles human affections place to our advancement.

ON THE Feast of the effulgent and ever-peaceful Trinity, St. Gertrude recited this salutation: “Be Thou glorified, O most mighty, most excellent, most noble, most sweet, most benignant, ever-peaceful and ineffable Trinity, Who art one God now and to endless ages!” As she offered this salutation to Our Lord, He appeared to her in His Humanity, in which He is said to be less than His Father, and stood in the presence of the adorable Trinity with all the beauty and grace of a perfect man. He had a most brilliant and beautiful flower on each part of His Body, to which nothing material could be compared. They indicated by their brightness that, as our baseness and unworthiness were utterly incapable of praising the adorable Trinity, Our Lord, by taking our nature, had so elevated it as to make it worthy of being offered in sacrifice to this adorable Trinity.

When Vespers commenced, Our Lord offered His Heart to the Blessed Trinity as a musical instrument, and by it every note and every word which was chanted in the Office on that day resounded most melodiously before God. But the chants of those who had little devotion emitted a low and unmelodious sound, like that which is heard on the large strings of a musical instrument. At the Antiphon Osculetur me [cf. Cant. 1:1], a voice came from the throne, singing: “Let My Divine Son, in whom is all My delight, approach Me, and give Me a sweet and loving embrace.” Then the Son of God approached under His human form, embracing this incomprehensive Divinity, to which His Sacred Humanity alone has merited to be united so blessedly and so inseparably.

Then the Son of God said to His most pure Mother, in whose honor this Antiphon was chanted: “Do you also approach, My most dear Mother, and embrace Me.” And at this embrace, the same flowers and the same beauty appeared on her as on Our Lord, because it was from her He took human flesh. She learned also that whenever the Son is named on this most holy festival, the Father unites Himself in an ineffable manner with the Son, whose Humanity receives thereby a glory which reflects itself upon the Saints, giving them new knowledge of the incomprehensible Trinity.

In the morning, when the Antiphon Te jure laudent109 was chanted at Lauds, St. Gertrude praised the Ever-Blessed Trinity with her whole soul, desiring to do the same at the moment of her death, if it were possible; and it appeared to her that the effulgent and ever-peaceful Trinity inclined gently toward the Heart of Jesus, which resounded before it like a harp, and that three words therein were united to pay the homage which St. Gertrude had failed in rendering to the Blessed Trinity; and these three words were—the omnipotence of the Father, the wisdom of the Son, and the love of the Holy Spirit. As she continued in sentiments of most fervent devotion all the morning, she began to consider whether it was her negligence which had prevented her from receiving as many lights as usual. But Our Lord consoled her by these words: “Although My justice has deprived you of some lights and knowledge, on account of the human satisfaction which you have taken in chanting the Office, you may nevertheless be assured that the pains which you have chosen to endure in this service will not fail of their reward.”

On another occasion also, and on the same high festival, St. Gertrude was vouchsafed the most sublime graces, particularly at the Church’s offices, which are known to God alone.