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November 16

St. Gertrude

(1256?-1302)

Gertrude, a Benedictine nun in Helfta (Saxony), was one of the great mystics of the 13th century. Together with her friend and teacher St. Mechtild, she practiced a spirituality called "nuptial mysticism," that is, she came to see herself as the bride of Christ. Her spiritual life was a deep personal union with Jesus and his Sacred Heart, leading her into the very life of the Trinity.

But this was no individualistic piety. Gertrude lived the rhythm of the liturgy, where she found Christ. In the liturgy and Scripture, she found the themes and images to enrich and express her piety. There was no clash between her personal prayer life and the liturgy.

Comment:

Gertrude's life is another reminder that the heart of the Christian life is prayer: private and liturgical, ordinary or mystical, always personal.

Quote:

"Lord, you have granted me your secret friendship by opening the sacred ark of your divinity, your deified heart, to me in so many ways as to be the source of all my happiness; sometimes imparting it freely, sometimes as a special mark of our mutual friendship. You have so often melted my soul with your loving caresses that, if I did not know the abyss of your overflowing condescensions, I should be amazed were I told that even your Blessed Mother had been chosen to receive such extraordinary marks of tenderness and affection" (Adapted from The Life and Revelations of Saint Gertrude).

Homily of the Day

Homily of the Day

Title:	He Will Bring You Back Both Breath and Life
Author:	Monsignor Dennis Clark, Ph.D.
Date:	Wednesday, October 16, 2005

2 Maccabees 7:1,20-31 / Lk 19:11-28

Fear is one of the greatest adversaries that any of us will ever face. It steals our peace and our joy, it closes down many roads, and throws up many walls. Some form of fear is at the root of every sin, and some kind of fear is behind every failure to live up to our best selves. Fear pretends to be a protector of life, but in fact it is a friend only of death. Jesus said it best, "Fear is useless. What is needed is trust."

Nothing less than monumental trust can explain the confident courage of the mother of the Maccabees in today's Old Testament reading. As she watched each of her seven sons being carried off to a martyr's death, she was a tower of strength for them, and like the good mother she was, she explained to each of them why they had no reason to fear anything, not even death. "The Creator of the universe who shapes every man's beginning, as He brings about the origin of everything, will in His mercy bring you back both breath and life..." They heard her words, they trusted in their Creator's love, and they went to their death in peace.

Many things ever so much smaller than death frighten us and rob us of too many of our days. The time for that to stop forever is now. We need only trust in the love of the Creator who made us, and we will be free. Troubles will inevitably come, sometimes great ones. They may even kill us, but if we are connected to Him, they will never destroy us. That is God's promise!