Deepertruth: Stand In the Gap With Us And St. Gertrude the Great

Stand In the Gap With Us And St. Gertrude the Great 11/14/2023 Our story begins in the village of Helfta, Germany. A little girl, barely five years old entered a Benedictine convent, a community filled with holy cloistered nuns whose whole life was the Lord. They knew and believed that the Lord was as truly present in the Blessed Sacrament as He was in Heaven and so they spent much of their lives on earth adoring Him. From this fountain of faith flowed a desire to praise him morning, day and night, praying the Divine Office. Gertrude grew in holiness and when she came of age, she became a Bride of Christ. In 1281, 25-year-old Gertrude experienced her first series of visions that would continue until the day she passed away. Her Bridegroom Jesus appeared to her when she was twenty-six years old. During Advent, she had been filled with a restlessness and longing to be closer to Jesus. The more she meditated, the more she began to have a disdain for the things of the world. One evening, she was about to retire, when Our Lord appeared to her as a very handsome young Man. He said: "Thy salvation is at hand. Why are you so consumed by sorrow?" She had received her first vision! Jesus spoke to her: "I will save and deliver you. Fear not."