Sunday, February 23 : Saint Gertrude of Helfta

Reflecting, one day, on the various graces she had received from the generous goodness of God, Gertrude considered herself to be miserable and unworthy of any favors since, up to that point, she had wasted so many of the gifts received from God through negligence that she could not see she had drawn the least fruit from them either for herself, by profiting or giving thanks for them, nor for others who, by taking note of them, might have found in them cause for edification and progress in their knowledge of God. This light comforted her: that sometimes the Lord does not lavish graces on his saints to make them each give suitable fruit back to him since human weakness often puts difficulty in the way. But because God’s goodness and overflowing generosity know no measure, even though he knows we cannot bring them all to fruition, he does not nevertheless strive less to accumulate graces so as at least to assure us of an accumulation of eternal beatitude. Just as, in the case of earthly things, it usually happens that people sometimes give something to a small child who does not know the usefulness he can expect from it so that later on, once he is an adult, he might be laden with good things, so the Lord, when he bestows grace on his elect in this life, prepares them and assures them of the good things for which eternal delight will make them happy in heaven.

Roman Extraordinary (Tridentine) Daily Readings – rosary,team