Flower of Devotion

Once, on the feast of Saint Mark, the Litany to All Saints was sung during a procession, the Lord Jesus appeared to Saint Gertrude, full of Majesty, sitting on a throne decorated with expensive and brightly shining jewels. They represented as many shining mirrors as there are saints in Heaven. Whenever the name of a saint was mentioned in the litany, he immediately stood up full of joy, fell on his knees before the Lord and offered Him the prayers of those who called on him. At the same time, the written names of those faithful who submitted requests to him appeared in his hand. However, the names of those who invoked the saints zealously and with pure intention were written in golden letters. Those who did the same, but only out of habit and without piety, had their names written in black letters. Finally, those who invoked the saints reluctantly and absent-mindedly had their names so faint that they were barely recognizable.
Hence, Saint Gertrude learned that when the saints whom we invoke pray for us, their prayer appears before God as a monument of the mercy obtained for us, and thus God seems to be compelled to have mercy on us. And if we call on the saints with pure and ardent devotion, they receive within themselves the splendor of those precious jewels placed in the robe of the Lord Jesus, along with the names of their worshipers who call upon them for help. So that they feel the joy of obtaining happiness in temporal and eternal life.