Flower of Devotion

On one occasion, during the ceremony of blessing water on the Saturday of the feast day (I.e., Holy Saturday. Editor’s note.) St. Mechtilde saw the Lord Jesus walking in all his splendor to the spring of baptismal water, as if in procession. On his right hand walked John the Evangelist, on his left St. Bartholomew, a veneration which both of these saints had earned by the special purity of heart and body which they had displayed while living on earth. And St. Peter and St. James the younger preceded the Lord Jesus to the source for their separate episcopal dignity (St. Peter was Bishop of Rome, St. James the Younger of Jerusalem), which they had before the other Apostles. She also saw the Blessed Virgin Mary on the right side of her Son in a golden robe. From the Heart of God she saw a spring of the purest water gushing forth.
The saint went to the Mother of God and asked Her to obtain the grace to cleanse herself from all her sins in this source. Then the Blessed Virgin graciously took her in her hands and bent her towards the Divine Heart, so that St. Mechtilde could kiss her five times.
At the first kiss, she received the grace to cleanse herself of all stains. In the second she was given true peace, and in the third she received a special sweetness as her dearest friend. In the fourth, she was raptured in the Heart of God, she saw and knew all the elect and all creatures.
Then the Lord said to her, “What else do you want and what can you still desire? Behold, all the good things that Heaven rejoices to possess and the heavens of heaven rejoice in are yours. Now distribute this good to all the saints according to your good pleasure.” – The saint immediately embraced the Lord in inexpressible joy, and then shared it first with the Blessed Virgin and then with all the saints.
In the fifth kiss it seemed to her that she was sitting with the Lord at a richly set table and taking part in the heavenly banquet with Him.
The Lord said to the saint: “In this fivefold way you should kiss My Heart every day – as you can see in a mother who has a daughter whom she loves very much. First, he looks at her face, and when he finds a stain on it, he immediately washes it. Secondly, he adorns his daughter’s head with a crown. Third, out of great love, he kisses her. Fourth, he leads her into the chamber and shows her all the riches. Fifthly, he treats her to the best dish she can muster.
I deal in the same way with the soul that comes to Me. Through repentance I accept it into My grace and cleanse it from all impurity. Then I place crowns on it and adorn it with various virtues. And since I find in her My delight and sweetness in unlimited love, I kiss her kindly. Then I open it to her and show her in a blessed foretaste of the riches of my happiness, and I treat her to the best food: the sacrament of my body and my blood.”