Flower of Devotion

On one occasion, St. Gertrude received the following teaching in a revelation:
“If anyone turns devoutly to the Cross on which the Saviour is nailed, he can be convinced that our Lord Jesus Christ, from the depths of His Heart, says to him with pity: “See how for love of you I am nailed to the Cross, stripped naked, mocked. He is covered with My wounds all over his body, and all his limbs are torn out; and yet My Heart is still burning with such tender love for you that if it were necessary for your salvation, and if there were no other means to save you, I would bear again for you all that I once bore for the redemption of the whole world.”
Therefore a man ought to stir up his heart to gratitude by addressing the Cross in this devotion. For a man will never look at the Cross with the Saviour without having to have in his soul the saving efficacy of God’s grace.
Every Christian, therefore, errs if, out of a kind of ingratitude or indifference, he neglects to attend to this honorable object of his salvation. For whenever we look devoutly at a crucifix, we are greatly benefited by it.