Flower of Devotion

After the death of a saintly nun, St. Gertrude saw how her soul was greeted by the Lord Jesus, as if it were His most beloved bride, amid the most tender manifestations of love, and how He had miraculously crowned her for all the victories she had won over the world in the battle of this life. And she heard the angels sing in triumph: “Who is she that comes out of the wilderness, flowing with pleasures, and leaning on her beloved? (Song 8:5).”
And when she came before the gate of the splendor of the Lord, the Lord Jesus, the most chaste Bridegroom of the Virgins, stopped her for a while, and, turning to her graciously, said, “You are my glory.” Then He placed the royal crown on her head and commanded her to ascend to the throne of His magnificence.
On the morrow, when the nun died, she was to be buried, and St. Gertrude was still praying for her, she saw the holy soul of the deceased surrounded by so much joy and glory that all human reason is too weak to comprehend it. Then she asked the deceased with what graces the Lord had rewarded her for the virtues in which she had been specially trained on earth. To which she replied when asked. “Oh, what shall I tell you of my immeasurable reward! The heavenly treasury, in which the fullness of the Godhead dwells bodily (Col 2:9), is open to me. This means that I myself draw in the Heart of my most beloved Jesus Christ from the reserves of His right Side, which I was not worthy of during my life. For these provisions are only for those who love God so fervently that they rejoice when God’s discernment is given to them and can be proclaimed to all the world. Far from being so far from this degree of love, however, I took pleasure in concealing from the whole world the gifts I had received from my Divine Bridegroom, and spoke of them to no one but myself. Hence it came about that I did not have the pleasure of enjoying those goods which are only for those who have so much love.” “What shall I say,” said St. Gertrude, “when your friends and mine ask you the greatness of the reward which God has given you for your merits?” To this the soul answered: “When you breathe in the fragrance of innumerable flowers, what will you do to make known your opinion of this fragrance? No doubt you will be content to say in general that the delightful fragrance of all these flowers seemed to you to be very pleasant. In the same way, I, having tasted in my spirit in an extraordinary way the great happiness with which God has rewarded me, what else can I say about it than that the ineffable mercy of the Bridegroom of God has showered upon me a glory infinitely higher than the merits of all my thoughts, words, and deeds.”