Painting of St. Gertrude the Great by Miguel Cabrera. At the age of 25 she experienced a vision of Jesus as an adolescent and for the first time came to see him as a person. (Wikimedia Commons)
Devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus is a treasure of Catholic spirituality. There was general devotion to the Sacred Heart in the late Middle Ages in monasteries in response to the writings of St. Gertrude the Great (1256-1301).
St. Gertrude was called by Our Lord “My Chosen Lily” and she is the only female saint whom the Church has given the title “Great.”
Gertrude was born at Eisleben, Germany, on the Feast of the Epiphany (Jan. 6) in 1256. When she was five years old, she was placed in the care of the Benedictine nuns at Helfta in Saxony, where she became the student and close friend of St. Mechtilde.
Gertrude was educated at the monastery and became proficient in literature, philosophy, song and the refined art of miniature painting.
In 1280, she was a half-hearted and distracted nun. Toward the end of the year, she went through an inner crisis that lasted several weeks. She felt lonely, lost, and depressed. Gertrude was convinced she had built a “tower of vanity and curiosity” rather than seeking to love God above all things.
On Jan. 27, 1281, 25-year-old Gertrude experienced her first series of visions that would continue until the day she passed away. She saw Jesus in the form of an adolescent who said to her, “I have come to comfort you and bring you salvation.”
The vision of Christ made her realize for the first time in a meaningful way that Christ was a person and that he took pleasure in dwelling within her as a friend living with a friend or a bridegroom with his bride.
The experience was deepened before the feast of Annunciation and again before the Ascension. In her writings, Gertrude established the date of her newfound unity with Christ as June 23, 1281. This day was seen as her new birth. She abandoned the study of secular subjects and dedicated herself entirely to the study of Scripture, writings of the Church Fathers, and theological treatises. She found extraordinary delight in reading the letters of Augustine, Gregory the Great, Bernard, and Hugh of Saint-Victor.
Toward the end of her life, Gertrude recalled: “Until the age of 25, I was a blind and insane woman ... but you, Jesus, deigned to grant me the priceless familiarity of your friendship by opening to me in every way that most noble casket of your divinity, which is your divine Heart, and offering me in great abundance all your treasures contained in it.”
Gertrude shared the fruit of her contemplation and learning by writing short treatises for the nuns in the monastery and also exercised a great influence on souls.
Gertrude
was a herald of the devotion to the Sacred Heart. One year, on the
Feast of St. John the Apostle,
Christ appeared to Gertrude accompanied by St. John the Apostle.
Gertrude asked St. John regarding the Heart of Christ saying,
“Well-beloved of the Lord, did these harmonious beatings which
rejoice my soul also rejoice you when you did repose during the Last
Supper on the bosom of the Saviour?”
St.
John answered, “Yes, I heard them, and my soul was penetrated
with their sweetness even to its very centre.”
Gertrude
asked, “Why, then, have you spoken so little in your Gospel of
the loving secrets of the Heart of Jesus?”
St. John
explained: “My mission was to write of the Eternal Word ... but
the language of the blissful pulsations of the Sacred Heart is
reserved for latter times, that the time-worn world, grown cold in
the love of God, may be warmed up by hearing of such mysteries.”
聖女與基督的友誼
敬禮耶穌聖心是天主教的靈性瑰寶；而自中世紀末，很多修院受聖女日多達 (1256-1301) 的啟發，均有對耶穌聖心的敬禮。
天主稱聖日多達為「我特選的百合花」，她也是我們教會目前尊稱為「大聖」的唯一女聖人。
聖日多達在1256年的主顯節（1月6日），出生於現今德國的艾斯勒。五歲的時候，入德意志的漢夫達本篤會女修院，是聖女梅蒂娣門生，後來彼此更成了知己。
日多達既在修院長大，所以精通文學、哲學、歌曲和精緻細嫩的繪畫。不過，她只是一名嗜愛文藝的修女，對宗教生活不夠熱誠。接近1280年的末段，日多達內心經歷了幾個星期的矛盾，感到孤獨、失落和沮喪；她認為自己已經築起了一幢虛榮與好奇的高塔，卻沒有尋求愛天主在萬有之上。
1281年1月27日，二十五歲的日多達，首次經歷一連串的神視直到她生命的終結：她看到耶穌儼如一位光采四溢的青年，對她說：「我來是安慰你和帶給你救恩。」這神視讓日多達第一次有意義地明白到，基督樂於作為她的好友，居於她的內心，甚至情同新郎和新娘。這心坎的濃烈感覺，又在聖母領報瞻禮日前及耶穌升天瞻禮日前又再湧至。她寫道：1281年6月23日是她和基督新結合的日子，猶如她的再生。她放棄世俗的博學，專注研讀聖經、教會教父們的箸作，和有關神學的規條。她又特別喜愛聖奧斯定、聖大額我略、聖伯爾納鐸，及聖維多的書信。
死前，日多達回憶說：「二十五歲前的我，好像是個既瞎又瘋的人…。但，祢、耶穌，降尊就卑地賜給我那無價的情諠，給我敞開祢天主性的至尊匣子，就是袮的聖心，並豐富地賜給我在祢聖心內的所有寶藏。」
日多達分享她的默想觀的果實。她給修院的修女們，寫下一些簡短的小冊，又以善言幫助了眾多的靈魂。
日多達可謂是敬禮耶穌聖心的先導者。一年的聖若望宗徒瞻禮日，耶穌偕同聖若望宗徒給她顯現。日多達問聖若望宗徒有關耶穌的聖心：「吾主的愛徒，這些使我心悅的和諧心跳聲，當你在在最後晚餐依偎吾主胸前時，是否也使你心悅？」聖若望答道：「正是！我聽得這些心跳聲，那甘飴直戮進我的心窩！」日多達續問：「那為什麼在你的福音中，甚少提及耶穌聖心的可愛秘密呢？」聖若望解釋說：「我的使命是寫有關永恆聖言…，但聖心那有福脈動的語言則留待後世 ── 陳舊的世界對天主的愛變得冷淡時，聽到這些奧秘好能被暖化。」