O King

O KING OF THE NATIONS, so long desired!  CORNER-STONE making Jew and Gentile one, come!  Save mankind whom you formed from clay!
 
 
O Cornerstone making one!  St. Gertrude’s thought reaches its profoundest depths of knowledge and wisdom whenever she speaks of the Eucharist, particularly of the unity it brings about in the Body of Christ, he who is alive in all of us and who binds together those who receive him.  It is in the Eucharist that we are nourished by pietas, the tender mercy of the heart of our God, and thus nourished we become instruments of Christ’s mercy to one another.  One receives benefits not only for oneself but for all the members of the Church.  And thus the Lord said to Gertrude, “That you may understand that the effects of my mercy are more than all my works and that there is no one who can exhaust the abyss of my tender mercy, look, I grant that by the ransom of this life-giving sacrament you shall receive much more than you venture to pray for.”

It is only natural then that Gertrude should become a herald of frequent communion at a time when, due to great carefulness, that was not the custom.  She was convinced from our Lord’s words to her on the subject and from her own experience that by frequent communion we can become not only more united to Christ but also can serve as instruments of his life-giving body and blood to others. She truly anticipated our own times when St. Pius X saw the great blessing of frequent communion and wisely opened the possibility to the whole Church.

Let us approach the Eucharist with confidence and joy and trust with Gertrude in our Lord’s words that by the ransom of this life-giving sacrament we shall receive much more than we venture to pray for.