Vigils Reading – St Gertrude the Great

A reading from

ST GERTRUDE THE GREAT

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O wondrous Wisdom of God, how powerful, how very bright is your voice.

Without exception you call to yourself all who yearn for you. You indwell in the

humble. You cherish those who cherish you. You judge the cause of the poor.

You show lovingly-kind mercy to all. You hate nothing of what you have made.

You keep secret the sins of human beings, and you mercifully await their

repentance. Ah, open for me, too, the vein of life, giving me a drink from the cup

of indulgence that I may know what is acceptable with you at all times.

O Wisdom, you wield the holy sign of never-ending life in your right hand;

for you everything follows prosperously. You and you alone are able to do all

things. Abiding in yourself you renew all things. Ah, renew me in your self and

make me holy that you may be able to transport yourself into my soul. You set

up the friends of God; ransom God’s friendship for me. Cause me to watch for

you in the morning that I may truly find you. Take possession of me that I may

truly yearn for you.

Behold, O Wisdom, your pantry full of loving-kindness is already open.

Look upon me, the culprit, standing outside the door of your charity. Fill the

little cloak of my poverty with the blessing of your gentleness. Behold, before

you is the empty little cup of my desire. May the latch of your fullness open.

Teach my heart your chaste counsels, your lucid precepts, your faithful

testimony. Make me remember your commandments to observe them. Do not

treat me according to my sins nor repay me according to my iniquities, my

Jesus.

Just as you have truly been favorable to me with your blood, so also by

virtue of your precious cross, make restitution to me for all the wastefulness of

my life. O wise Love, shelter and cover over my negligence. Make amends for

me for all my negligence through my Jesus, abandoned by free will to your

judgment.