Today's prayer: Jesus reveals this Devotion to us with promises made by Him

Praying with a crucifix can be of great help in improving and deepening your prayer life. This was common practice for many (probably most) of the saints, and many of them actually had significant mystical experiences with Christ through their devotional use of a crucifix. In that blog I included stories of San Francesco d'Assisi, San Paolo della Croce, San Tommaso d'Aquino and Santa Gemma Galgani, to name a few.

a touching promise of Our Lord revealed to Saint Gertrude the Great regarding the devotional use of a crucifix which she recorded in her book Herald of Divine Love. Saint Gertrude the Great (1256-1301) had a profound devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, 400 years before being propagated by Saint Margaret Maria Alacoica (1647-1690) to the universal Church.

Here is what Our Lord revealed to Saint Gertrude the Great to pray with a crucifix (in reality, all that Saint Gertrude did was to constantly look at his crucifix and use it as an impetus at the loving center of his heart on the Sacred Heart of Jesus):

"I am very pleased to see you honoring the Crucifix. It is always an effect of divine grace when men's eyes meet the image on the cross, and never once do they rest on it, but their soul is benefited. The more often they do it here on earth with reverence and love, the greater their reward in heaven. "

And in another place he says to her:

"Whenever you kiss the Crucifix, or look at it with devotion, the eye of God's mercy is fixed on his soul. He should therefore listen to these words of tenderness on my part: 'This is how, for love of you, I hang on the Cross - naked, despised, My wounded body, all my limbs stretched out. Yet My Heart is lit with a love so ardent for you that if it were beneficial for your salvation and you could not be saved in any other way, I would only bear for you all that I suffered for the whole world! ' "

Let it sink for a few minutes. And then make sure to keep a crucifix in your home, where you work, hanging on a rear view mirror rosary, and any other place that allows you to reflect on the Divine Love of Christ and this incredible truth. . . "I would just like you to endure all that I suffered for the whole world!"