PRAYER FOR THE WHOLE CHURCH.
St. Gertrude said to our Lord, on one occasion: Behold, O Lord, I offer thee the desires and petitions of all who have commended themselves to my unworthy prayers. And the Lord said to her: Thou hast enkindled and inflamed my heart with as many torches of love as are the persons whom thou dost represent before me. Then said the saint: Lord, teach me how to come before thee for all the members of thy Church, and I will enkindle in thy Heart as many torches of love as there are persons in the whole universal Church. Our Lord answered her thus: You may do what you desire in these four ways: by praising me for having created them; by giving me thanks for the benefits I have bestowed on them, &c, as follows:
O Most compassionate Jesus, I praise, bless, and glorify thee with the love of my whole heart for the creation of all those whom thou hast deigned to form after thine own image and likeness, and I render thee thanks for all the benefits that thou hast ever bestowed, or shalt ever hereafter bestow, on them. In union with thy most exceeding sorrow I pour out now my complaint before thee,with true sorrow and repentance for every manner in which they have ever hindered or frustrated thy grace; and I most devoutly pray for all men, that each in his appointed place may be made perfect in every good work, to thy everlasting praise and glory. Amen.
