Pastor’s Letter: November 15, 2026

Pastor’s Letter: November 15, 2026

13 Nov 2026 | Posted by: chadmin

Dear St. Philomena Parish Family,

Blessings and peace to you all this day! Thank you so much for the great feedback on being able to journey through Msgr. Gray’s study of the autobiography of Blessed Fulton J. Sheen. I personally enjoyed it as well! As I mentioned a couple weeks back, I thought we might spend some time with the saints in the weeks ahead. Each year as we celebrate All Saints Day, I am always struck by the thought that there are saints from every part of the world, every family background, age, health conditions, vocations, occupations, etc.…in truth, there really is a saint for each of us! One of the great gifts of those saints is they remind us that we can also live a faithful life in Christ…we also can be faithful in the midst of challenges and persevere in living the love of Christ…we also have been given what we need to walk the path of sainthood!

This week, I thought we’d spend a little time with one of our “great” saints and the only woman saint who is regularly called “Great”: St. Gertrude the Great (1256-1301 AD). According to the Pocket Dictionary of Saints: St. Gertrude, “Of unknown parentage and often surnamed “the Great,” she was placed in the care of the Benedictine nuns at Helfta in Saxony when five and became a pupil and close friend of St. Mechtilde. When older Gertrude became a nun and when 26 had the first of many visions of Christ she was to experience during her lifetime. She became versed in the Bible and the writings of Augustine, Gregory, and Bernard and began to record her supernatural and mystical experiences, a record that eventually appears in her Book of Extraordinary Grace (Revelation of St. Gertrude), together with Mechtilde’s mystical experiences…which Gertrude recorded. She also wrote with St. Mechtilde a series of prayers that became very popular, and through her writing helped spread devotion to the Sacred Heart. She died on November 17 at Helfta and though never formally canonized, Pope Clement XII directed that her feast be observed throughout the Church in 1677.” (Pocket Dictionary of the Saints, 211-212).  We could also add here that Pope Benedict XIV (+1758 AD) gave St. Gertrude the title “Great.”

Adding in a few more details for her life, Enzo Lodi writes that St. Gertrude “was extremely devoted to the mystery of the Incarnation, expressed in the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Holy Eucharist (she promoted frequent Communion). She authored several volumes of spiritual works although they were not discovered until 1536, after which her influence spread throughout Europe” (Saints of the Roman Calendar, p.373).  Lodi notes that the opening collect of the Mass for St. Gertrude’s memorial hints at her spirituality: “Father, you filled the heart of St. Gertrude with the presence of your love.” Lodi notes that “her union with Christ was so intense that Jesus said to St. Mechtilde, the novice mistress: ‘If you want to find me, look for me in the heart of Gertrude’.”

Lodi continues, “A second theme in the spirituality of St. Gertrude is found in the petition of the Opening Prayer: ‘Bring light into our darkness.’  It is through her writings that St. Gertrude became widely known and venerated. In her treatise, Herald of Divine Love, she states that Christ said to her: ‘I want your writings to be indisputable evidence of my goodness.’  Numerous scholars have been impressed by her profound understanding of the theology of the Incarnation and the Trinity. She is rightly called ‘Gertrude the Great,’ not only because of her lofty mystical experiences but because she is a forerunner of devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus…The relevance of this ‘herald of divine love,’ as Christ named her, is her intimate union with Christ and her devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. In the Office of Readings [from the Liturgy of the Hours which priests and consecrated pray each day…anyone else is welcome to pray] we find her statement that God gave her ‘the inestimable gift of your intimate friendship, and in various ways allowed me to possess your Son’s own heart, that most noble ark of God united with the Godhead’.” (p.374)

For a couple more nuggets about St. Gertrude, we can look online: “One day, Jesus said to Gertrude: ‘It would be good to make known to men and women how they would benefit from remembering that I, the Son of God and of the Blessed Virgin Mary, always stand before God for the salvation of the human race, and that should they commit some sin through their weakness, I offer my unblemished Heart to the Father for them’.” (catholicculture.org). From another online source, “Today, we celebrate St. Gertrude’s feast day on November 16th and she is known as the patroness of the dead because of her special devotion to the souls in purgatory. St. Gertrude’s ‘little way’ was to regularly pray for the souls in purgatory. Catholic tradition says that Jesus promised St. Gertrude that 1,000 souls would be released from purgatory every time the following prayer is recited with devotion:

‘Eternal Father, I offer Thee the Most Precious Blood of Thy Divine Son, Jesus, in union with the masses said throughout the world today, for all the holy souls in purgatory, for sinners everywhere, for sinners in the universal church, those in my own home and within my family. Amen.” (littlewithgreatlove.com).

Without a doubt, St. Gertrude really is a “Great” saint!  We definitely should note her close friendship with St. Mechtilde and remind ourselves that saints often come in pairs or groups. As we strive to follow Christ more and more faithfully, we certainly can be that similar encouragement to those around us.  Through the prayers of St. Gertrude the Great, may be all draw closer to the Heart of Jesus this day! Know of my prayers and blessing for you all this week!

In Christ,
Father Luke