Our proposal for the next chapter of Cistercian Mentors is to read and meditate together on pages 100 to 108 and 132 to 136 from St Gertrud´s Book II of The Herald of God´s loving Kindness (Cistercian Fathers Series, CF 35). The name of this chapter is From Myself into You, which are Gertrud´s words to Jesus in her Spiritual Exercises. Hopefully she will soon be proclaimed Doctor of the Church, so she must be a good mentor to lead us from ourselves into Jesus.
If someone would like to read a little more, I would recommend her 2nd chapter of the Spiritual Exercises: Spiritual Conversion (CF 49). Its spirit matches very well with the Lenten season, that we are about to start. It also gives the reader the opportunity to pray with a feminine voice, which hardly ever happens, as the psalms and our liturgical prayers address God from the masculine viewpoint.
You stretch out your hand and save me, your hand will do all things for me. (Ps 137) As we were singing these words at Vespers, I thought that they were a perfect summary of Gertrud´s message. May her teachings and our reading, meditation, sharing and prayer for one another renew in us the experience of Jesus´ most merciful love.
