On that most holy of nights, when by the sweetening dew of divinity the heavens rained down honey on the whole world, my soul, drenched like Gideon's fleece with dew on the threshing floor of the convent, was intent on meditation, and through the practice of certain devotions, on being present and offering help at the heavenly birth, at which the Virgin brought forth her son, true God and true [human], like a ray of light.
As in a moment of revelation, my soul realized that it had been offered, and had received, in place of its heart so to speak, a tender little boy....When my soul cradled him within itself it suddenly seemed to be completely changed into the same color as him--if that can be called a 'color' which cannot be compared with any visible quality.
Then my soul perceived a meaning that defies explication in the sweet words, 'God shall be all in all'. It felt that it held within itself the Beloved, installed in the heart, and it rejoiced that it was not without the welcome presence of its [Bridegroom], with his most enjoyable caresses. Offered the honeyed draughts of the following, divinely inspired words, it drank them in with a thirst that could not be satisfied: 'Just as I bear the stamp of the substance of God the Father in regard to my human nature, so you bear the stamp of my substance in regard to my human nature, for your receive in your deified soul the outpourings of my divine nature, just as the air receives the sun's rays. Penetrated to the very marrow by this unifying force, you will become fit for a more intimate union with me'.
Gertrud the Great of Helfta
The Herald of God's Loving-Kindness II.6.2
Tr. Alexandra Barratt, Cistercian Publications, 1991, p. 117.
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