The following revelation was one day made to saint Gertrude. Our Lord showed himself to her in the state in which he was when he had been bound and tied to a pillar between two executioners, one of whom lacerated his flesh with thorns, whilst the other lashed him with scourges, both of them struck him on the Face, and it appeared to saint Gertrude in so disfigured a slate, that she was penetrated with grief; nor could she retain her tears every time that the thought of the vision recurred to her mind.

It seemed to her as though Jesus Christ turned his Face from one side to the other, but that each time that he turned it away from one of the executioners, the other struck it more cruelly, and that then turning himself towards her, he said: «Have you not read what is written of me: Vidimus eum tanquam leprosum (Is., 53)? We have seen him in a state as pitiable as that of a leper.” Then Saint Gertrude answered: “Alas! Lord, what remedy can now be found which would be capable of softening the sharp sufferings of thy Divine Face?”; And the Savior said to her: “If any one meditated upon and considered my sufferings with tenderness and compassion, and charitably prayed for sinners, his heart would be to me as a salutary balm, and it would assuage my sufferings.”

Let us profit by these divine words, and let us not oblige our tender Master to address to us the reproach: “I have waited, and no one has come to console me.” Let us offer to him the sentiments of a heart which compassionates him for the outrages inflicted on him; let us present to him our homage and our adoration, and, as he will not allow himself to be vanquished in generosity, he will, by the virtue of his adorable Face, engrave in us his portrait, he will impress in our souls the features of the divine resemblance to him which has been effaced by our sins.

Another fact related in the life of the same saint is as follows: She was preparing herself, on a certain occasion, by a humble remembrance of her sins, to venerate the picture of the Holy Face, as is the custom of all the faithful at Rome. She pictured to herself our Savior all disfigured by the sins which she had committed, and penetrated with grief, she cast herself at his feet, in order to beg forgiveness from him. Then the Savior, raising his hand, blessed her, saying: “By the bowels of my mercies, I remit all your sins, and in order, he added, that a real amendment should take place in you, I order you, for the satisfaction of all these your sins, to do something every day, during a year, in memory of the indulgence I have just granted you.” Our Lord then made her the promise already cited: “All those,” he said, “who, in order to testify their love for me, shall often recall to mind the picture which represents my Divine Face, shall receive in themselves, through the impression of my humanity, a shining ray of my Divinity, and by means of the resemblance to my Face, wherewith they shall be impressed, they shall shine more than many others in the life eternal.” What a precious promise! Is it not, of a truth, capable of reanimating our piety towards the adorable Face of the divine Savior? And if we cannot journey as far as the city which is the center of Christianity, in order to enjoy the consolation of venerating the celebrated picture which is there exposed solemnly to the faithful, we may at least delight to possess a copy of it, to which we may pay the just tribute of our respect and love.