If Jesus offered to trade his heart for yours, how would you respond?

Saint Gertrude is one of the great saints in the history of the Catholic Church. She grew up in a German monastery, educated on all manner of subjects by the nuns who cared for her. When she was 25 years old she began to have a series of visions of Jesus that changed her life forever. These visions challenged Gertrude to reorder her priorities, shifting from a focus on worldly knowledge to a deep spiritual knowledge of Jesus. She developed a deep devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. She would eventually come to see herself as a bride of Jesus.

One vision was particularly astounding. In this vision, Jesus traded his Sacred Heart with Gertrude’s heart. Gertrude spent the rest of her life praying, serving others, and writing about her experience to help her fellow nuns.

Not all of us will have visions of Jesus, but he wants to give us all that same kind of radical, life-changing love. The love of God is radical. His love for you is radical. His love for you is unconditional. Once Gertrude understood that, it changed everything. And it can change everything for you, too. 

There are many different types of love. There is affection, which is a fondness developed through familiarity, most commonly found in families. There is friendship. There is romantic love, the experience of being “in love” or loving someone in particular above all others. And there is agape, the unconditional love that Jesus models for us.

The Gospels are the ultimate guide to agape love. This love is selfless, sacrificial, generous, and unconditional. By contrast, the types of love that are widely proclaimed and practiced in modern society are outrageously conditional. This creates a tremendous confusion about love.

Love deeply desires everything that is good for the other person. This is why every day, in every country, regardless of culture or religion, parents make sacrifices for their children. They lay down their lives for the good of their children. This sacrificial love is inspiring, and yet it fades in comparison to the outrageously generous sacrificial love that Jesus displayed by dying for us on the Cross.

So if you ever wonder how much God loves you, simply look at the Cross. And recognize that there isn’t anything you could do to deserve that much love. And there isn’t anything you could do to make him love you any less. 

Recognize too that the best way to honor that sacrifice is to let it change our hearts and inspire us to radical love in our own place and time.



Feast Day: November 16

Feast Day Shared By: Saint Margaret of Scotland and Saint Agnes of Assisi

Patron Saint of: The West Indies

Symbols: Sacred Heart of Jesus

Also Known As: Gertrude the Great

Canonized: 1677

Canonized By: Pope Innocent XI