St. Elizabeth of the Trinity—Her Prayer to the Trinity: CarmelCast Episode 62

that's her message for all of us that there is a being of Love who created us out of love and for love and who lives in the depths of our hearts and it desires us to enter into communion with him and it shows us I think our dignity as human beings and this is one of her great messages that we're not who other people think we are we're not the clothes we wear we're not the color of our eyes the shape of our body none of that the money we have we are Dwelling Places of God [Music] praise be Jesus Christ and welcome back to another episode of caramel cast carel cast is a production of The Institute of carlite studies Publications for more information about us about the books that we publish you can visit our website at www.csu.org my name is Father Pier Georgio of Christ the King and this week we're happy to be joined Once More by father Daniel of the Good Shepherd he is uh serves our Province as a Good Shepherd as our provincial and father thank you for joining us on this episode to talk more uh about Elizabeth of the Trinity you're welcome and so this in this episode we're really going to be diving into uh more spiritual themes of her life and her her spirituality really and in particular her trinitarian spirituality and um the way in which she was able to live the mystery of the Trinity within her life of prayer and a very of course important theme for her it's reflected of her her name and her title um and and something that uh that she has a lot to contribute to the church right so the last time that we were together we were talking about TZ and her prayer so it's kind of it's appropo that we have you here for this week talking about Elizabeth and and and this prayer of the Trinity which we're going to get into ultimately uh this great um piece that she wrote about two years before she passed away a little under two years before she died um and really is not the culmination of all of her spirituality but certainly a very very important step along the way uh in her understanding certainly of of her her life in the life of the Trinity um but the last time we spoke about terz in her prayers we we said that you know we shouldn't imagine terz or Elizabeth in this case you know sitting down in the choir with her with the prayer that she just wrote and and sort of rattling it off vocally certainly I think she may have maybe begun prayer with with this beautiful prayer that she wrote we don't we don't know for sure but we when we read the prayer this prayer of the Trinity that we're going to get into today I think the the important thing is to is to understand how it's an elucidation that of her spirituality that reflects her spirituality how she related to God on a personal level um in her own way and and and to give us an idea of sort of the mystical space with which she dwelt dwelt with God and so I I think the the perfect place to begin is is sort of how the understanding of the Trinity came to Elizabeth originally because she had kind of this hope that her name she wanted to be Elizabeth of Jesus right that was this was what she was hoping for and and uh mother Marie of of the Trinity the at the time was the prior when she was accepted she she gave Elizabeth even before she entered as she was a postulant the name um Maria Elizabeth of the Trinity um and so what can what what do you think about her understanding of the Trinity at the beginning you know what what were some of the themes that really spoke to her that that Drew her into this mystery well it's a very good question because I first of all I think that it's important to know that she was drawn to the Trinity early in her life even before she became a carite it's kind of unknown exactly how she was drawn to the mystery of the Trinity um in early on she had this deep sense of the indwelling of God within her that was something that began early within her she had was drawn to this mystery of God within her even when she made her first communion if you remember her first communion she came out of making her first communion and uh she they said well let's go home for breakfast and she said no I've already been fed by Jesus within me so it was really a mystery she was really given a Grace early on in life of a deep sense of God's inner presence within her for instance before she entered caramel at one time she had she she did something to her leg and she couldn't go to communion for several days and so she wrote to a friend and she said I am deprived of church of Holy Communion but you see the good God doesn't need the sacrament to come to me it seems to me that I have all the same it is so good this presence of God it is that there in the depths of my soul that I love to find him since he never leaves me God in Me me in him that is my life yeah now that was when she was was around 16 years old right you know and so she had this deep inner inner drawing towards God within her and then she began to you know because of her understanding of the Christian faith to see this is the Trinity within her I love the other story we mentioned it earlier in in one of the other episodes about how after she received first communion she visited the the caramel The Parlor in the carel and and spoke to the sub Prius who informed this this little girl that oh Elizabeth that means how of God yes and so this even even kind of the totality of her of her Carmelite name the house of God of the Trinity you know the house of the Trinity I think the Prius Maria of Jesus gave her a holy card with the saying the house of God Elizabeth the house of God gave her a holy card yeah it's such a beautiful you know it just sort of shows the the the the beginnings of of of something of what God's calling her to ultimately uh she writes to to one of her friends after after she the she's given the name Elizabeth of the Trinity prior to her entry into Carmel she says it seems to me that this name signifies a particular vocation I love this mystery of the Holy Trinity it is an abyss in which I Lose Myself yes and so just the the deepness the the richness of of this mystery it's it's it's really um it expresses the totality of our faith you know if we believe that God is is three that God is trinitarian he created us and there's something trinitarian about all of creation you know there's there's this there's traces of the Trinity throughout all of creation and so we can we can see the depth of of this mystery within our faith um and so in that sense there's really there's really um there's no running out of of uh of material with which to to contemplate and to meditate upon within this mystery and certainly that was the case for her right well it's really amazing to me how when she talks about the Trinity what I really like about her she says in French dear God of all well we we translated God of all love you know and that's how she understood the Trinity God God of all love she has a lot of other words she says mystery she often uses the word mystery the immensity an ocean of love so she it's amazing that a young woman like like Elizabeth so early on had this sense of the mystery of God's presence a God who is all love who is a god of relationship right a god of self-giving love who pours himself out in creation and reveals himself in Jesus Christ and continues to be with us in the Holy Spirit yeah um although she wasn't a a theologian she does not give us A Treatise on the Trinity but she was a Mystic a Mystic in the sense that she was given a very special Grace of an awareness of the indwelling and presence of God within her early on it was a Grace is very special Grace and that she expressed the Trinity as as this love God of all love later on she'll say mah My Three you know that often she describes it as this overflowing love that God is a relationship a family a relationship and that God has created all things for relationship so it's amazing and that this God dwells within us and so it's amazing that early on she had a very special Grace to understand this yeah you know lately I've been I've been reading two main things I've been reading Elizabeth the Trinity to prepare for the podcast this right now and and um the other thing that I'm working on is is proofreading the U our sister Teresa benedicta her her magnumopus the new translation of finite Eternal being and and she has a whole section in St Teresa benedicta St E Stein has a whole section on the mystery of the Trinity and you know if you put them side by side all of all of Elizabeth's um writings on the Trinity and all of trees of Benedict's writings on the Trinity on the one hand you have Teresa benedicta who's not just quoting you know the Saints and the theologians and doctors of the church but citing them in the page numbers and referencing exactly where to find these things and you know she probably knew the nuances of theology backwards and forwards she had a PhD in philosophy and she uh she translated Thomas aquinus and she she translated St John Henry Newman and then on the other hand you you put the prayer of the Trinity of of St Elizabeth of the Trinity uh written by and of course there's you you see traces of of the of the theology the church all through that in in scripture as well but you you consider that she was 2 only 24 years old when she wrote it uh she she was educated at home and yet of the two Teresa benedicta and and Eda Stein and in in um Elizabeth of the Trinity it's Elizabeth of the Trinity who the cat the church choses to to reference in in the catechism of the church uh in the section on the mystery of the Trinity and the uh the beautiful thing about the that that section in the catechism on the on the mystery of the Trinity is that there's there's two saints that are given a lot of of real estate in terms of of quotes uh the first is St Gregory of nanis who who Thomas doesn't even refer to by name he just calls him the Theologian and then you have you have Elizabeth the Trinity and and she gets the final word she the the catechism closes with her prayer of the Trinity the catechism brings in the this prayer of the Trinity a portion of the prayer of the Trinity is is found on paragra in paragraph 260 so the church provides for us is dipped right of you have the Theologian and the Mystic you have the the distinctions of the persons and the nature of the Trinity theologically and you have you have the living of the mystery by The Mystic and and the church gives us both of these to to to educate us and to inform us about this mystery of our faith so I think she has so much to offer well I mean because the mystics are theologians in their own right they're not theologians with a PhD in theology but they're theologians who have an experience of God a really experience of God and they share that experience of God and I think that's why the mystics are important the mystics reveal to they prophets of God's presence I mean Elizabeth has been they they they say that she's the a prophet of the presence of God like lar of the Resurrection yeah you know and so she's a prophet of the presence of God in the sense that like all the mystics they reveal God's love and God's presence to us and the God's continual communication with us and it was a real it was come from experience not from a head knowledge not intellectual even though he just uh Teresa Benedict of the Cross was a Mystic too they're both Mystics mys course but of course she was a much more intellectual woman right and Elizabeth was a simple woman who didn't have a lot of Education academically but very very bright very intelligent and came from this deeper experience of God which was a gift to her it was a gift it was nothing nothing that she just got from books right you know it was really a gift given to her early on and I think you know we'll speak kind of in the context of the of her prayer to the Trinity how you know various you know father valet this Dominican frier who she would meet early on uh and would he would later give a retreat to the to the nuns of djon and um you know I'm sure as a Dominican he was talking all about you know to mytic Theology and all these things and you know for her you know sitting sitting in in the choir listening to this conference you know she wasn't she wasn't you know checking the the syllogisms and making sure that it was all logically true she knew it was true by her own experience of the Trinity of of how the Trinity was revealing himself to her in her life and and and so it rang true it it it spoke to her in that sense so you know there's certainly aspects within her prayer where you can see that she's she's just absorbing I mean so much from whatever she could receive whether it be scripture or from conferences or from books uh and she she absorbs it and she it informs her her understanding of who God is and and uh and and it develops that understanding of her life in the mystery well it's interesting with Father valet because you know she met father valet before she entered she had an interview with him before she entered the N called her to the caramel to meet with him and she was with him for a long time she was only supposed to be with him for a short period of time if I remember correctly and he was a a man who talked a lot but didn't listen much you know he he talked nonstop and he the first interview that she had with him was on on on Christ on Jesus Christ and the love of that that comes to us through Jesus Christ and she said she couldn't wait till he stopped talking so she'd go to the to to the Chapel to pray if I remember correctly the the scenario but then later on when in when he gave because he was a good friend of the caramels he gave Retreats he talked about the the Trinity and she was using a lot of his Expressions but then mother Germaine told her to stop it it's interesting she said you're you're quoting too much father V yeah you know you need to draw from your own experience sure which is very interesting yeah because she had her own experience she because she was a musician had a very keen sense of hearing you know she had a great memory to remember words and what she read especially when she heard s you know people speak yeah it's interesting because I I grew up with as a studying music and um memorization is such an oral sort of memory is such an important part of of uh developing your instrument right yeah and so you you get that sense in her and that uh that she has this this memory and so it it's that has it that has its crosses as well yeah but I it was interesting that mother mother Germaine realize that she kind of encouraged Elizabeth to draw in your own experience don't just quote father V vet yeah the the quote that um that the mother says that she say is I was impatient for father to stop talking yes yes and mother Mar of the Trinity says that he oriented Elizabeth toward the mystery of the Most Holy Trinity father AER opened up for her Horizons that were as if infinite on the excessive love of God her prayer became still more simple and especially more passive so it shows kind of that um that that juxtoposition it wasn't the it wasn't the concepts it wasn't the the um the syllogisms it was the it what she received from all of this was the expansiveness of the mystery yeah and and and I think that's really what what spoke to her one interesting thing to quote from um the Swiss Theologian father Anor van Balthazar he says that she has taken single stones from VI and built with them a finished house whose originality is obvious at a glance so I love that that expression of of taking the stones and building something to dwell in right which is I think it it speaks so much of of of her spirituality and her understanding of living in the mystery well also I mean she was very she follows very much in the in the in the chromite tradition the Trinity St Teresa of aala our holy mother St Teresa of Jesus you know the Trinity dwells within the depths of the human person St John of the cross the spiritual Canticle first stanza you know it's he that OB Soul most beautiful of All Creatures you know you are the dwelling place so the whole trinitarian theme is very strong in our tradition yeah and I think also she she she grasped that she picked that up before she entered caramel and also she had read St is right she had read the the story of his soul and she had read the the act of oblation the act of oblation she had actually copied it several times and knew it by heart and so all of that influenced her and she also liked Katherine of Sienna yeah and the very special prayer to the Trinity of Katherine of Sienna and you can see you know if we could if we picture the the prayer of the Trinity as this dwelling that Elizabeth built all of those stones holy mother St Teresa Holy Father St John of the Cross St Katherine of Sienna there's a little there's a little piece of her at the end yes um and so all of these a little bit of f you know all of these little pieces that were original to her she put them together she was she was very original in that sense so so we're going to be talking uh now about the the prayer itself oh God Trinity whom I adore and this can be found in volume one of the complete works of St Elizabeth of the Trinity uh it's also in that that Anthology that we mentioned in the first episode um always believe in love which is sort of the the greatest hits of the anthology of of Elizabeth some of Elizabeth's writing and so that's what we'll be we'll be looking at here now I just want to give a few um kind of more technical sort of um context to the prayer uh she wrote this on the Feast of the presentation of Mary this was November 21st 1904 and this is a little under two years before her death and this was a day that the nuns would annually renew their vows of their profession and the day was also the final day of an 8-day Retreat that was given by uh preached by a Dominican not father V but another one on the mystery of the Incarnation and within the prayer um you know there's four four paragraphs although the last two are shorter than the than the first two um there's there's these just themes just sort of pouring out there's the TR there's I mean the whole structure of it is trinitarian there's a a christological incarnational aspect it's a prayer of adoration it's a prayer of petition she's asking for the Grace to be given to her of of to the Trinity she wants to to live the mystery um what the the other thing is I think it's it's a significant prayer of faith um of course I mean all prayers prayers are but you know she um had her own sort of uh spiritual you know dryness very early on even before she she entered Carmel she was she was experiencing less sort of a sensible consolation in prayer and um and you know faced with dryness I think most of us would be tempted to abandon prayer um and and then we would turn to you know our worldly amusements in order to seek consolation from those things but I think Elizabeth she understanded quick she understood quicker than than than most people um that the only thing that could satisfy her longing was heaven right um and she came I think she came to understand through the in prayer that you came went through this this um this the sense that Faith through faith we can receive what we long for in in that in our in our beatitude in heaven uh he even here on Earth and well we we we spoke about this at length in in various uh episodes this season um and so if we if we than with the author of the letter of the Hebrews that faith is the substance of things hoped for then the prayer I think becomes an expression of her faith and particularly her intellectual grasp of what she Longs for um and desires to dwell in her um and and she's she's asking for Graces that that we as human beings are incapable of experiencing in our senses and I just wanted to mention all of this just because you know someone reading this prayer for the first time um they may get the sense that this is this is too high uh too close to the Sun maybe uh for them and and uh this this is all an expression of what it means for her for Elizabeth but I think we can all receive um this this desire that she speaks of in the prayer uh this desire for God and and and we have to we have to believe that we are capable of of receiving this ourselves right well I think you I think we have to look at the prayer first of all as an ideal first of all expresses her great ideal when she begins the prayer she say oh oh Trinity whom I adore the word oh is repeated sever like eight times within within the prayer which is a symbol of of awe oh my God Trinity whom I adore let me forget myself entirely that I may be established in you as still and as peaceful as if my soul were already in eternity if you read the first part of the prayer it has a movement she first of all expresses the great ideal of her life her idea was to be all for God you know and and um but then she goes on to to say realize that she's powerless yeah to do this you know I don't really care for the English translation of this part of the prayer because the English translation says um um um I but I feel my weakness actually the the French isance the powerlessness you know she first Begins by saying I this is what I want I I want all of you but then she said she prays for peace mhm which is very very significant she prays that you know give me peace let me be established in you and still and actually again if I may use the French word immobile in French is is they have it still they translated it still but it's really a word that means to be established and rooted let me be rooted in you and at peace and she prays for peace because I think Elizabeth struggle with peace mhm if you keep asking for peace it means that you need peace yeah see and I think because she was so highly sensitive she was a very highly sensitive person she was artistic she was a musician uh she was very gifted artistically you know she and she said that was one of her predominant faults was her sensitivity you know and I think that right away she realizes her real she has this great desire for you know I adore you oh my God I want to be all you but then give me peace to really be established in you because she needed peace she she need she's praying for what we all pray for yeah and that is we all pray to be rooted in God yeah and to have peace and not to be disturbed by so much of our life that goes on that is secondary yeah see because she wanted to be all for God I mean I think the word Mo all is very important for her yeah yeah and so then she prays for peace but then when she goes on in the prayer she realized she turns to Christ and she said she said she knows that she cannot do this without Christ right she needs Grace and we might ask ourselves she was powerless she that's why I prefer that word instead of weakness although that's very synonymous I think she was powerless because she knew herself and what was she powerless of her sensitivity perhaps MH she knew her fault she knew her struggles she knew her tendency to become upset remember anger was a was an issue early in life as a child you know and I'm sure that that that movement towards anger perhaps or being disturbed easily was still there yeah and so she prays for the grace that Christ would give her the grace to really be all for God and to be at peace I mean as the as the prayer moves on yeah so I think even though we might say well you know this is high for us it is but if you look deeper into the prayer she recognizes much like St TZ in the act of oblation she recognizes can't do this myself yeah I love speaking of peace I love the the Hebrew word for peace Shalom because it has this meaning the second meaning of wholeness of being completed um in kind of that that same sense of rootedness of being of being stable and and kind of and and and just sort of feeling feeling rooted right and so yeah I was reminded this this the section reminded me you know the the the sense of of peace and and she speaks of dwelling and and a resting place of uh of our holy mother um and and when she speaks of of with in the context of the prayer of recollection and in the way of perfection chapter 28 she says um we have to we have to enter into the resting place of of prayer through through the quieting of of our faculties and everything that's kind of we're bringing we're leaving behind when we go to prayer we have to quiet all those things too and to collect our faculties together and to enter within ourselves to be with God because where God is that's where the people is going to be and and um and she says to enclose ourselves within this little Heaven of our souls where the maker of heaven and Earth is present and to grow accustomed to refuse to be where the exterior senses and their distraction have gone well I think that's one of the things is very very beautiful for me for Elizabeth is that she said that because heaven we we come back to the idea of Faith you know that God dwells within us and heaven doesn't isn't something that just begins after death she's very clear Elizabeth that on this she believes that heaven begins now it begins within us because we have God within us really her spirituality is a baptismal spirituality it's baptismal because in our baptism we're baptized in the name of the father and the Son and the Holy Spirit the Trinity becomes a dwelling place within us and she accentuates that in the fact that heaven she's got some beautiful letters where she talks about heaven is within me already Heaven begins through faith Heaven begins through faith and but she was given again I emphasize even though she had her darkness and she had her struggles she was given a very special Grace to understand the indwelling of the Trinity uh within her and it was a not just intellectual but was some type of experience right even though her prayer was very simple she didn't read a lot of books and she didn't like formul formula prayers right she preferred just to be still so she but she had this this great faith in God's dwelling place within her yeah and and in this NE the section that follows that uh she says um to be holy present um holy with with a W wh holy present Faith holy Vigilant holy adoring holy surrendered it's this totality the sense of all holy surrendered to your creative action yes within her yeah she repeats it several times holy over and over and over she holy this and holy adoring holy she wants to be totally given over totally given over she's she's very she's she's very you know she's got this this this desire to be all for God MH yeah and in that sense she it's a it's a reminder of of um to be completely reliant on God we have to we have to be we have to this is what we're we're aiming for to deny ourselves the temptation of self-sufficiency and and self-reliance and and to be you know as holy holy mother St Teresa says very determined in our determination to to see and it's a it's a prayer petition in this sense I mean she's she said I desire this I desire to be holy for you holy adoring holy everything other words she knows she can't do it herself in the light of herance in the light of her powerlessness only God can do this this is her great desire the desire of her heart that's why I think the prayer expresses her whole spirituality in the sense that it it expresses what she most desire and what she tried to live well good maybe we can turn now to the incarnational uh that incarnational paragraph that second paragraph of the prayer of the Trinity um she she addresses this this paragraph oh my beloved Christ and and she speaks of her desire to be his bride and to cover him in glory and this would kind of uh this would this would uh foreshadow um would be kind of the next development in her own spiritual life the Lum glor she wanted to be she wanted to be Praise of Glory uh to be to be that um that covering to cover him in glory to be that and and uh and so she she desires to be a bride and and she speaks of of uh the crucified heart she's a bride of the crucified heart and so this is a this is a an an incarnational form of prayer that's at the cross right and again this is this is um I think rooted in that powerlessness you know what what better image of or I don't know if better is the right word but what what image conveys powerless more than than than um you know the disciples uh running from from the scandal of of their lord being crucified Lord on their cross yeah and so there's this sense of of um you know this is the mystery of the cross that it's it's simultaneously this this um this hideous and and gruesome and and and grotesque um place and yet it's also the place of his glory it's and his wounds are his glory and so this this desire to be the bride is is not a is not a a white wedding dress you know it's it's the cross and it's it's the crucifixion and and it's the um in in our own woundedness in our own weakness and our own powerlessness being being clothed with with with Christ as well well she was very much influenced as you know by St Paul Galatians and Ephesians and uh she was very much the the the the line in Galatians he gave he loved me he loved that he gave his all for me you know this the total Love Of Christ on the cross and that meant a lot to her and I think what the crucified Christ meant for her was looking gazing upon the crucified she said this is what it means to be a carlite to gaze upon the crucified who gave everything was a self-giving love really self-giving outpouring love is what she saw on the cross and this is what she read from St Paul and this is what she desired to to look at Christ to be a and if you go on and read this the rest of this this this this section of the prayer you know she's asking Christ to come and live in her and be in her and substitute himself for her to be be to really take over her life completely to be totally to to transform her life you know completely and to be her for her uh like him an adorer restorer a savior you know um to become she it's beautiful that she'll be all she wants him she wants to be all teachable you know she wants to listen to him her whole life is to be centered on Christ and and and to take his sentiments and to live his sentiments and to live his life is very beautiful so she look she very very christological even though she's the she's trinitarian she's very christological in that sense and and but she knows that Christ has to do it this is what's so beautiful about this part of the prayer it's all about transformation transformation she's asking to be transformed into Christ and she can't do it herself he has to do it yeah and this is what this is what it means to be to be that uh that clothed in Christ yes yes it's it's to be um to take off as St Paul take off the old man and put on Christ right yes um the the um speaking of the the the transformative aspect of this this section of the prayer she says make my life a Radiance of your life very beautiful yeah I uh I was telling you earlier that I this reminds me of that image in in um in the in holy St John the cross is Ascent of Mount Carmel when he speaks of the the dirty smudgy window pane right yeah and um after that gets Windex uh and gets cleaned up it's so illuminated by the Sun that you can't even tell that there's glass you know it's it's um the window is pure light and um the glass is still there of course and the window is not the sun um but this illumination is so great that we can't even tell the difference and so this is her desire to not even be not even be able to distinguish um the diff where where Christ begins or where Christ ends and where she begins right well I think this section of the prayer is with the radiance of Christ really touches upon the essence of what it means for us to be a Christian everyone religious lay married single whatever our vocation is we're called to radiate The Life of Christ in this world and that's exactly what she's saying quite simply to be a Radiance of Christ a fragrance of Christ uh to to Really radiate the the love and the mercy and the goodness of Christ in this world and to make our lives and to look at Christ to keep our gaze fixed on him she talks about gaze to keep our gaze fixed on him so that we'll be more and more transformed into his sentiments into his way of living listening to his word I mean listening to the word always teachable listening to the word of God again the whole I think of music comes in here as well you know in this prayer to to to keep our Gaze on him and to listen to his word to be teachable uh it's so I mean this is I think that this is what it means to be a Christian yeah she expresses it in in very beautiful you would say mystical but I wouldn't say obscure I would say it's she's saying it in in the most beautiful poetic spiritual way this is what we're all called to by our life to radiate The Life of Christ and you mentioned the you know St John the cross and the S of Mount Caramel the first book when he talks about I mean the second book when he talks about the window you know all of us are called to clean the window by God's grace alone so that his light will shine through us because we have the light within us already it's just a matter of cleaning the letting the window be cleaned so that we can radiate Christ yeah that that teachability is is is an important aspect of of of Christian discipleship you can't be a disciple if you're not willing to be taught that's right you're not willing to change you're not willing to be changed you know we can change is hard and and it's it's something that we all struggle with and um but to listen deeply listen deeply to the word of God it comes to us in so many ways in our life yeah yeah it's it's and and it's it's through this being changed and transformed form that then we'll be able to as she kind of continues proceed through all nights all voids all helplessness yeah and we we keep our gaze fixed upon upon him on Jesus in the midst of all again the idea of faith faith and surrender and Trust she doesn't talk about trust I uh specifically here but the whole theme of trust is there because she knows that only Christ can do this because she says you be this for me yeah you do this I can't do this you do this mhm okay I have in my notes for like my takeaway for this whole paragraph is an expression of great hope in the power of God to transform us yes yes that's beautiful that's what she's and it continues on into the third paragraph as well yes yes well let's let's move in to talk about the Holy Spirit then and uh in this third paragraph she addresses oh consuming fire Spirit of love and she she addresses the our comforter our our Holy Comforter the third person of the Trinity yeah yeah well I think she was very I don't know I think that she was inspired by the living flame of Love here also also by the spiritual Canticle I have read there she was very inspired by stanza 36 and 39 in the spiritual Canticle in 36 where John the cross talks about the transformation to the Trinity and we breathe in God and breathe out God we breathe in the Holy Spirit and also the whole theme of the Marian theme is very present here because the enunciation was a very important uh scene for Elizabeth the mystery of the anunciation where our lady allowed the Holy Spirit to descend upon her and to create within her put within her or create within her the word of God you know and that is very much I think a part of this paragraph that she too wanted to surrender herself to fully to God as as as Mary did surrender to the holy spirit so that the word of God would take would take would become part of her in her womb and bring forth Christ to the world and I I like this because it uh she she says another thing that I has always meant a lot to me she said come upon me and created my kind of incarnation in other words we got the whole Mary in here too you know the anunciation that I may be another Humanity in which he can renew his whole mystery to be another Humanity of Christ is another continuation of the of the previous paragraph you know to really be another Humanity I chose that for my my this this particular verse for my card for my ordination to the priesthood so it means a lot to me yeah you know that we it's the Holy Spirit who transforms us we know that through John the cross's living flame of love he talks about that the Holy Spirit transforms us into another Humanity we have to surrender the whole idea of surrendering and allowing him to to create another Humanity so that we can renew his mystery yeah and be the mystery of God in our world you know it's very beautiful I think for me too it's probably the most the the the most um um I don't know the the the most interesting aspect of this prayer is this is this line on the crit and my soul kind of incarnation of the word it has this it's it's edgy you know it it's it's not it doesn't self- explain itself you know it's it's something that you have to kind of what does she mean by that yes um and I think in the catechism it speaks when it speaks of you know she gets put into this her prayer of the Trinity gets put into the section on the in the C cism on the life of the Trinity particularly the the missions of the Trinity and this idea that the father sent the son and he sent the spirit um and and we we take we participate in the in the mission of the of the son in his incarnation in the mystery of the spirit at Pentecost through the gift of baptism we're we're we're born into the life of the Trinity and through the gift of sanctifying Grace and we participate in the Divine missions of the Son and the spirit so that we are then made um we're touched by God and when we're we're sent forth uh by God in in our baptism to then uh to to um to to teach people about the faith and and to ultimately to Def find our end in God the first words of the catechism are the life of man is to know and to love God and um and this is this is this is kind of the um the missions of the Son and the spirit god um look upon himself in his word and that that word is so efficacious that it is God himself the to know God is to know the word um and and to love God is to is to is to love the spirit to love God in himself is to a participation in that Holy Spirit and so far in so far as we're knowing and loving God as as he deserves to be known and loved uh we are we are renewing the whole mystery of the Trinity and and renewing the whole mystery of of of the Incarnation well I think I mean what she touches upon here is something that the Eastern Church stresses a lot and that's we're talking about divinization here that's what we're talking about that we are called to be participation in the life of God in the trinitarian life to become like Christ that's divinization and I think that's simply quite quite simply that's what she's talking about here and it really amazes me that this young woman who wrote this you know uh you know about 2 years before she died had an insight into the whole divinization process without a lot of study mhm but that I mean although she read rybrook and John the cross and that but she came to this Insight that we're all and this is what our Christian life is about is to become part well John lross says God's through participation that's what he says which is a very powerful assertion is is to really participate in the very life of God and that's what she's saying here that we're to become like Christ we're to be a presence of Christ in this world world and to to carry on his mission his Mission of Mercy compassion healing and that's what the Christian life is all about and she grasps this and she and this is her great desire in this prayer she expresses what she most desires and what all of us should desire you know in our life uh the way she expresses it in her own way I mean no one read this parel after she died you know and um so but this was the desire of her heart and so we're all called to this yeah so in in the in the final paragraph of this great prayer of the Trinity uh St Elizabeth addresses the father she says and and you father she turns to him um and and she she's asking there's this transfigure there's this Taber imagery of of of of Jesus on Mount Taber and the Transfiguration and the overshadowing of the father uh and being covered with with uh with the shadow of God um I don't know do you have anything for that well I think first of all he goes back again to the trinity the father is the source of all love the father is the source see and also this overshadowing again brings out the the the the mystery of the enunciation where G the angel Gabriel said the Holy Spirit overshadow you so the father in his great love overshadows this poor creature this poor creature to make to to bring forth this this this life within her you know with with what she's what she what she's Desiring you know to live the life of Christ so again it's the whole the father it's really kind of the mystery the father is kind of more mysterious here you know but it's the Father's Love who bends over his poor creature just like the Holy Spirit bends over Mary and provides with and and and enables her Graces her you know to bring forth the Son of God and then and then just to to close up this this last paragraph uh oh my three my all my beatitude uh infinite solitude immensity in which I lose myself I Surrender myself to you as your prey bury yourself in me that I may bury myself and you until I depart to contemplate in your light the abyss of your greatness to me that is one of the most awesome parts of this prayer because for me personally when I when I pray over this I it's it's like it shows the Great immensity and the Mystery of God as a god of love it's it's so beyond what we can comprehend who God is God is we know this by of the Cross and the saints that God is not who we think God is God is a great mystery a mystery of love and so she comes to this great immensity and the idea to be possessed you know to be buried in you know it's amazing she often calls refers to God as the ocean an ocean to be plunged in an ocean I feel this ocean over my soul you know so it shows the great mystery of God's love for us and the Mystery of God yeah what's also is interesting is that she says my all my my my three and my all it's interesting in her writings where she'll often refer to the Trinity as my three or the three rather than just the Trinity for instance she'll write I gave you to the three she wrote to her sister this when she said I gave you to the three my G it was another letter she wrote May the three be truly the center from which Our Lives flow I feel the three near me MH so even so it's like the three becomes um you know her word for the trinity in all the great mystery and she says I leave you my before she died she wrote I leave you my devotion to the three to love which is very interesting you know to the three then she says to love live within them in the heaven of your soul so the three is this great immense of love this ocean of love and mercy and grace and the source of all life which lives within her also when she writes in the my all Oru in French my all I think that expresses the whole spirituality of Elizabeth the Trinity for her there is no half measures she gave everything and she wants to know God's love for her and for all of us and that's all that matters M my all there's two there's three phrases of her that means an awful lot to me and it follows through this my my all my beatitude she said there is a being who is love and wishes us to be in communion with him and that was a letter 327 I know you my I know my I know I leave you before she dies I leave you my faith in the presence of God a God who is all love dwelling in our souls it is this intimacy with him that has been the beautiful sun illumining my life and again you yes surrender yourself to this fullness of love this living being who wants to live in communion with you yeah and I think that's her message for all of us that there is a being of Love who lives with who who created us out of love and for love and who lives in the depths of our hearts and he he desired communion with him he desires us to enter into communion with him and it shows us I think our dignity as human beings and this is one of her great messages that we're not who other people think we are we're not the clothes we wear we're not the color of our eyes the shape of our body none of that the money we have we are Dwelling Places of God yeah we have a a being who is love who who wants to enter into communion with us and it shows the Dignity of the human person and how much we need that today and he wants all of us all of us all the entire the entirety of of myself even the parts that I would rather God not have you know that I would rather kind of kind of hide from him you know he wants that too he wants he just as he ought to be our everything our all he wants all of of you and she often writes it in her letters she she she writ to her friend she said you know don't worry about your your faults and that so just bring all that to love she said bring all that to love because that's all that's what it's all about just bring it to love in confidence yeah you know so the whole being just that's that's what it's all about and the beauty and the Dignity of who we are as human beings the the letters that you quoted um they come towards the end of her life yes as she's dying and um within the last six months of her life she had a vision what we might classify it kind of in a in a sci you know a theological scientific way way uh within the study of mysticism and intellectual vision of the Trinity um and just the this this understanding that she couldn't something that the holy mother experienced too these she speaks of intellectual Visions as well and she can't express it in words um but it's there's a a mystical uh intellectual infusion um by God pure gift an understanding um that that she would call the the counsil of the three persons dwelling within her mhm and mother Germaine the prioris would say that she spoke of this Grace as the communication of the Divine persons the communication of the three among all within herself God the three were talking and and communing and being that that relational God that Trinity within her they were they and she was experiencing that and um this this experience would impress you know upon the final months of her of her letter writing as as you read some of those letters she was in the infirmary yeah and she was close to death death and it was the Feast of the Ascension May 24th and she mother mother Germaine had not come in to visit her and she felt came in and she's kind of apologized probably she said don't worry about it because she said I've had this experience she heard something like an locution you know if you love me my father will love you and we'll come and make our dwelling place within you and it was really a mystical Grace it kind of It kind of established or it kind of verified I'm put this way verified her whole journey you know of of of the indwelling within her it was a very very special Grace given to her of the of an aware deep profound a spir a mystical Consciousness we would say a mystical Consciousness that of the Trinity dwelling within her yeah and near the end of her life and um so when people come near the end of their life they have a lot of very profound experiences they can have very profound experiences and she had lived her life in faith and surrendered to this in prayer and so faithful in her life and so near the end she's she's given this very special Grace that of mystical Consciousness I would say that the dwelling and it's for us not wisdom for her it's for us yeah see this is it it's not just for her it's a Grace for the church and for us and and in the letters she writes after that Ascension that Ascension Thursday she's she's pouring this into everything she's writing and and and sharing it with as many people as she can because she's been there's been there's a she's received something that she can't keep to yeah what do you think St Elizabeth of the Trinity has to to say to the church today well one thing I've already said that uh you know the Dignity of the human person you know how important that is in our Catholic teaching and um that um the whole idea of what it means to be human person is called into question today we have with abortion we have euthanasia we have transgender we have wars going all over look at the terrible VI violence going on in the wars and in the Ukraine between Ukraine and Russia and Israel at this present time and Gaza you know the whole Dignity of the human person and also I her her great mission in the church too is one of prayer and recollection that is through prayer and recollection that we come to ever deeper understanding of who we truly are yeah you know because that's her Mission her mission is one of is a contemplative mission in this sense it's one to draw us into the into silence prayer recollection as the way to come to deeper understanding of God's love for us who we truly are and to grow into the image of Christ yeah the world wants so much certainty and and God just wants us to live in the mystery yeah yeah the mystery of who he is and and to be to dwell with him to be whole in him and to and to to have a relationship with him and so um and that God loves us I mean she says over and over God God is all love I mean she's constantly repeating that you know it's so simple we hear it all the time but do we really take it in that God loves me as I am in all that I am not as I want to be that God really loves me so much that he he is a being of Love who dwells within me and wants intimate friendship with me and that prayer and recollection silence the importance of Silence you know and I don't mean just just uh absence of words I mean a silence an interior silence to be listen the importance of listening listening to the word teachable to be teachable yeah to listen to the word of God to listen to how God comes to me in daily life you know I mean this is all what she has to teach us she teaches us our baptismal dignity above all I mean was I think I mean that's one of the things very important for her is that it's a baptismal spirituality you know that we to live our baptism that the Dignity of being a Christian and all that that means so she has so and also she believed that prayer transforms the church it transforms the world yeah you know she believed that she was a carlite nun to pray for the world you know to be a vessel of transformation by her prayer you know a vessel of transformation to the whole world yeah we can be transformed and this is the mystery of our of our baptism and and it and it's it's it's God dwelling within us and transforming us it's it's um this is what it means to be Christian yeah we're called to be transformed we're called to to live the life of God more and more a lifelong process of being ever more transformed to radiate the love of God in this world to radiate The Life of Christ well good well with that we we thank you for joining us this week and we ask you to to come back and join us next week for our final episode this season and may God bless you

Channel: ICS Publications

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Length: 53min 57sec (3237 seconds)

Published: Wed Dec 13 2023