St. Elizabeth of the Trinity—The Apostolic Spirit of Carmel: CarmelCast Episode 59

stop trying so hard to love him and let him love you yeah so often we're so fixated on like what I can do or what I'm doing wrong and we're so obsessed with those things that we're we're just incapable of just being receptive and letting him love us because that's really what's going to transform us and unit us to God yeah and our woundedness and our shame respected to our sins you know there can be this this unwillingness to to see ourselves as loved by God because of of um mistakes that we've made or or wounds that we've experienced and um a lot of people in the world today have a hard time understanding that God loves them and uh the solution to that is to to let God love you cuz that's that'll that'll heal all [Music] [Music] things praise be Jesus Christ and welcome back to another episode of carel cast carel cast is a production of The Institute of carlite studies publication for more information you can visit our website at www.csu.org my name is Father P Georgio of Christ the King and I'm joined today by Brother John Mary of Jesus crucified welcome brother this season we're talking all about the life and the spirituality of St Elizabeth of the Trinity and um in this episode in particular we're going to be focusing in on kind of a a rather on maybe to most to some people an unlikely aspect of her spirituality and it's her Apostolic Spirit you know we think of apostolic Saints and we think of the Apostles maybe and um what's interesting is within the carite charism there is this uh this strong emphasis on the apostolate not just for the Friars who St Teresa of Avala are foundress created to kind of be at the service of the nuns but also to be working in the apostolate but even if you consider like the foundation day of of St Teresa's first Monastery at Stan Jose in aula she chose the feast day of an apostle and I think that was intentional to to sort of show that the the work of of a contemplative nun the work of a contemplative religious is the work of the apostolate yeah and it might surprise people like you said that you know here's this saint of where we talk about what she's really well known for is like silence her teachings on silence and an interior recollection and yet um she is an apostle and she has this this very strong AP Apostolic Spirit which um is important because I think one of the most important aspects of her teaching for us today is that she has a spirituality that is um relates to all people she has a very strong lay spirituality and so the fact that she has this apostolate this Apostolic Spirit within her life um within her spirituality means that that her teachings also on prayer and on the interior life um can also relate to people in in the world yeah and not unlike probably many of the people who are watching or listen listening she had she had the heart of a mother she had the heart of a teacher and um this didn't this didn't get subsumed or or or destroyed upon receiving the veil and entering the Cloister you know her motherliness her her her desire to teach and to share the fruits that she herself was receiving continued and and even strengthened I think upon upon receiving um The Habit and and entering into the vocation that God had called her into so let's kind of get into the beginning stages of of kind of the seeds of of of St Elizabeth's Apostolic heart um and it comes from a period in her life that we've already spoken about I think last week uh with respect to the time when she was this postulant outside the wall so she had been accepted for formation but spent two years um kind of as a as a representative of of the carites but still living at home um but also intentionally um beginning the work of her own religious formation and uh it's interesting how um the Prius at the time of the carel of Deon she was very supportive of of Elizabeth and the other young women who were going to be entering some of them who didn't end up entering of U making sure that they were were being a part of the church in the midst of their postulancy um and this took the form in many different ways most of all I think within the context of her Parish Community and and serving most especially the poor in her Parish Community um we know that she would she would she had a um a gift for sewing she would make and repair clothes to be sold in kind of the Paris charity shop to be sold to to provide for the poor she would um meet the poor um go on visits to people who were shut-ins um people who were um very sick um and and also working to uh there was this kind of Youth Club that was really interesting she uh she helped out for a um to kind of provide a place for for young people whose parents were involved in kind of industrial work there was a tobacco Factory in town and she provided for some of the the I don't know you could call like after school care type of thing that's the analogy that I would use today for for the the children of these mainly women who are rolling cigarettes for their jobs in in the tobacco Factory yeah we just see really the the wisdom of the Prius of of the carel mother Germain here but also the the wisdom of the the apostolic Spirit of carel to begin with and that you know how can we prepare these young women to come live lives of contemplative prayer uh in in the monastery we wouldn't maybe think right away like oh well let's send them out on mission to the poor uh to their parishes going door too like seeking out those who haven't haven't um received their Catechism classes like that just seems almost counterintuitive to us but but the privac was able to see that no this is really the preparation to have an Apostolic Spirit uh in prayer and in Caramel that this was the first stuff that was needed was for them to be involved in these things and I'd say Elizabeth um took to it very um very eagerly but also she had a great gift for this kind of work because she was so relation relational and um just yeah person oriented I think so there's great stories of um often they would you know go together so she would like visit the the sick with another young young woman who was planning to enter uh carel and so there's stories of like there's one story where she they went and visited this man who had been like paralyzed basically and bedridden and just the experience that they the two of them had there the woman she was with was an older she was an older VOC I don't know if she was you know how old she was but she was older than Elizabeth and she she shares that uh you know Elizabeth was obviously struck by this encounter with this man who had I think he was bedridden for seever I mean I think he was 17 years or something like like that um and and on that first visit she she didn't say much and this other this other girl this other woman who Elizabeth was with noticed that and so when they were making their rounds the next maybe in a few days later the next week um the older woman maybe said well maybe this had too much of an effect on Elizabeth she wasn't quite ready for that sort of situation um and Elizabeth demanded she said no I want I want to see that man again and uh and and it was at that point that she was able to muster up the courage to to speak to him about about God and about suffering whereas before she felt insufficient in that sense right well imagine I mean she was only you know 18 19 years old here she is approaching this man who's been paralyzed for 17 years most of her life yes yeah and trying to to share with him um but that's what Elizabeth was she had this great ability to go inside of her in this interiority to enter inside of herself and so um she was able to almost touch the the other the other person the the the suffering one or whatever it might be and and that experience of the other became a part of who she was such that when they they left visiting this man it's like she would be visibly like look ill not because she was so bothered by the situation but because she' really had this incredible ability to enter into the reality of the other meet them there and bring uh Jesus there right yeah that that idea of sharing in one's passion that compassion right yes and that being an important aspect I think it's interesting what strikes me most about this period is that I think for many people maybe um would see this this stage this opportunity if they were going through it as sort of red tape or a hurdle that they had to get across in order to get to what they really wanted which was um you know in this situation to live in in the cloer and pray and have a contemplative vocation but Elizabeth didn't see it that way and she was she was heroic in her ability to really Embrace this this as something that was no different from um you know not not something that she just had to do as a way to to like fill the time before she could enter but it's something that was integral to her own formation as a as a contemplative religious yeah and it would be interesting to see how much of a division she even saw between this time before Carmel and this time after that's something that we've talked about in the last episode too is how Elizabeth's time waiting to enter Carmel uh became this uh this great it was an opportunity for her to learn that the realities of her vocation could be lived here and now um it wasn't just waiting for something else it was like no everything can be lived now interiorly and so that's what she was able to do here too it wasn't so such that when she enter there's like becomes hardly even this distinction there's just this uh fluidity between the two which um relates very much to her spiritual teaching on Heaven Too is like her her whole teaching was that we can live the realities of Heaven here and now through faith such that when we die there's even this very little of this transition it's like we're already living it now um almost in its fullness yeah it's it's interesting too with with respect to this whole period because um you know she she had such a strong identity in what her vocation was and she knew where she was called and there was this there was this instance of they were they were doing something and there was a religious sister involved um and she had made the comment that oh this this this is a young woman who was clearly destined for for religious life and of course the sister was thinking of maybe as a as a sister as an Apostolic doing Apostolic work and um Elizabeth replied to her that U well actually I'm I'm going to be entering the carites and and um surprised that this was where she was going the the sister said you know I would think of you more of as as a sister than a nun and uh Elizabeth replies I'm made for the interior life yes and so it's it's to say that um we can we can have this identity we can be made for one we can be we can be made as as Marys in the midst of of you know kind of a Martha type of life and that doesn't change who we are it doesn't mean that we've missed something in our life it just means that um it's it's it's um I think accidental the what we do is accidental to to who we're with in those moments yeah it's it's not even so much about uh about what we do and who we're with as is it really is about who we are who we are interiorly in our souls that's what really what our vocation is about right right and uh we can feel like we maybe missed Maybe something maybe we feel like oh I should have been a nun or I should have maybe not me personally but yeah you'd make an ugly nun I should have been a priest I should have been a nun and um and to kind of Despair in that because of of a sense of Mis vocation and it's it's it's um you know the the indwelling of the Trinity within the human person the baptized person is is what makes the identity of the person that's that's our first identity it's being an adopted son adopted daughter of the father mhm um one more sort of anecdote with respect to this time was this young this young girl Louise dealan she was um 14-year-old girl who was uh from a irreligious family and uh she was the parish uh had asked her to prepare this young woman for sacraments of initiation um and and I think we have some of her of this young girl's testimony about about who Elizabeth was and her impression of her and one of the things that struck this girl who was just coming into her faith was just receiving the sacraments was the witness of of a recollected life that Elizabeth LED no matter where they went uh together whether they were going to some talk for the for the the candidates for baptism or confirmation or whether they were walking in the streets there was the sense that she took from her of recollection no matter what um and I think that speaks again to this to this idea of you don't have to be in the cloer in a contemplative vocation in order to live a life of of recollection even amongst the errands or the triv trivialities of life well I think especially of our secular order of carites our our third order carites how much um how much opportunity there is to bring this Spirit of recollection into the world and those that they encounter like really what uh Louise was saying about Elizabeth is what I hope that that you know people in the workplaces would say about our secular carites too is that there's just something about them uh something about their even if even if a person is coming from a totally irreligious setting they don't even can't even necessarily put words to what it is but there's just something different recollected like they they have this peace about them and and that's a Beau the beauty of that vocation is that they can then bring this to the world the other thing that Louise uh States about Elizabeth is that when she found out that she was going to be entering into the into The Cloister into the caramel of Deon um she relates that Elizabeth promised her that she would be close closer to her than ever uh within within the the bounds of The Cloister and um and so this this apostolate ultimately would transform into something different which would be uh different but the same the Apostle of prayer yes yeah so once Elizabeth finally does enter into the convent and um you know begins her life there and Carmel it's it's very interesting to see how again there's no not like this um this gap for her this like this joint just disjointedness it's just like this this this flow that continues like what she was doing before is continuing after the fact mhm yeah and so and so within this this um like how do how does a carlite understand understand prayer as an apostolate yeah I think that I mean uh starting from the beginnings of our Saints uh you know the carmelites on on uh Mount Carmel that there was this this Spirit where um prayer became the primary apostolate and that's something that continues through the time of of St Teresa of Avala to our time today even us as Friars right we have an active apostolate um you know we're ministering to those in the world and yet uh our primary apostolate to the world is our our apostolate of prayer and I think there's this there's also this important aspect that I think we always have to remind ourselves about with respect to prayer versus apostate or or contemplation versus active an active life or you know the Martha versus Mary sort of dichotomies that we kind of set up in our head as a way to kind of organize our our understanding of these things and um you know various spiritual authors throughout the history of the church have kind of touched on this but it's something that Elizabeth herself understood and picked up and it's the idea that you can't really do one without the other um there there isn't a dichotomy there one flows from the other and the other flows into into the first you know it's this it's this um it's a false dichotomy they're they're they're one they're it's a both end sort of sort of aspect the dichotomy is within ourselves right um and and Holiness is a matter of of shrinking that dichotomy until it eventually disappears and that's what you see in the life of the Saints and I think particularly in the life of the Blessed Virgin Mary and in of course in Jesus Christ himself who is always United to the the father um in his very being yeah we're going to talk about some of the letters that she wrote to seminarians but I want to read from one of those letters in with respect to this idea um of of the false dichotomy or the the need for for this to be maybe thought about or our thinking about it to be corrected uh continually she writes I think this is to um to um Andre chenard the a seminarian uh in letter 191 she says since our Lord dwells in our souls his prayer belongs to us and I wish to live in communion with it unceasingly keeping myself like a little vase at the source at the Fountain of Life so so that later I can communicate it to souls by letting its floods of infinite charity overflow and so this it's this idea of of of you know I I fill my cup to to pour it out upon upon those in need in charity and love yeah and that that outpouring um in some sense comes through you know the the the letters that Elizabeth would write or you know the meetings that she'd have with with her family and friends but but more than that it's just an outp pouring in prayer of like giving um giving those people their their struggles their their pains and sufferings like giving those to God and letting God uh pour out his grace upon them in in a spiritual man way we have this to kind of go in the other direction of the of the D of the false dichotomy we also have this understanding that um the measure of our Holiness uh what is what is how do we measure someone's Holiness um and it's it's not in how much how many hours they spend kneeling it's not in in um in in how hard it is to disturb them when they're praying it's not in these sort of um appearances but rather in in the charity of the person and so this is this is an important uh element to to kind of thinking about um the contemplative and and the measure of their Holiness is also within this this these acts of Charity within the context of where they are right and and that gets to the core of what is it that unites these these two and it's love yeah um Love is the common the common not even just the common factor between the two but it's actually what Encompass encompasses the two of them um Love is is is the the mean or the the focus here of this this reality of um the apostolic Spirit whether that's lived or being lived out in the moment in a time of prayer or in a time of of um work yeah yeah and because we have a God who is a a union of a union of persons in love um we have we have a God who is love and who can't who who then who then pours forth his love on the world yes and and so this is this is you can't get more contemplative than the Trinity and yet and yet and also more active also more active it's this it's this sense of of um you know we just look to God and what he has done he has created us he has created us for himself so that we can love him and and uh and to share his love yeah yeah so I mean all this is to say that really what Elizabeth felt drawn to and and was responding to was this called um to to to be um well similar to terz to be love in the heart of the church but to do so particularly through her prayer through prayer for her family through prayer for her friends um and then also something else that Elizabeth was kind of Awakened to shortly after entering caramel was the idea of prayer for prayer for priests and this is something that was very um very at the core of the caral vocation from the time of Teresa Avala I mean she she really saw that as essential to the vocation but we know that this struck Elizabeth because she copied out a passage from it from this when she was reading story of a soul there was something that TZ wrote there about prayer for priests and Elizabeth copied that out into her journal so it was something that struck her and this kind of new awareness in her that this was a part of her um her vocation mhm yeah and so she would um she would be constantly praying about for priests and for their vocation um there would be priests coming to the to the caramel so that she would be introduced to maybe priest she had never known before she had close relationship with some of the priests in her life before Carmel as well and so this this um this apostolate for prayer for priests would have kind of been something that would have been very important to her because of the priests in her life right and there is even even a a a shift there where um one of the priests that she knew from before Carmel she had in the past you know always asked him to pray for her you know that was his vocation he's a priest and yet uh her first letter to him when she entered Carmel was assuring him that she would be praying for him and um I don't know maybe it seems very natural to say that but there's this kind of boldness in that in her saying that to this you know priest who had known her since she was little um she's taking on this spiritual responsibility now for for his vocation uh for his ministry yeah we know that St Teresa had a strong a strong sense of the sort of the charismatic nature of the church and that it goes both ways and so you always you always see in her letters particularly to priests to of her reminding them to pray for her yeah and so it's this it's this Union of of charisms in the church to to um be building each other up in the midst of of whatever vocation we have yeah yeah and this um I thought that I had connected to something that you said earlier when you reading from that that letter that Elizabeth wrote um it seemed like TZ saw her her vocation her her apostolate to prayer as one which would then overflow out of her Elizabeth Elizabeth Elizabeth yeah overflow out of her um in into onto other souls and then into the world and in a similar another ter um image that she would use at times is one of a a flame of a fire you know God Is this Burning Flame and uh we have to be ignited by that flame such that then we share that fire that heat with others um but she really understood that it was in her prayer was was the the primary place where she would be filled with God so that this kind of radiating uh this overflowing can take place such that once again we're saying that the the prayer the Apostle letter of prayer is for her just not it's not disconnected from the the apostolic life and spirit that she was called to MH she had she had this understanding this theological understanding of of um they would be come it becomes really strong and in something we'll talk about later um one of the treatises that she would write uh heaven in faith um but it's something that you see in her letters even now uh this idea of remain remain in my love the the words of Our Lord to the apostles at the Last Supper in the gospel of St John um but this is something that happens that is is coming again and again um she says she says to to to AB um sorry to the seminarian Andre chard um be an apostle who remains always at the spring of Living Waters um she says in that letter that I I quoted earlier keeping myself like a vis like a little vase at the source and so she has this understanding that that you know in writing to these seminarians or priests that um that one needs to remain with god um and it's it's something that I think is is is essential to to her understanding of the apostate no matter what you're doing we can always remain with god well and it kind of breaks down once again our false dichotomies because I think we can think well prayer is that thing I have to go to to be filled that way then I can go out and do my other things in my life and she's like no there is no there's no leaving that that place that Source it's you're always there um whether you're in prayer or whether you're um at work or whether you're you're recreating whatever it is you're always um interiorly you can remain in that place being filled by God and then overflowing on onto others and it's not to say that this is you know obvious or easy it's it's a it's a remaining in faith it's something I mean we're so we're so sensory oriented and we um which is why so many people have little reminders of God's presence with them always you know whether you keep something in your pocket to remind you that God's with you um or you have you have images of you know Christian images holy images around your house so you never forget about God's presence um you know those are tools to help us but but ultimately it's it's a it's a it's an exercise in faith and and in acknowledging that even though I'm not even thinking actively about God or I'm not even you know maybe actively praying that God is with meh yeah there's there's um you've already mentioned some of these letters but there's a whole series of letters uh that Elizabeth wrote to uh Min Arians MH and it's it's interesting because there's a parallel here with the life of St TZ TZ also had these missionaries that she was writing to um but we can see in Elizabeth once again this just total Unity that she saw between what they were doing um in becoming priests and what she was doing and actually I mean her words are just they're really pretty strong um and that she says you know uh well I want to be an apostle with you uh from the depths of my dear Solitude in carel she just saw that that's yeah she she could she could she could live the life she could live the same ministry as their their Priestly Ministry within the context of carel she said in another letter Apostle carlite it is all one so there's just not this distinction in in her um for her um but rather and and a lot of this comes you know even uh we we see this emphasized in the Theology of the second Vatican Council of the priesthood of every every every belie you know through bapt through baptism um we have this this Priestly calling um this this calling that we can live out whether we're ordained as a priest or not and Elizabeth so solid you know she she resonated with that calling within her to to make holy uh to live the life of a priest um in in her own way yeah yeah it it's it's an interesting you know yeah that sense of the baptismal priesthood within all of us and that would become something that that she would she would um um develop even further on towards the end of her life when in her later letters that she would write to to some of the people that she loved and um it's a it's a powerful reminder for all of us that um that uh we need we need to bring like the priests of the Old Testament like what a priest does today bring sacrifice um bring bring the sacrifices uh that we make and that other people are making on on behalf of of whatever they're suffering or what whatever is going on in their life that is not ideal bring those to God so that he can sanctify them that is the role of a priest to San to bring to God to sanctify and so um in that sense uh why not have a share in in the priesthood of our ministerial priests who are doing so much for us and bringing um you know sanctification to the world yeah I want to talk about one um one incident one kind of interesting anecdote that that has to deal with with um the the priest and seminarians that she she would write to um and it it happens it's an incident that occurs um in the in the spring of 1904 um at the time we've we've alluded to this before but in France there was this anti-clericalism and there was even this move to close all of the Catholic schools and only have public schools um and so the French government had proposed this and the French Bishops in sort of a retaliatory stance wrote a a a letter sort of denouncing this and and calling to mind the the dangers of this and why it doesn't make sense and all the Bishops of France signed this letter except for one and it was the bishop of Deon monor L Nord lenord um and this caused a lot of Scandal within the context of the city of dejon and uh it wasn't something that would have been lost on Elizabeth either because of um mother Germain the Prius her brother was kind of actively involved in kind of calling to question the intentions of this bishop and uh LED this group in that sense and and the bishop was kind of taking that out on mother Germaine she he was kind of harassing her in many ways mother gerain says that um that uh nothing kept her up at night more than this man this bishop who was who was really harassing her um in the midst of all of that worry mother gerain receives a letter from a young priest a newly ordained priest and we don't know the the circumstances of why he wrote to the carel but he was looking for um he wanted to talk to a to write to a nun um and and to to speak to a none and to maybe receive some inspiration and um the letter that that um Elizabeth writes to this young priest is is extraordinary um she knows of everything that's going on um and she she writes this to him this is this is from letter uh one um 193 to Abbe Jal may he lift you up in the light of Faith to his Heights where one lives only by Peace Love Union made radiant by the Rays of divine of the Divine Sun recently someone wrote this beautiful thought to me Faith is the face to face with darkness and then she writes remain in my love um remain speaking of of he had the Incarnate Word says to us remain in my love she writes to him and so in the midst of of you know difficulties within the context of of politics or the church Elizabeth in this letter to this young priest doesn't even address kind of that drama U and it was and and the seminarian Andre um chard would also be experiencing a lot of this this turmoil as well personally as a seminarian um and Elizabeth's message to this is remain with god um and so in the apostolate we ought to remain with God but also in the midst of our anxieties our worries our worldly wor worries it have a do have an effect on us and and do cause turmoil in our hearts that that the there's only one thing that's necessary and it's to remain with God yeah just to keep your eyes on Jesus I think that's that's really what's essential here and that that's Elizabeth's message um and it's so relevant to our times too where there you know can be so many things politically in our world or in our church even that can consume us um I think we spend so much of our time worrying and being concerned about the things that uh ultimately we we don't have any say in um when we yeah when those are the things that we can just hand over to the Lord and and keep our eyes on him instead yeah yeah if we fill we fill our our silence and our time with with um all of these anxieties and worries we're really we're really doing the devil a favor and keeping our eyes away from God or or losing hope that God he's got this you know this is the this is this is his world we're living in it and and come what may uh he wants to be with us right and and of course you know none of the Saints would have seen this as saying that we should be apathetic in the face of Injustice or anything like that um but if by turning to Jesus then we would know too when we ought to act if we ought to act um in a particular situation so when we do experience Injustice still the the message is to turn to him uh keep our eyes fixed on him but I yeah I think so often we we are um distracted and bothered and and not at peace because of these things that are outside of our our realm to even begin in any practical way to change when really we need to be um you know like our lady who went to uh Jesus at the um wedding Feast at canaa and just say like they have no wine like give the problem to to Jesus and just let it be yeah and and do whatever he tells you and then do then do whatever he tells you yes um speaking about more of these these letters maybe not to the seminarians I don't know do you have anything else you wanted to bring up from that just again seeing that that Unity where the the I feel like the priests are writing to her because they feel like she has something as this contemplative that they can't have and she's just saying like no we're we're the we have the same the same calling interiorly as apostle as contemplative n yeah yeah that just reminder uh for us to take seriously our our that all of us have a contemplative call no matter what we're engaged in exactly within the relations of of uh her family there was um this this young family that um Elizabeth was close to um the deson family um Elizabeth was closer to the old the older daughter they were closer in age but there was the young the younger daughter the sister of her friend um um um was franois franois desan and uh Elizabeth loved her for very very much but more than Elizabeth loved her um franois idolized Elizabeth and and was was devastated I think would be the would be not an exaggeration when when Elizabeth entered entered the caramel um St Elizabeth I think saw something of herself in in franois um Francois I think she had a temper like like Elizabeth did um and so for whatever reason the Prius gave Elizabeth permission to continue to write to to franois uh franois um even even after uh even when she was a novice and and entering the caramel um there's one letter in particular that I wanted to read that comes from from this time when um when when Francois fr SW was being I don't know overly dramatic with respect to to um having lost Elizabeth forever um and and her response to her is is revealing um because because uh she has to be strong with her she has to be direct with her and she says I see uh my friend Bo my friend B this was her nickname for her my little raspberry she called her um I see my friend Boaz has hardly been converted this certainly Grieves me and in the past I overlooked these fits of temper but now you're no longer a baby and these scenes are ridiculous I know that you allow your sabath that was her nickname for herself Elizabeth I know that you'll allow your sabath anything so I'm telling you what I think you absolutely must get to work on this see you see my darling you have my nature I know what you can do ah if you knew how good it is to love God and to give him what he asks especially when that costs you wouldn't hesitate for so long to listen to me um and so in this in the sort of childish ESS of of her of the of the younger sister of her friend um Elizabeth is even able to be direct and and to and to help her to come to a better understanding of what she needs to be doing and and where where Elizabeth wants to see her moving yeah I also see in this relationship um once Elizabeth entered Carmel there be there's almost a transition that happened here too as well where before she was almost like an older sister to her and then uh now she begins to take on more of a motherly uh spirit in regard to her or and also the spirit of a teacher and that's something that we see coming out very strongly in Elizabeth's letters from this time and Carmel is suddenly she's she's becoming this teacher of of prayer this teacher of suffering this teacher of Holiness to these people that she's writing to yeah yeah and it would be something that would extend to to the members of her family too to to G her margarit her older her younger sister rather um would be going through changes of her own she would she would get married um she would she would have children I think two daughters right in the midst of of of while Elizabeth was still living in Carmel and G took took Elizabeth's entering into the caramel I think harder than Elizabeth anticipated um it was kind of a surprise to Elizabeth that her sister became so distraught at at having lost sister because G was so supportive of Elizabeth in the midst of of all of that that the turmoil we spoke about last week and she says oh my darling when you when you're sad tell him the one who knows everything who understands everything and who is the guest of your soul realize that he is within you as in a little host he loves his little GE so much I am Telling You for him during the day sometimes think of him who lives in you and who so thirsts to be loved it is close to him that you will always find me and then she says she gives her even some practical advice kind of uh speaking of that that kind of role as teacher for for geets I would advise you to simplify all your reading and feel yourself a little less you will see that this is much better take your crucifix look listen you know our rendevu is there and don't be troubled when you are occupied like you are now and can't do all of your exercises all of your prayers you can pray to God while working it's enough to think of him then all becomes sweet and easy because you're not working alone since Jesus is there so this whole sense of of again um remaining with God and and this being kind of the message of her apostol remain with God always no matter what you're doing and this is this is the essence of that that apost Apostolic Spirit towards a towards a lay spirituality of contemplation uh the biographer Joan Mosley point points out an irony here that I I really like she's talking about you know we were seeing some of the the difficulties between the church and the government at this time um and some of the laws then began to you know Exile some of the religious and it was interesting because they were going particularly after the active religious so those who were teaching in schools or working in hospitals um they were forced to close their communities and uh and leave the country but it's interesting because uh here's Elizabeth and she is taking on this very active active hostil it of being a teacher and um consoling the sick and the mourning um but she's doing it within the confines of the the convent and so uh Joan mosy just points out how beautiful that this this Apostolic Spirit you know did so much good for the church um and because it was rooted in this contemplative life it was able to to continue on in the midst of this persecution yeah so there's so many letters from this period that kind of speak of what we're talking about but I think the the one of the the more important um pieces of writing that uh that that Elizabeth wrote with respect to this this sense of apostolic Spirit would be A Treatise that she wrote uh for her sister g at the end of her life when she was when she was sick in in the infirmary and dying um and G wouldn't even come to know of it until I think four or five months later after Elizabeth's death she would actually receive this and and Elizabeth pours her her whole uh this whole sense of of of her understanding of her of her role as an apostle as a teacher as a mother to to her sister G and the the Trea is called heaven in faith um and it's a it's a it's written in the in the in the kind of in the style of a of a typical carlite 10day Retreat um where you have a morning meditation and an evening meditation uh to to follow along over the course of your retreat um and it's it's really a beautiful it's a beautiful sort of um uh we speak of of a floral AG it's this this um this old word that refers to kind of a bringing together all of these different sources into a very like a be like picking flowers and arranging them in a beautiful a beautiful arrangement into a vase and that's that's really what a lot of Elizabeth Moore uh I guess Pros writing you could say is is kind of characterizes she's bringing in she's bringing in all sorts of saints between Holy Holy Father St John of the cross between the the Flemish Mystic John rybrook um and and just sort of uh building together all of these these pieces and and and creating um something that that we'll talk about I think in a future episode creating from these sources uh a house in which to dwell uh spiritually this is what I think um maybe elizabe understanding of spirituality is it's it's building a house with which to dwell with God in um and and so um he heaven in faith is is that building up uh for for GS it's building up a a spirituality for her sister as sort of her last gift to her sister yeah and it really is an interesting work because it again it's in the style of written in the style of a retreat and so this was the beginning of of August shortly before the first two weeks of August shortly before Elizabeth would die in November so those first two weeks she wrote this work and then the next two weeks she wrote The Other major Pros work which we'll talk about I think in probably the last episode of this season um Elizabeth's last retreat but the two works are actually very different different because um the one the second one The Last Retreat was actually Elizabeth was on a retreat and she's you know it's more of like her own experience she's writing more of her her own reality um whereas heaven in faith is this Retreat which it wasn't a retreat that she was taking but she's writing these Reflections for her sister um her sister who is a mother who's living in the world uh is in a very different place than she is so even though the two were written you know right after one another we can see um you know see the difference between them and so really heaven and faith is is a work that I find just extraordinary because it can relate to it it's Elizabeth taking her spirituality and making it accessible um to those who live outside of the the cloer and and having in mind the accessibility for someone in particular who was very busy with with with young children right yeah and and what's what stands out well first of all maybe I'd give some advice if someone were were to read this because it's found in the the first volume of um the first volume of the complete works of Elizabeth of the Trinity and I think when I first set out to read it I don't know I I I didn't do it correctly I think I just tried to like read through it like you're reading like a I don't know any other book um but it's something that is really meant to be prayed with such that you almost need to take each of their Reflections read it very slowly and sit with it in prayer because if you just try to read read through it it's just so heavy as far as like these quotes from St Paul and it's so all these Concepts and I think it can be very difficult but if you really just take you know a period of prayer and sit with one of the reflections and and sit with it for quite a while then I think that's when you appreciate it more yeah um father Conrad deer who is the editor the French editor of the complete works of Elizabeth says it has the complexity of a symphony um and and that's an appropriate sort of analogy to her being a musician and and constructing this this kind of spiritual Symphony um and with all the complexity of of that kind of genre of music um and and having um you know uh themes that are that are kind of present and being replayed in various points within the the exposition of of the retreat yeah and I think maybe what what stood out to me most um when I first read it is um again this is connected to just Elizabeth's L understanding of lay spirituality is that she's calling her sister um again her sister who's married and has kids and living in the world she's calling her to the heights of contemplation and saying that that this is attainable for her and she doesn't like shy away from that Elizabeth does not shy away from that at all she just just lays it out like this is what you're called to this is the reality that you're called to and so you know anyone can read this work and Elizabeth speaking to us too and saying the exact same thing MH it's very dependent on it has the kind of this Priestly nature as well because it's it follows um it follows throughout the retreat the the writings of the of the Evangelist St John in the in the the last discourses of our Lord um you know the retreat begins with this quote from St John father I will that where I am they also whom you have given me may be with me in order that they may behold my glory which you have given me because you have loved me before the creation of the world and then you know later on uh remain in me and so this this theme of again of remaining um the Greek word menine has this um obviously for for Elizabeth it was probably translated in her Bible as remain but it you know different English translations might translated as abide uh abide with me um or or or stay with me or or dwell with me it has all of these the same sense different senses of the word within that one Greek word man men um and so this this whole idea of remaining I love this quote remain permanently habitually remain in me pray in me adore in me love in me suffer in me work and act in me remain in me so that you may be able to encounter anyone or anything penetrate further still into these depths and this is at the very beginning of the retreat right she just she's diving right into the heights of of the the spiritual life and and saying that this is what her sisters called to and this is also where the name comes from of of the the the work because Elizabeth herself didn't give it a name um but it's called today heaven in faith and that's because it's really this um it's almost a manual on on how to live the life of Heaven here and now which uh Elizabeth believes this totally possible and to say that it it means you know to live this call that Elizabeth says to be a praise of Glory um to to live in Union with God to live totally in Union with God Here and Now on Earth no matter what our situation might be what's fascinating for me is that she's writing at a time where she doesn't have to wait much longer to to live that that the full reality of having and she's on her she's dying um and yet she must have some inclination that her sister would live a long life and of course she lived a normal life of of to an older age um and and so the her insistence and and this idea of having in faith of living that heaven is something that is that is attainable in faith here and now and and that really our our even our existence um our our our eternity with God is is is occurring in not a sensible faculty until the resurrection of the body body but rather within this this sort of um this existence in faith right yeah and and faith is really the the heart of it all right this is how we live um Heaven here and now this is how we live in Union with God here and now and um to such an extent that um Through The Eyes of Faith Elizabeth has this real sense that we can see every instant of our life as though it's a a gift from God as though it's God calling us or leading us it's God speaking to us so there's I mean one of her more famous quotes is from this work where she says each incident each event each suffering as well as each Joy is a Sacrament which gives God to the soul so it no longer makes the distinction between these things it surmounts them goes beyond them to rest in its Master above all things well so this whole idea of Faith she she quotes from the letter the Hebrews chapter 11 you know faith is the substance of things hoped for we hope for eternal life this is the culmination of all of our hopes and faith is is literally in the Greek standing under our hope faith is is the as the substance of things of things hoped for so we're really it's all we have to to to grasp St um Holy Father St John the cross he says that that U faith is is is is an obscure possession it's it's something that we that we uh attain and and it's it's it's what we can grasp at when we're when we're most struggling with um with ET and in the in the the Ridiculousness of life on Earth and it's it's really all we have to hold on to and it's it's really an important aspect that we have to live yeah I like too how you pointed out that the fact that Elizabeth is dying you know uh very close to the end of her life here in the last few months um because it also shows I don't know I almost see um the Saints in general are kind of this uh it's like they're so close to Heaven that then they can awaken us to the realities um they they have this like insight into the life the life of Heaven the life of God well the life of Heaven which is really you know participating in the life of the Trinity they have this uh insight into it that they can then pass pass down to us in a sense but Elizabeth here especially because she's so close to this time of her death it's like she has this yeah this incredible um Taste of of Heaven already and she's able to not only then turn to to her sister and turn to us and say here what heaven's like but actually say here's the reality that you're experiencing even here and now again with with um not fully yet we don't always experience we don't always see we don't always feel um but the reality is there the real the same reality of the Most Blessed Trinity we we participate in that through faith one of my favorite themes in this in this um Retreat is is uh just as we don't have to wait um to live heaven to to live in heaven uh we don't we don't have to we don't have to wait to experience heaven on Earth we simultaneously don't have to wait to die to experience death and this is the idea of dying um dying in this life not just at the end of the life but our life and for Elizabeth very she's close to death at this point um but this it's this Pauline death it's this death to the world it's it's it's dying to our attachments it's it's um it goes hand in hand you know if we if we want to live heaven on Earth we have to live Death Before Dying yes yeah because death is that entryway into this uh reality of Heaven whether that's the heaven of of um after our Earthly life or the heaven that we live in faith because I think I mean um dying to to our to our um attachments to the things that that uh preoccupy us um the things that distract us um they this this is um this is something that will ultimately strengthen our faith and this is this is clear if you watched last season you know this whole idea of of Detachment and and and how that strengthens strengthens our eyes of Faith yeah maybe just to point out one last thing that comes at the end of heaven and faith is um Elizabeth turns to Our Lady um I think maybe we'll mention it in the last episode of this season but uh Elizabeth has this kind of Reawakening to a or maybe even a first time Awakening to the importance of our lady and her spiritual life towards the end of her life and she turns to Our Lady um here as this example of you know the soul that's already living this reality of Heaven uh perfectly here and now and I think Elizabeth begins to um to see herself some in in that role too in the in the the role of our Lady as this spiritual mother and that begins maybe a new phase of what we'd say of her I mean we see the beginnings of it unfolding throughout the years but this new phase of her um her Apostolic spirit in Carmel yeah well she begins to call herself the mother of various people including her own mother and including her own prioris you know the people who she called mother yeah yeah it's great she's writing to her her mother and she she says I am the little mama of your soul and she says something very similar to her sister um and and in some ways even to her Prius she she says she says I will be your mother I will be your mother now she actually says that to to gerain okay so she's yeah insinuating this this new um role that she's taking on of spiritual motherhood I think this is particularly interesting because really all women are called to this vocation to be spiritual mothers and and it seems to me um that that's a vocation you know not only to to teach uh it's a vocation to console it's a a vocation to really empathize with the other um but I think more than that what Elizabeth shows us is that this is a vocation um that that comes with this feminine genius to really take the other into your soul and to to hold them there to bring them to God there in the midst of your soul and then really to Bear them forth uh into the world she would write another very important uh work that that comes not in her letters but in into the first volume of of her collected writings this um kind of last Testament it's not clear to me um when mother Jamaine actually read it but it seems to be that it was after Elizabeth died uh she had arranged it in such a way that mother Germaine would receive it after her death um and and it has this beautiful theme of um I think uh that we haven't really touched on with respect to her message of of divine predeliction um so the whole theme of of this writing is is uh in John's gospel when when the apostle are on the beach and and our Lord appears to them and our Lord asks St Peter do you love me more than these referring to the other Apostles and uh Elizabeth takes this this biblical theme this scriptural theme and and kind of turns it into um well the phrase that she uses is let yourself be loved let yourself be loved by God um and the idea here that I think is really important to the theme that we've been talking about with respect to to living uh well to Elizabeth's apostol life but also to be living a contemplative life in the midst of lots of busyness and worries and difficulties in life is that God is more interested in you than he is in the drama or the Scandal or the um the difficulties going on in the church not say he's not interested in them but he's he's got them he know he he's able to to bring them to their end and what he desires thing that he can't always control because of our freedom uh he loves us so much that he gives us freedom is is uh that we be loved by him that we allow ourselves be to be loved let yourself be loved and this idea of of predilection that God that God's love makes us good and so if you want to be better if you want to be if you want to have a more fulfilling life then you need to let God love you because that's the only thing that will ultimately uh increase your greatness I guess you could say within the context of your life on Earth um and so this is what she's sharing with with Mother Germaine that amongst all of her worries amongst all of the things that she has to deal with within the context of the leadership of the caramel her message to Mother Germaine from this motherly perspective is is is he's interested in you so let yourself be loved and and that's something a message that our world right now really needs to hear too I think that if if we could allow ourselves to be loved by God then it would fix all of our problems um and you know I I I often like to tell directores this relates specifically to the time of prayer but I think time outside of prayer too is it's stop trying so hard to love him and let him love you yeah so often we're so fixated on like what I can do or what I'm doing wrong um and we're so obsessed with those things that we're we're just incapable of just being receptive and letting him love us because that's really what's going to transform us and unite us to God yeah or in our in our woundedness and our shame respected to our sins you know there can be this this unwillingness to to see ourselves as loved by God because of of um mistakes that we've made or or wounds that we've experienced and um a lot of people in the world today have a hard time understanding that God loves them and uh the solution to that is to to let God love you because that's that'll that'll heal all things yes it makes all things good and new amen well good well we thank you for joining us for this episode uh of kast focusing on the the apostolate of St Elizabeth the Trinity and and I hope that um the main idea that you received from this episode is just the idea of of how uh for St Elizabeth the contemplative life is not restricted to the cloer but is something that God is inviting each of us to to remain in him to dwell with him uh no matter what our state in life what we're doing or where we go so may God bless [Music] you

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Length: 58min 22sec (3502 seconds)

Published: Wed Nov 22 2023