IN THE COMPANY OF ST ELIZABETH OF THE TRINITY

                                 
        "MAY I BE WHOLLY PURE, WHOLLY TRANSPARENT, SO THAT THE TRINITY CAN BE                                             REFLECTED IN ME AS IN A CRYSTAL." 

                                            (SAINT ELIZABETH OF THE TRINITY)

(THE FOLLOWING IS AN EXCERPT FROM: "A SPACIOUS PLACE: A 16 DAY RETREAT WITH ST ELIZABETH OF THE TRINITY," Anna Rae-Kelly OCDS)

                                                                         Day Three

 

 "TO CONTEMPLATE HIMSELF IN HIS CREATURE AND SEE REFLECTED THERE ALL HIS PERFECTIONS." (SAINT ELIZABETH OF THE TRINITY)

On November 8th, we celebrate the Feast Day of St Elizabeth of the Trinity. We sit together with her in a prayer time of silent awe, meditating on the spiritual depths of God which her words probe.

 In these words, it is Spirit Lord alone who may open our minds to understand that St Elizabeth is revealing the astonishing humility of Father God, Jesus Savior, Spirit Lord, our Triune God. 

           He longs to pour Himself, like an ocean-sized waterfall of love, into every soul. 

Questions to ponder...

1) What aspects of God do I reflect in my spiritual desires, my spiritual thoughts and words, my obedience, my sorrows, my physical pain, my loneliness, my 'mundane' daily actions?

If the Beloved Three are Present in every action / second of our lives, can anything we do ever be "mundane"?

2a) In my prayer life, do I seek a relationship with the Divine which would "lift you above the high places of earth"? (Ibid) 

OR

2b) Do I use a light dimmer switch to limit God's brightness from flooding into my soul? 

What limiting measures do I use? (My time? Do I silence His beckoning to prayer? Fatigue? Company?)

What causes me to silence the sound of God's Voice in my soul?  

2c) What spiritual deprivation do I bring about in doing (b) ?

"O my God, Trinity whom I adore, help me to forget myself completely and to establish myself in you, as still and at peace as if my soul were already in eternity. Let nothing disturb my peace nor draw me away from you, O my unchangeable One, but let every minute carry me further into the depths of your mystery!

Give peace to my soul; make it your heaven, your beloved abode, and the place of your rest. Let me never leave you there alone; but keep me there totally present, completely vigilant in my faith, totally in adoration and wholly surrendered to your creative action.

O my beloved Christ, crucified for love, I want to be the spouse of your heart. I long to cover you with glory, to love you... until I should die of love… Yet I feel helpless. I ask you to clothe me with yourself, to identify my soul with all the movements of your soul, to submerge me, to fill me, to substitute yourself for me, so that my life may be only a radiance of your life. Enter me as Adorer, as Redeemer, and as Savior.

O Eternal Word, utterance of my God, I want to spend my life listening to you, I want to become totally teachable so that I might learn everything from you. Through all darkness, all emptiness, and all helplessness, I want to be centered on you always and remain in your great light; O my beloved Star, make me so captivated that I no longer move away from your radiance.

O consuming Fire, Spirit of love, let it be done that an incarnation of the Word may occur again in my soul. May I be for him another humanity in whom he may renew his whole mystery. And you, O Father, incline yourself toward your little creature, see in her only the Beloved in whom you are well pleased.

O my "Three," my all, my beatitude, infinite Solitude, Immensity in which I lose myself, I surrender myself to you as your prey. Bury yourself in me so that I may bury myself in you, until I go to contemplate in your light the abyss of your grandeur."

(ST ELIZABETH OF THE TRINITY, November 21, 1904)

---

Anna Rae-Kelly OCDS
www.annaprae.com

CLOSING THOUGHTS

THIS IS THE CENTENARY YEAR OF ST. THERESE OF THE CHILD JESUS AND THE HOLY FACE. PART OF HER MISSION DURING HER SHORT, SACRIFICIAL LIFE WAS TO PRAY FOR THE SOULS OF PRIESTS. 

GOD HAS PERMITTED HER MISSION TO CONTINUE TO BE LIVED OUT TODAY, IN A PARTICULAR WAY, IN EACH OF US.

Today, millions across the world have prayed and fasted for priests. Many have asked, why?

St John Mary Vianney, patron saint of priests, helps us to understand something of the beauty of a priest: 

 "The priesthood is the Love of the Heart of Jesus." If the priest loses sight of his calling to be Love, St Vianney describes the eternal devastation that awaits both the priest and all the little souls entrusted by Love to his care:

"A priest goes to Heaven or a priest goes to hell with a thousand souls behind....when we see priests, we should first see Jesus Christ, and second, the thousands of souls behind him."

This day, in our embattled offering, we have raised our "prayer, united with sacrifice to make it the most powerful force in human history" (St. John Paul II).

Heaven has grasped our offering and the power and force of our sacrifice has protected the souls of priests who are assaulted by every imaginable temptation ... As was Our Savior in Whose Image priests are formed. 

IPSE CHRISTUS.

St. Therese of the Child Jesus and the Holy Face, the Patroness of the Global Lay Fast for Priests, gives voice to the gratitude of every priest this day who has been lifted to God by our hidden and probably unseen sacrifice and who humbly acknowledges that today, we have borne, like Simon of Cyrene, just a little of their burden for them:

"How often have I thought that I may owe all the graces I've received to the prayers of a person who begged them from God for me, and whom I shall know only in heaven."

On this astonishing day, our sacrifice has kept their  

"anointed hands which daily touch Christ’s sacred body be unstained, their lips which are purpled by Your precious blood be unsullied by the world's contagion.” (St. Therese)

We are those persons whose sacrifices this day have begged God for graces for all priests. We are those persons whose names these priests will hear called out by God when they meet us in Heaven.

The "Gaze of God" (1 Kings 18:15) has held each one of us this day and His reward for us and for all of our dear ones has been touched by His Holy Gaze. 

St. Therese describes our beauty:

"We often think we receive graces and are divinely illuminated by means of brilliant candles. But from whence comes their light? From prayers, perhaps of some humble, hidden soul, whose inward shining is not apparent to human eyes."

We are those hidden souls whose inward shining has not been apparent today to human eyes. This is the beauty that God sees in us. 

And what unspeakable Spiritual and Eternal Treasures will our priests give to us for the rest of their lives?

When we see them, we will first see Christ; we will receive Christ from their anointed hands; when they speak in the Sacrament of Reconciliation we will hear Christ's Voice lovingly forgiving us; and their holy ointments will embalm our souls for our final journey; we will be one of those thousands of souls entering Heaven behind them.

                    

MAY WE MEET AGAIN, DEEP IN THE HOLY AND PRAYERFUL AND SACRIFICIAL HEART OF OUR SAVIOR, IN OCTOBER OF NEXT YEAR.  GOD WILLING, WE WILL RE-UNITE IN PRAYER FOR EVERY PRIEST WHO WAS, IS AND WHO IS YET TO BE ORDAINED.

IN CARMEL,

 ANNA (OCDS)