Praying is a journey

"Praying is a journey in personal communion with Christ, setting before Him our daily life, our successes, our failures, our struggles, and our joys - in a word, it is to stand in front of Him." -- Pope Benedict XVI

Confiding Abandonment

"Let us also desire only the accomplishment of the Will of God in ourselves and in others; in our own affairs and in those of the Church; in our works of zeal and in all that we have at heart. Let us hope with confidence to obtain by our fidelity in abandonment a mercy like that which St Gertrude obtained from the Heart of Jesus - viz., that He Himself may deign to repair all that has been wanting in us in this respect, and accept all our past actions as if they had been performed only to accomplish His desires; and all our past sufferings as if they had been accepted with perfect resignation." From Love, Peace and Joy: Devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus According to St Gertrude by Fr André Prévot

Novena to Elisabeth of the Trinity

O blessed Elisabeth !  In your great love of God,  You were always so close to your friend's needs. Now, in Heaven,  Face to face with the Lord, Do intervene near Him  for the needs we recommend to you. 

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Teach us how to abide, in Love and Faith,  with the Holy Trinity in the utmost of our heart. Teach us how to radiate God's Love amongst men, in our everyday life just as you did yourself,  so that we may be a praise of God's glory.

 
Now pray slowly the Lords prayer, then say three times : Glory be to the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit...

Carmel

Elisabeth entered the Carmel in Dijon on August 2, 1901, and received the religious name Elisabeth of the Trinity. She made her profession in 1903. She died on November 9, 1906, after suffering from of Addison’s disease (incurable at the time). Her last words were: “I am going to Light, to Love, to Life!” Beatified by Pope John Paul II in 1984, she discovers to us the centrality of the Word of God, baptismal grace, and the participation in the intimate life of God Trinity.

The Carmelite vocation

Elisabeth beautifully expressed the Call to Carmel in this following prayer:

The Carmelite is a given soul, one immolated for the glory of God. With her Christ she is crucified; but how luminous is her calvary! While gazing on the divine Victim, a light blazed forth in her soul and, understanding her sublime mission, her wounded heart exclaimed: “Here I am!”

“The Carmelite is an adoring soul, wholly surrendered to the action of God, intently communicating through all things, her heart uplifted and her eyes full of heaven! She has found the One Thing Necessary, The divine Being, Light and Love. Enfolding the world in her prayer, she is an apostle of truth.”

 

 

Introduction to Bl Elisabeth of the Trinity

Elisabeth Catez was born on July 18, 1880, in the military barracks at Camp D’Avor, Bourges, France, to Captain Joseph Catez and Madame Marie Rolland. From an early age she was passionate and of strong temperament. In 1883 her sister Marguerite (“Guite”) was born. Her father passed away in 1887, leaving the two young girls orphaned. Madame Catez then took great care of her daughters. 

On April 19, 1891, Elisabeth made her first Communion at St Michael’s Parish Church in Dijon, exclaiming afterwards: “I am not hungry, Jesus has fed me…” Elisabeth began taking music lessons at the Conservatory of Dijon at age 8, and, by the time she was 13, she had won the first prize for piano. She also enjoyed going on vacation with family and friends to the country, the ocean, and loved music and dances. Still, the voice of her Beloved kept calling her to Carmel. She asked her mother permission to enter but Madame Catez refused, telling Elisabeth she must wait until age 21. She offered this sacrifice to God until the day came when she could realize the desires of her heart...

 

Elevation to the Most Holy Trinity

O my God, Trinity whom I adore, let me entirely forget myself that I may abide in you, still and peaceful as if my soul were already in eternity; let nothing disturb my peace nor separate me from you, O my unchanging God, but that each moment may take me further into the depths of your mystery ! Pacify my soul! Make it your heaven, your beloved home and place of your repose; let me never leave you there alone, but may I be ever attentive, ever alert in my faith, ever adoring and all given up to your creative action.  

O my beloved Christ, crucified for love, would that I might be for you a spouse of your heart! I would anoint you with glory, I would love you - even unto death! Yet I sense my frailty and ask you to adorn me with yourself; identify my soul with all the movements of your soul, submerge me, overwhelm. me, substitute yourself in me that my life may become but a reflection of your life. Come into me as Adorer, Redeemer and Saviour.  

O Eternal Word, Word of my God, would that I might spend my life listening to you, would that I might be fully receptive to learn all from you; in all darkness, all loneliness, all weakness, may I ever keep my eyes fixed on you and abide under your great light; O my Beloved Star, fascinate me so that I may never be able to leave your radiance.

O Consuming Fire, Spirit of Love, descend into my soul and make all in me as an incarnation of the Word, that I may be to him a super-added humanity wherein he renews his mystery; and you O Father, bestow yourself and bend down to your little creature, seeing in her only your beloved Son in whom you are well pleased.

O my `Three', my All, my Beatitude, infinite Solitude, Immensity in whom I lose myself, I give myself to you as a prey to be consumed; enclose yourself in me that I may be absorbed in you so as to contemplate in your light the abyss of your Splendour!

Bl Elisabeth of the Trinity

21 November 1904