Saint Elizabeth of the Trinity (1880-1906)
Carmelite
Last Retreat, 10th – 11th Days (in The Complete Works, vol. 1; ICS Publications, 1984)
"Mary who sat beside the Lord at his feet listened to him speak."
So that nothing may draw me out of this beautiful silence within, I must always maintain the same dispositions, the same solitude, the same withdrawal, the same stripping of self! If my desires, my fears, my joys or my sorrows, if all the movements proceeding from these "four passions" are not perfectly directed to God, I will not be solitary: there will be noise within me. There must be peace, sleep of the powers, "the unity of being.” "Listen, my daughter, lend your ear, forget your people and your father's house, and the King will become enamored of your beauty." (Ps 44[45]:11-12)… To forget "your people" is difficult, I think, for this people is everything which is, so to speak, part of us: our feelings, our memories, our impressions, etc.… when the soul has made this break, when it is free from all that, the King is enamored of its beauty…
The Creator, seeing the beautiful silence which reigns in His creature, and gazing on her wholly recollected in her interior solitude… leads her into this immense, infinite solitude, into this "spacious place" sung of by the prophet (Ps 17[18]:20), which is nothing else but Himself… "I will lead her into solitude and speak to her heart." (Hos 2:16) The soul has entered into this vast solitude in which God will make Himself heard I "His word," St. Paul says, "is living and active, and more penetrating than a two-edged sword: extending even to the division of soul and spirit, even of joints and marrow. "(Heb 2:16) It is His word then that will directlv achieve the work of stripping in the soul…
But it is not enough just to listen to this word, we must keep it! (Jn 14:23) And it is in keeping it that the soul will be "sanctified in the truth," (Jn 17:17) and that is the desire of the Master… To the one who keeps His word has He not made this promise: "My Father will love him and we will come to him and make our home in him"? (Jn 14:23) It is the whole Trinity who dwells in the soul that loves Him in truth, that is, by keeping His word.
Daily Marriage Tip for October 9, 2018:
If you’re about to accuse your spouse of losing an important paper, forgetting to write that thank-you note, or another offense, try giving him or her the benefit of the doubt first. Maybe you misunderstood.