Carmelite QuotesQuote of the day, 14 September: St. Elizabeth of the Trinity
I’m very tired, I haven’t the strength to hold my pencil, but I don’t have the courage to let Mama leave without sending you a word from my heart. I love you more than ever. I cover you and your angels with my prayer and my sufferings; you can draw from the chalice of your Sabeth: all that is hers is yours. I’ve read something so beautiful, listen: “Where then did Jesus Christ dwell but in suffering?” [cf. St. Angela of Foligno, Le livre des Visions et instructions].
O little child, it seems to me that I have found my dwelling place: it is the immense suffering that was also the Master’s; in a word, it is He Himself, the Man of sorrows.
I am begging Him to give you that love for the Cross that makes saints. Write me something of your interior life, little sister, I so love the story of your soul.
Saint Elizabeth of the Trinity
Letter 311 to her sister, Guite
14 September 1906
Note: This letter dates from September 14, 1906, written during Elizabeth’s mother’s visit (cf. L 309). Elizabeth mentions she lacks “the courage to let Mama leave without sending you a word from my heart.” The September 14 date is confirmed by Elizabeth’s reference to making a novena “for October 2nd,” indicating the letter was written before September 23.
The dating is further supported by Elizabeth’s visiting pattern with her mother. On September 23, Elizabeth noted that her mother “came to see me every two weeks” and “is returning this week from the countryside.” This establishes a regular two-week interval between visits. The next scheduled visit would fall on the weekend of September 29-30, maintaining this pattern. No intermediate visit occurred between September 14 and 23, as this would have disrupted the already exceptional twice-monthly visiting arrangement that the Carmel had permitted, breaking from their usual monthly visits.
Additionally, in a letter written around September 21 (L 314), Elizabeth expresses joy about “seeing again” her family upon their return from the south of France at month’s end, without mentioning any imminent maternal visit.
Elizabeth of the Trinity, S 2003, The Complete Works of Elizabeth of the Trinity volume 2: Letters from Carmel, translated from the French by Nash, A, ICS Publications, Washington DC.
Featured image: Nighttime illumination of the medieval fortress city of Carcassonne in southern France, near the village where Saint Elizabeth of the Trinity’s family regularly vacationed in the Aude region. Image credit: © Little/Adobe Stock
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Chloe Cumming