Quote of the day, 8 June: St. Elizabeth of the Trinity

... That day
when Jesus came to dwell in me,
when God took possession of my heart,
so truly and completely that from that hour,
from that mysterious colloquy,
that divine, delightful exchange,
I desired only to give my life,
only to return some small part
of his great love,
which rested in my poor heart
and flooded it with all his favors.

— Saint Elizabeth of the Trinity, Poem 47

On Monday, 8 June 1891, Elizabeth once again put on her white First Communion dress. In the church of Notre-Dame, she received the sacrament of confirmation from the hands of Bishop Lecot, bishop of Dijon. What did her catechism say about confirmation? “Confirmation is the sacrament that confers the Holy Spirit upon us with the abundance of his gifts and makes us perfect Christians.” And “how does confirmation make us perfect Christians? Answer: Confirmation makes us perfect Christians by increasing in us the grace of baptism and by giving us the strength to profess our faith, even at the peril of our life.”

These fruits of the Holy Spirit quickly matured in her. “Our confirmation took place at Notre-Dame,” Marie-Louise Hallo recounts. “From that moment Elizabeth’s piety increased even more; she received Communion often and shed abundant tears afterward” (Biographical Account). “Often” means that, according to the norms of the time, as a general rule she received Communion once a week. Marie-Louise states this explicitly for the period “from the age of twelve”: “Her mother did not want her to receive Communion frequently and, in fact, she received Communion once a week,” even though “at the age of twelve we went to Mass three times a week” (Poinsenet Dossier). Louise Recoing, who became acquainted with Elizabeth not long before Elizabeth turned twelve, says more or less the same thing: “At that time [she] must have received Communion once or twice a week.”

Sometimes, in their games, the little girls were already expressing their dream of religious life. Marie-Louise recounts: “We played at being nuns before 1893, after our First Communion. We would go to confession behind the curtains. We put on our mothers’ skirts, especially the skirts with trains. Madame Catez was still in mourning for her husband. We imitated the Sisters of the Good Shepherd. At home we had a fairly large apartment, and what was especially enjoyable was that there was an empty attic where we played.” It is not said whether the mutual confessors remained serious the whole time.

Saint Elizabeth of the Trinity

Rien Moins Que Dieu, ch. 3

de Meester, C 2017, Rien moins que Dieu: sainte Elisabeth de la Trinité, Presses de la Renaissance, Paris.

Elizabeth of the Trinity, S 1984, Je te cherche dès l’aurore : évocation d’un visage et d’un coeur, produced by C. de Meester and the Carmel of Dijon, Carmel de Dijon, Flavignerot.

Translation from the French text is the blogger’s own work product and may not be reproduced without permission.

Featured image: Detailed portrait of St. Elizabeth of the Trinity, taken on 8 June 1891 after her Confirmation. Although photographed on the day of her Confirmation, the portrait also commemorates her First Holy Communion, received earlier on 19 April 1891. The setting is the garden of the Catez family home in Dijon. Image credit: Discalced Carmelites (used by permission).

#confirmation #HolyCommunion #poetry #StElizabethOfTheTrinity #vocations

Quote of the day, 17 May: St. Elizabeth of the Trinity

When He first came into the world what did He say? “You no longer delight in holocausts; so I have assumed a body and I come, O God, to do Your will” [Heb 10:5–7].

During the thirty-three years of His life this will became so completely His daily bread, that at the moment of handing over His soul into His Father’s hands, He could say to Him: “All is accomplished” [Jn 19:30]; yes, all Your desires, all have been realized, that is why “I have glorified You on earth” [Jn 17:4].

When Jesus Christ spoke to His apostles of this food which they did not know, He explained to them “that it was to do the will of Him who sent Me” [Jn 4:34]. Also He could say: “I am never alone. He who sent Me is always with Me because I do always the things that are pleasing to Him” [Jn 8:29].

Let us lovingly eat this bread of the will of God. If sometimes His will is more crucifying, we can doubtless say with our adored Master: “Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass me by,” but we will add immediately: “Yet not as I will, but as You will” [Mt 26:39]; and in strength and serenity, with the divine Crucified, we will also climb our calvary singing in the depths of our hearts and raising a hymn of thanksgiving to the Father. For those who march on this way of sorrows are those “whom He foreknew and predestined to be conformed to the image of His divine Son” [Rom 8:29], the One crucified by love!

Saint Elizabeth of the Trinity

Heaven in Faith, Day 8, Second prayer

Elizabeth of the Trinity, S 2014, I Have Found God, The Complete Works of Elizabeth of the Trinity Volume 1: Major spiritual writings, translated from the French by Kane, A, ICS Publications, Washington DC.

Featured image: A detail from one of four photos taken by her brother-in-law Georges Chevignard on 22 December 1902, the day of her canonical examination; the exam took place days before her religious profession on Epiphany Sunday, 11 January 1903. Image credit: Discalced Carmelites (by permission)

#incarnation #JesusChrist #StElizabethOfTheTrinity #submission #willOfGod

Quote of the day, 8 May: St. Elizabeth of the Trinity

“Virgo fidelis”: that is, Faithful Virgin, “who kept all these things in her heart.” [Lk. 2:19] She remained so little, so recollected in God’s presence, in the seclusion of the temple, that she drew down upon herself the delight of the Holy Trinity: “Because He has looked upon the lowliness of His servant, henceforth all generations shall call me blessed!” [Lk. 1:48]

The Father, bending down to this beautiful creature, who was so unaware of her own beauty, willed that she be the Mother in time of Him whose Father He is in eternity.

Saint Elizabeth of the Trinity

Heaven in Faith, 39

Elizabeth of the Trinity, S 2014, I Have Found God, The Complete Works of Elizabeth of the Trinity Volume 1: Major spiritual writings, translated from the French by Kane, A, ICS Publications, Washington DC.

Featured image: The Presentation of the Virgin in the Temple (detail), Pierre Mignard (French, 1612–1695), oil on canvas, 1635. Image credit: Private collection / Wikimedia Commons (Public domain).

#beauty #blessed #BlessedTrinity #BlessedVirginMary #creator #creature #eternity #faithful #generations #God #heart #HeavenlyFather #HolyTrinity #littleness #lowliness #MotherOfGod #motherhood #prayer #presence #recollection #secluded #seclusion #secret #servant #solitude #StElizabethOfTheTrinity #temple #virgin #VirginMary #VirgoFidelis

Quote of the day, 2 May: St. Elizabeth of the Trinity

Monsieur l’Abbé,

I had asked our Reverend Mother for permission to write and tell you how completely one my soul was with yours during these last days before your ordination; but now that I draw near you, before the great mystery that is being prepared, I can only be silent . . . and adore the exceeding love of our God!

With the Virgin, you can sing your “Magnificat” and leap with joy in God your Savior, for the Almighty is doing great things in you, and His mercy is eternal. . . . Then, like Mary, “keep all that in your heart,” draw your heart very close to hers, for this priestly Virgin is also the “Mother of Divine Grace,” and in her love she wants to prepare you to become “that faithful priest who is entirely according to God’s heart” of whom He speaks in Holy Scripture….

Saint Elizabeth of the Trinity

Letter 232 to Abbé Chevignard (excerpt), ca. 25 June 1905

Elizabeth of the Trinity, S 2003, The Complete Works of Elizabeth of the Trinity volume 2: Letters from Carmel, Nash, A (trans.), ICS Publications, Washington DC.

Featured image: The Visitation, designed by Raphael (1483–1520) and executed with assistance from Giulio Romano and Giovanni Francesco Penni, is an oil on panel transferred to canvas, painted 1517–1519. It comes from the collections of the Museo Nacional del Prado (non-commercial use). Source: www.museodelprado.es.

#Magnificat #MotherOfDivineGrace #ordination #StElizabethOfTheTrinity #VirginMary

Quote of the day, 25 April: St. Elizabeth of the Trinity

It has been a long time since I have seen you, my little Louise, and I don’t know if I will see you again here below, so I asked our Reverend Mother for permission to write you this little note on my little bed where it has pleased God to keep me for three months.

I don’t know if He will take me soon into His Heaven that I so desire, but before leaving, I was anxious to tell you that in paradise, as on earth, and even more so, I will always look on you as my little child. I am asking Our Lord Himself to be your Master, your Friend, your Confidant, your Strength; may He make your soul into a little heaven where He can rest with happiness, and remove from it anything that might offend His divine gaze.

He loves brave and generous hearts, and He said to one of His saints: “Your measure will be my measure.” So make Him a very large measure: He so desires to fill His little Louise. . . . And then remember that love must end in sacrifice.

Saint Paul tells us when speaking of the Master: “He loved me, He gave Himself up for me” [Gal 2:20]. May His holy will be the two-edged sword that immolates you at every moment; go learn this science near Jesus in the agony of the garden, when His crushed soul cried out: “May Your will be done and not mine” [Mk 14:36].

Saint Elizabeth of the Trinity

Letter 291 to Louise Demoulin, June 1906

Note: Louise was a friend of Saint Elizabeth’s aunts in Carlipa, France, where Elizabeth and her family would vacation in the summertime.

Elizabeth of the Trinity, S 2003, The Complete Works of Elizabeth of the Trinity volume 2: Letters from Carmel, Nash, A (trans.), ICS Publications, Washington DC.

Featured image: This last photo was taken of St. Elizabeth of the Trinity in mid-October, 1906, shortly before she died in the Carmel of Dijon, France. Image credit: Discalced Carmelites (By permission).

#friendship #interiorLife #love #sacrifice #StElizabethOfTheTrinity

Quote of the day, 4 April: St. Elizabeth of the Trinity

Never have I felt so close to you! My heart does not leave you; I have never felt so much your daughter.

Your letter was a joy for my heart, a rest for my soul; I kissed it like one of your relics, thanking God for having given me such an incomparable Mama. If I had gone to Heaven, how I would have spent my life with you! I would never have left you; I would have made you feel the presence of your little Sabeth.

As I’m sure you will understand me, I’ll confess in a whisper my great disappointment at not going to Him whom I love so much. Think what an Easter Day your daughter would have had in Heaven!

Saint Elizabeth of the Trinity

Letter 266 to her mother, 15 April 1906 (excerpt)

Note: After a severe crisis on Palm Sunday, when she lost consciousness and the sisters believed death was near, Elizabeth unexpectedly revived before the priest arrived. In the days that followed—leading into Holy Saturday—her condition stabilized enough to suggest a brief possibility of recovery. This letter, dictated on Easter Day, 15 April 1906, follows that brief improvement on Holy Saturday and is written immediately out of that moment.

Elizabeth of the Trinity, S 2003, The Complete Works of Elizabeth of the Trinity volume 2: Letters from Carmel, Nash, A (trans.), ICS Publications, Washington DC.

Featured image: St. Elizabeth is seen in this 1902 photograph along with an image of the old double cloister at the former monastery in Dijon. Image credit: Discalced Carmelites (By permission).

#Easter #HolySaturday #illness #longing #StElizabethOfTheTrinity

Quote of the day, 21 February: St. Elizabeth of the Trinity

“Any destiny that doesn’t have its calvary is a punishment from God.”

Père Didon

Oh, then, if we knew how to surrender ourselves totally into the hands of Him who is our Father. . . . I recommend your intentions to Him.

Do not doubt Him, dear Madame, abandon everything to Him, as well as to your little friend [Elizabeth]. . . . She will be your advocate . . . for her mission is to pray unceasingly, and you know how much that holds true for you! She is so HAPPY, with a happiness that God alone knows, for He is its sole Object, a happiness that closely resembles that of Heaven.

During this Lent, so divine in Carmel, my soul will be especially united to yours. I am asking God to show you the sweetness of His presence and to make your soul a sanctuary where He can come to be consoled. Will you let me enter there and, with you, adore Him who dwells there?

Saint Elizabeth of the Trinity

Letter 157 to Madame de Sourdon (excerpt)
21 February 1903

Elizabeth of the Trinity, S 2003, The Complete Works of Elizabeth of the Trinity volume 2: Letters from Carmel, Nash, A (trans.), ICS Publications, Washington DC.

Featured image: Detail from a photo taken shortly after Elizabeth’s solemn profession and veiling in January 1903. Image credit: Discalced Carmelites (By permission).

#consolation #God #Lent #prayer #StElizabethOfTheTrinity

Quote of the day, 24 January: St. Elizabeth of the Trinity

“It seems to me that all is loss since I have known the excelling knowledge of my Lord Jesus Christ. For love of Him I have forfeited everything. I have accounted all else rubbish that I may gain Christ. What I want is to know Him, to share in His sufferings, to become like Him in His death. I pursue my course striving to attain what He has destined me for by taking hold of me. My whole concern is to forget what is behind and to strain forward constantly to what is ahead. I run straight to the goal, to the vocation to which God has called me in Christ Jesus” [Phil 3:8, 10–14].

That is: I want only to be identified with Him: “Mihi vivere Christus est,” “Christ is my life!” [Phil 1:21].

Saint Elizabeth of the Trinity

Heaven in Faith, 28

Note: Biographer and editor Conrad de Meester, O.C.D. tells us that the year 1887 was difficult for St. Elizabeth’s family. When Elizabeth was two years old, her maternal grandmother died, leaving her grandfather, Raymond Rolland as a widower to fend for himself. Eventually, he moved in with his daughter Marie and son-in-law Capt. Joseph Catez. But on 24 January 1887, Grandfather Rolland died in the Catez home.  Father de Meester writes: “If up to now little Sabeth had known the tears of rage and those of repentance when she had annoyed her mother—tears which sprang only from the eyes—soon she would know her first true sorrows and the tears that well up from the heart. On January 24, 1887, Raymond Rolland died. He was so skilled, they tell us, in the art of being a grandfather.”

Elizabeth of the Trinity, S 2014, I Have Found God, The Complete Works of Elizabeth of the Trinity Volume 1: Major spiritual writings, translated from the French by Kane, A, ICS Publications, Washington DC.

de Meester, C 2017, Rien moins que Dieu: sainte Elisabeth de la Trinité, Presses de la Renaissance, Paris.

Translation from the French text is the blogger’s own work product and may not be reproduced without permission.

Featured image: This photograph of a beautiful lily and burning candle was captured by New Africa Studio in Lviv, Ukraine. Image credit: New Africa / Adobe Stock (Stock photo)

#death #familyLife #grief #life #StElizabethOfTheTrinity

St. John of the Cross Novena, Day 8: Eternal Silence

Reading

The Father spoke one Word, which was his Son, and this Word he speaks always in eternal silence, and in silence must it be heard by the soul. 

Sayings of Light and Love, 100

Scripture

I have made your name known to those whom you gave me from the world. They were yours, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. Now they know that everything you have given me is from you; for the words that you gave to me I have given to them, and they have received them and know in truth that I came from you; and they have believed that you sent me. I am asking on their behalf; I am not asking on behalf of the world, but on behalf of those whom you gave me, because they are yours. All mine are yours, and yours are mine; and I have been glorified in them. And now I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them in your name that you have given me, so that they may be one, as we are one. While I was with them, I protected them in your name that you have given me. I guarded them, and not one of them was lost except the one destined to be lost, so that the scripture might be fulfilled. But now I am coming to you, and I speak these things in the world so that they may have my joy made complete in themselves. I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they do not belong to the world, just as I do not belong to the world. I am not asking you to take them out of the world, but I ask you to protect them from the evil one. They do not belong to the world, just as I do not belong to the world. Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. As you have sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. And for their sakes I sanctify myself, so that they also may be sanctified in truth.

John 17:6-19

Meditation 

“What is truth?” (Jn 18:38)

Pontius Pilate’s rhetorical question echoes through the centuries.

St. Edith Stein reminds us that Pilate could have asked a more essential question: Who is truth?

In her meditation, The Hidden Life and Epiphany, Edith touches on this question as she makes use of the Epiphany manger scene to make an analogy for the Church and its development. 

The kings at the manger represent seekers from all lands and peoples. Grace led them before they ever belonged to the external church. There lived in them a pure longing for truth that did not stop at the boundaries of native doctrines and traditions. Because God is truth and because he wants to be found by those who seek him with their whole hearts, sooner or later that star had to appear to show these wise men the way to truth. And so they now stand before the Incarnate Truth, bow down and worship it, and place their crowns at its feet, because all the treasures of the world are but a little dust compared to it. 

“God is truth… he wants to be found… that star had to appear.” Edith, in her matter-of-fact, German way, minces no words. God isn’t hiding after all, he’s in our midst, standing before our eyes, just as Jesus stood before Pilate. Jesus, Incarnate Truth, was standing before the governor who asked him, “what is truth?”

St. Elizabeth of the Trinity seems to be speaking to us when she writes:

I understand that you need an ideal, something that will draw you out of yourself and raise you to greater heights. But, you see, there is only One; it is He, the Only Truth! Ah, if you only knew Him a little as your Sabeth does! He fascinates, He sweeps you away; under His gaze, the horizon becomes so beautiful, so vast, so luminous…. My dear one, do you want to turn with me toward this sublime Ideal? It is no fiction but a reality. (Letter 128)

Are you serious? Where is this horizon? Because in the darkness where we’re hiding, it’s difficult to see. And once again, it is St. John himself who responds:

Mine are the heavens and mine is the earth. Mine are the nations, the just are mine, and mine the sinners. The angels are mine, and the Mother of God, and all things are mine; and God himself is mine and for me, because Christ is mine and all for me. What do you ask, then, and seek, my soul? Yours is all of this, and all is for you. Do not engage yourself in something less or pay heed to the crumbs that fall from your Father’s table. Go forth and exult in your Glory! Hide yourself in it and rejoice, and you will obtain the supplications of your heart. (Sayings 27)

Hiding in glory… there’s a concept that we don’t see or hear every day. Sometimes, maybe most of the time, it seems that God is the one who is doing all the hiding while we’re waiting around for him to show up. Is there anyone who understands what St. John of the Cross means?

St. Thérèse does! The language of “hiding” was one of her favorite concepts, especially in her poetry, and it’s a transferable concept, meaning that it’s not strictly applicable to the cloistered life. For example:

My Sweet Jesus, on your Mother’s breast
You appear to me, glowing with Love.
Love—this is the indescribable mystery
That exiled you from the Heavenly Abode…
Ah! Let me hide under the veil
That hides you from all mortal eyes
And close to you, O Morning Star!
I’ll find a foretaste of Heaven.
(Pn 1)

Here, Thérèse is talking about hiding under the Blessed Virgin’s veil, not necessarily hiding under the veil of a Carmelite nun. Hiding under the veil of the Virgin Mary is an image that is more approachable for us, perhaps. But the Infant is glowing on Mary’s breast, glowing with Love, and is there a hint of glory in that image, too?

Here’s another example from the poetry of St. Thérèse:

The unspeakable gaze of your Son—
Upon my poor soul he deigned to look down;
I looked for his adorable face
And in Him, I want to be hidden.
I’ll have to stay little forever
To deserve the glances from his eyes;
But by virtue of that, I will soon grow up
Under the heat of this heavenly star.
(Pn 11)

Now, we are getting more of a sense of how Thérèse has captured St. John’s profound concept of hiding in glory, yet she has expressed it in the language of littleness, that loving gaze of Jesus, and yet at the same time—while remaining hidden—there is light and heat generated by the Lord, having a direct effect on her spiritual life.

This is all very heady stuff. But it seems that for Thérèse, the key to hiding in glory is to be found in the face of Jesus. The Gospel of John and St. Paul testify to this:

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it. (…) And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth. (Jn 1:1-5,14)

All of us, gazing with unveiled face on the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, as from the Lord who is the Spirit. (2 Cor 3:18)

Well if that’s the case, gazing on the face of Christ and hiding in the face of Christ, must be a key to “growing up” as Thérèse said; growing in prayer, growing in faith, growing in hope, and our goal… growing in love. After all, that’s our aim.

We’ll let St. Thérèse have the last word, then, about hiding in the face of Jesus:

Ah! Let me, Lord, hide in your Face.
There I will no longer hear the trivial noise from the world.
Give me your love, preserve me in your grace
Just for today.
(Pn 5)

Ah…. silence.

Prayer 

O St. John of the Cross
You were endowed by our Lord with the spirit of self-denial
and a love of the cross.
Obtain for us the grace to follow your example
that we may come to the eternal vision of the glory of God.

O Saint of Christ’s redeeming cross
the road of life is dark and long.
Teach us always to be resigned to God’s holy will
in all the circumstances of our lives
and grant us the special favor
which we now ask of you.

Mention your request

Above all, obtain for us the grace of final perseverance,
a holy and happy death and everlasting life with you
and all the saints in heaven.
Amen.

Let’s continue in prayer

Day 1 — Self-trust
Day 2 — Self-giving
Day 3 — Cleansing
Day 4 — Walking in love
Day 5 — Trust
Day 6 — Prayer
Day 7 — Humility
Day 8 — Eternal Silence
Day 9 — Silent love

St. John of the Cross in prayer
French, late 16th-17th c.
Oil on canvas, no date
Carmel of Pontoise
© Ministère de la Culture (France), Médiathèque de l’architecture et du patrimoine, Diffusion RMN-GP. Used by permission.

The novena prayer was composed from approved sources by Professor Michael Ogunu, a member of the Discalced Carmelite Secular Order in Nigeria.

John of the Cross, St 1991, The Collected Works of St. John of the Cross, rev. edn, Kavanaugh, K & Rodriguez, O (trans.), ICS Publications, Washington DC.

Elizabeth of the Trinity, S 2003, The Complete Works of Elizabeth of the Trinity volume 2: Letters from Carmel, Nash, A (trans.), ICS Publications, Washington DC.

Stein, E 2014, The Hidden Life: hagiographic essays, meditations, spiritual texts, Stein, W (trans.), ICS Publications, Washington DC.

We always refer to the website of the Archives of the Carmel of Lisieux for the vast majority of our quotes concerning Saint Thérèse, Saint Zélie, and Saint Louis Martin. If you would like to purchase English translations for the collected works of St. Thérèse, please visit the website of our Discalced Carmelite friars at ICS Publications. 

All scripture references in this novena are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Catholic Edition, copyright © 1989, 1993 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America as accessed from the Bible Gateway website.

Don’t become discouraged and give up prayer, says St. John of the Cross. We offer varying novenas to Our Lady of Mount Carmel, as well as novenas to St. Teresa of Avila, St. John of the Cross, St. Thérèse of Lisieux, Sts. Louis and Zélie Martin, St. Elizabeth of the Trinity, and St. Joseph.

Let us unite in prayer

#archives #edithStein #elizabethCatez #glory #hiding #icsPublications #johnOfTheCross #letter #letters #love #loveOfGod #novena #poetry #sabeth #sanJuanDeLaCruz #sayingsOfLightAndLove #silence #stEdithStein #stElizabethOfTheTrinity #stJohnOfTheCross #stTeresaBenedictaOfTheCross #stTherese #stThereseOfLisieux #stThereseOfTheChildJesus #theHiddenLife #truth

St. John of the Cross Novena, Day 7: Humility

Reading

To be taken with love for a soul, God does not look on its greatness, but on the greatness of its humility.

Sayings of Light and Love, 103

Scripture

Have mercy on me, God, in your kindness.
In your compassion blot out my offense.
O wash me more and more from my guilt
and cleanse me from my sin.

My offenses truly I know them;
my sin is always before me
Against you, you alone, have I sinned;
what is evil in your sight I have done.

That you may be justified when you give sentence
and be without reproach when you judge,
O see, in guilt I was born,
a sinner was I conceived.

Indeed you love truth in the heart;
then in the secret of my heart teach me wisdom.
O purify me, then I shall be clean;
O wash me, I shall be whiter than snow.

Make me hear rejoicing and gladness,
that the bones you have crushed may revive.
From my sins turn away your face
and blot out all my guilt.

A pure heart create for me, O God,
put a steadfast spirit within me.
Do not cast me away from your presence,
nor deprive me of your holy spirit.

Give me again the joy of your help;
with a spirit of fervor sustain me,
that I may teach transgressors your ways
and sinners may return to you.

O rescue me, God, my helper,
and my tongue shall ring out your goodness.
O Lord, open my lips
and my mouth shall declare your praise.

For in sacrifice you take no delight,
burnt offering from me you would refuse,
my sacrifice, a contrite spirit,
a humbled, contrite heart you will not spurn.

In your goodness, show favor to Zion:
rebuild the walls of Jerusalem.
Then you will be pleased with lawful sacrifice,
holocausts offered on your altar.

Psalm 51

Meditation

“O sweetest love of God, so little known, whoever has found this rich mine is at rest!” (Sayings, 16) This is the song of St. John of the Cross, his canticle of love distilled down to its very essence. 

God truly loves us, St. John reminds us through his letters. He tells us that God cannot fit in hearts that are occupied with distractions, that are attached to people, places, or things that mean more to us than God himself. God only fits in hearts that have been emptied to make room for him.

It seems that nada—nothingness within us—isn’t so far-fetched after all. Cleansing our souls is like the necessary spiritual housekeeping that must be done prior to any Nativity moment in our spiritual lives; without that soul-cleansing, that housecleaning in our hearts, there will always be a NO VACANCY light shining outside the inn within. How can God find space to squeeze in here?

St. Edith Stein says that the moment we reach the realization that we need to clean house is the moment when we are on the threshold of making the greatest spiritual progress. Recalling the spiritual sense of dryness, darkness, and emptiness that we mentioned in the meditation for our sixth day of this novena, Edith offers this reflection on the state of the soul in her final masterpiece, The Science of the Cross (SC):

She [the soul] is put into total darkness and emptiness. Absolutely nothing that might give her a hold is left to her anymore except faith. Faith sets Christ before her eyes: the poor, humiliated, crucified one, who is abandoned on the cross even by his heavenly Father. In his poverty and abandonment, she rediscovers herself. Dryness, distaste, and affliction are the “purely spiritual cross” that is handed to her. If she accepts it she experiences that it is an easy yoke and a light burden. It becomes a staff for her that will quickly lead her up the mountain. (SC 10)

Accepting the dryness we experience in prayer, the distaste, the affliction, these are all signs that we actually are clearing out space for God within. 

When she realizes that Christ, in his extreme humiliation and annihilation on the cross, achieved the greatest result, the reconciliation and union of mankind with God, there awakens in her the understanding that for her, also, annihilation, the “living death by crucifixion of all that is sensory as well as spiritual” leads to union with God. (SC 10)

And by the way, there is a little voice in Dijon, France who takes up the refrain: it is St Elizabeth of the Trinity, singing so sweetly in the pages of her Last Retreat (LR):

If my interior city (cf. Rev. 21) is to have some similarity and likeness to that “of the King of eternal ages” (I Tim 1:17) and to receive this great illumination from God, I must extinguish every other light and, as in the holy city, the Lamb must be “its only light.”

Here faith, the beautiful light of faith appears. It alone should light my way as I go to meet the Bridegroom. The psalmist sings the He “hides Himself in darkness” (Ps 17:12), then in another place he seems to contradict himself by saying that “light surrounds Him like a cloak” (Ps 103:2). What stands out for me in this apparent contradiction is that I must immerse myself in “the sacred darkness” by putting all my powers in darkness and emptiness; then I will meet my Master, and “the light that surrounds Him like a cloak” will envelop me also, for He wants His bride to be luminous with His light, His light alone, “which is the glory of God.” (LR 4)

So there it is: the challenge, the call is to accept, welcome, embrace and—so to speak—hide in the dark and empty spaces within us, not running to another distraction, another attachment, another new idol in our lives to fill up that interior void. It is at the point when we feel (and know) the emptiness within, the void that we are creating and/or that God is helping us to create so that we can spend time and focus on him—whether that is accepting a loss of some sort of attachment, or purposefully choosing to give up a distracting activity in order to spend more time going to daily Mass, making time for daily Scripture reading, or praying the Liturgy of the Hours, or the rosary, or going to Eucharistic adoration, or practicing silent mental prayer instead of (name your distraction here).

At this point when we have a hunger and a thirst for God that is so strong and powerful that we are willing to sacrifice and say, “all for you and nothing for me” (Sayings 111), we also find ourselves crying out to God, “but I can’t do this alone, by myself!” When we are ready to give up and have reached the point of abandon, we’ve reached the most crucial moment of all because…

That is the truth.

“I never sought anything but the truth,” St. Thérèse said in the hours before her death (Yellow Notebook, 30 September).

St. Teresa set the benchmark in the Interior Castle: “To be humble is to walk in truth” (IC VI, 10:7)

And how will we know when we’re meeting the benchmark for St. John of the Cross?

The humble are those who hide in their own nothingness and know how to abandon themselves to God (Sayings 163).

Prayer

O St. John of the Cross
You were endowed by our Lord with the spirit of self-denial
and a love of the cross.
Obtain for us the grace to follow your example
that we may come to the eternal vision of the glory of God.

O Saint of Christ’s redeeming cross
the road of life is dark and long.
Teach us always to be resigned to God’s holy will
in all the circumstances of our lives
and grant us the special favor
which we now ask of you.

Mention your request

Above all, obtain for us the grace of final perseverance,
a holy and happy death and everlasting life with you
and all the saints in heaven.
Amen.

Let’s continue in prayer

Day 1 — Self-trust
Day 2 — Self-giving
Day 3 — Cleansing
Day 4 — Walking in love
Day 5 — Trust
Day 6 — Prayer
Day 7 — Humility
Day 8 — Eternal Silence
Day 9 — Silent love

Bust of St. John of the Cross
17th c. French
Oil on canvas, no date
Carmel of Pontoise
© Ministère de la Culture (France), Médiathèque de l’architecture et du patrimoine, Diffusion RMN-GP. Used by permission.
Latin inscription upper left: QVID TIBI PRO LABOR
Latin inscription at base: PATI. ET. CONTEMNI. PROTE

 The novena prayer was composed from approved sources by Professor Michael Ogunu, a member of the Discalced Carmelite Secular Order in Nigeria.

John of the Cross, St 1991, The Collected Works of St. John of the Cross, rev. edn, Kavanaugh, K & Rodriguez, O (trans.), ICS Publications, Washington DC.

Teresa of Avila, St 1985, The Collected Works of St. Teresa of Avila, Kavanaugh, K & Rodriguez, O (trans.), ICS Publications, Washington DC.

Stein, E 2002, The Science of the Cross, The Collected Works of Edith Stein, Book 6, translated from the German by Koeppel, J, ICS Publications, Washington D.C.

Elizabeth of the Trinity, S 2014, I Have Found God, The Complete Works of Elizabeth of the Trinity Volume 1: Major spiritual writings, translated from the French by Kane, A, ICS Publications, Washington DC.

All scripture references in this novena are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Catholic Edition, copyright © 1989, 1993 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America as accessed from the Bible Gateway website.

Don’t become discouraged and give up prayer, says St. John of the Cross. We offer varying novenas to Our Lady of Mount Carmel, as well as novenas to St. Teresa of Avila, St. John of the Cross, St. Thérèse of Lisieux, Sts. Louis and Zélie Martin, St. Elizabeth of the Trinity, and St. Joseph.

Let us unite in prayer

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