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).

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