As a young sister, I remember being deeply impressed by the prayer of Saint Elizabeth of the Trinity which was shared with us during a community retreat. I had no familiarity with the writings of this Carmelite saint who had lived in Dijon France in the early 20^th century, but this most beautiful of prayers became a building block of my own spirituality from that moment to this day.

Elizabeth of the Trinity grounded her spiritual life and teaching in intimacy with the presence of the Divine Persons who live in the innermost part of our soul. God is present in us, she learned because he creates us at every moment. Through baptismal grace we become a spiritual temple in which the Holy Spirit, along with the Father and the Son, come and make their abode in us.

She wrote to a friend:

Did I tell you my name in the Carmel is Marie-Elizabeth of the Trinity? To me, this name means a special vocation. I love this mystery of the Trinity so much. It is an abyss in which I am lost. I am Elizabeth of the Trinity, that is, Elizabeth fading away, losing herself, letting herself be seized by the Three (Souvenirs, p. 70).

This special vocation became the whole meaning of her life:

This presence of God is so good! It is there, in my deepest self, in the heaven of my soul, that I love to find him, since he never leaves me. God in me, I in him, that is my life (Souvenirs, p. 69).

Have you ever wondered what to say when you pray to God? Does the idea of making an hour of Eucharistic adoration seem far beyond you? Do you wish you had a simple way of praying even in the midst of your busy day?

If we could speak with Elizabeth of the Trinity she would teach us to withdraw into the center of our soul and rest there. To simply say a few words to the Holy Spirit, such as, “Lord, the one you love is sick,” which were the words that Mary and Martha addressed to Jesus when Lazarus was dying. To quietly allow the Divine Persons to communicate with one another right there in your soul, not intruding with your own words and ideas and petitions. To bow before God who abides within you as Moses took off his shoes and knelt before the burning bush from which God spoke.

She wrote so many letters helping her friends and her mother to enter into the treasured abiding place of God within. “Make my soul…Your cherished dwelling place, Your home of rest. Let me never leave You there alone, but keep me there all absorbed in You, in living faith, adoring You.”

It belongs to the gift of wisdom to contemplate the divine. Through a special instinct and movement of the Spirit we penetrate the very life of the Trinity, as Elizabeth of the Trinity helps us understand. Those who experience the power of the gift of wisdom understand the words of the psalmist, “Taste and see how good the Lord is” (Ps 34: 9). The word taste means that there is a certain delight that is more than just feeling or excitement. There is an impulse that is truly divine that gives our hearts an ineffable joy that seems to be from heaven itself. Indeed, the gift of wisdom is surpassed only by the beatific vision which will be ours in eternity.

Souls that are under the Holy Spirit’s gift of wisdom love God because he is infinitely good and loveable. They love God for his own sake, not for any human motive of self-interest. Because they see God within them, they see God also in all things, in the smallest detail of their life, and in a special way in their neighbor. It is the gift of wisdom that allows us to see Christ in the poor, in those who suffer, in the heart even of the “enemy.” They are happy to deprive themselves, putting the interests of others before them.

When the Spirit actively operates within us with the gift of wisdom, we do not judge things from a purely natural and human point of view. When things don’t develop the way people want them to, it is not surprising that they accuse others for deliberately or inadvertently being the cause of their problems. Truly spiritual people, wise people, evaluate things, even unfortunate or contrary events, from God’s point of view and in a supernatural light, with a spirit of equanimity.

Here are two things you can do to dispose yourself for the activation of the gift of wisdom:

• Make a habit of asking God to show you where he is at work in all the events of your life. Even if you cannot understand what is happening, make an act of faith that God, who is within you, holds you safe in his hands.
• Make God the center of your life. Minimize things in your life that you don’t need anymore and refocus on what God wants to do with you and in you. Through acts of love for God and service to others, fan into flame a more intentional charity.

 

The prayer to the Trinity of St Elizabeth of the Trinity

O my God, Trinity whom I adore, help me to become utterly forgetful of myself so that I may establish myself in you, as changeless and calm as though my soul were already in eternity. Let nothing disturb my peace nor draw me forth f from you, O my unchanging God, but at every moment may I penetrate more deeply into the depths of your mystery. Give peace to my soul; make it your heaven, your cherished dwelling-place and the place of your repose. Let me never leave you there alone, but keep me there, wholly attentive, wholly alert in my faith, wholly adoring and fully given up to your creative action.

O my beloved Christ, crucified for love, I long to be the bride of your heart. I long to cover you with glory, to love you even unto death! Yet I sense my powerlessness and beg you to clothe me with yourself. Identify my soul with all the movements of your soul, submerge me, overwhelm me, substitute yourself for me, so that my life may become a reflection of your life. Come into me as Adorer, as Redeemer and as Savior.

O Eternal Word, utterance of my God, I want to spend my life listening to you, to become totally teachable so that I might learn all from you. Through all darkness, all emptiness, all powerlessness, I want to keep my eyes fixed on you and to remain under your great light. O my Beloved Star, so fascinate me that I may never be able to leave your radiance.

O Consuming Fire, Spirit of Love, overshadow me so that the Word may be, as it were incarnate again in my soul. May I be for him a new humanity in which he can renew all his mystery.

And you, O Father, bend down towards your poor little creature. Cover her with your shadow, see in her only your beloved son in who you are well pleased

O my `Three’, my All, my Beatitude, infinite Solitude, Immensity in which I lose myself, I surrender myself to you as your prey. Immerse yourself in me so that I may be immersed in you until I go to contemplate in your light the abyss of your splendor!