Day Three – For the Grace that makes our sins into a source of humility Today we ask Saint Elizabeth to intercede for us against the temptation to be discouraged by our sins. It is possible to take sin too lightly, to not realize the great price that was paid so that we might live … Read more
Day Two – For the grace to give our hearts to Jesus Saint Elizabeth wants us to give our heart to Jesus, to enter into a prayer so deep and beautiful, that we hear Him ask for it. She invites us to hear the Word of the Father speak to our souls the way the … Read more
Day One – For the grace to enter into great silence In this nine days of prayer with Saint Elizabeth of the Trinity, we will offer her oblation to the Trinity, “O My God whom I adore. “ Elizabeth wrote this prayer to help souls seek a spiritually mature relationship with God. This journey to … Read more
From “Last Retreat Day 1” found in The Complete Works vol 1:
1. “Nescivi.” 1 “I no longer knew anything.” This is what the “bride of the Canticles ” sings after having been brought into the “inner cellar.” 2 It seems to me that this must also be the refrain of a praise of glory on this first day of retreat in which the Master makes her penetrate the depths of the bottomless abyss so that He may teach her to fulfill the work which will be hers for eternity and which she must already perform in time, which is eternity begun and still in progress. 3 “Nescivi”! I no longer know anything, I do not want to know anything except “to know Him, to share in His sufferings, to become like Him in His death.” 4 “Those whom God has foreknown He has also predestined to become confirmed to the image of His divine Son,” 5 the One crucified by love. When I am wholly identified with this divine Exemplar, 6 when I have wholly passed into Him and He into me, then I will fulfill my eternal vocation: the one for which God has “chosen me in Him ” 7 “in principio,” the one I will continue “in aeternum” when, immersed in the bosom of my Trinity, I will be the unceasing praise of His glory, Laudem gloriae ejus.
From “Last Retreat Day 2” found in The Complete Works vol 1:
5. It is the same for the soul that has entered into the “fortress of holy recollection”: the eye of its soul, opened in the light of faith, discovers its God present, living within it; in turn it remains so present to Him, in beautiful simplicity, that He guards it with a jealous care. Then disturbances from without and tempests from within may arise; its self-esteem may be wounded: “Nescivi”! God may hide Himself, withdraw His sensible grace: “Nescivi .” Or, as St. Paul writes: “For love of Him I have forfeited everything.” Then the Master is free, free to flow into the soul, to give Himself “according to His measure.” And the soul thus simplified, unified, becomes the throne of the Unchanging One, since “unity is the throne of the Holy Trinity.”
Beginning to Pray: “The Last Retreat – Day 3 ” The “simplicity of the gaze” From “Last Retreat Day 3” found in The Complete Works vol 1: The soul, by the simplicity of the gaze which it fixes on its divine object, finds itself set apart from all that surrounds it, set apart also and … Read more
Beginning to Pray: “The Last Retreat – Day 4 ” The “simplicity of the gaze” From “Last Retreat Day 4” found in The Complete Works vol 1: 10. Here faith, the beautiful light of faith appears. It alone should light my way as I go to meet the Bridegroom. The psalmist sings that He “hides … Read more
Beginning to Pray: “The Last Retreat – Day 5 ” – “I saw a great multitude which no man could number. . . ” From “Last Retreat Day 5” found in The Complete Works vol 1: 12. “I saw a great multitude which no man could number. . . . These are they who have … Read more
Beginning to Pray: “The Last Retreat – Day 6 ” – “That is the condition: we must be dead! ” From “Last Retreat Day 6” found in The Complete Works vol 1: 16. What a going out from self that implies! What a death! Let us say with St. Paul, “Quotidie morior.” 95 The great … Read more
Beginning to Pray: “The Last Retreat – Day 7 pt 1 ” – “That is the condition: we must be dead! ” From “Last Retreat Day 7 pt 1” found in The Complete Works vol 1: 17. “Coeli enarrant gloriam Dei.” 101 This is what the heavens are telling: the glory of God. Since my … Read more
