BTP-LR1 – Day 1 – The Last Retreat by St. Elizabeth of the Trinity- Beginning to Pray with Dr. Anthony Lilles – Discerning Hearts Podcast

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.

Holy Trinity, Whom I Adore – St. Elizabeth of the Trinity

Holy Trinity, Whom I Adore

O my God, Trinity whom I adore, let me entirely forget myself that I may abide in You, still and peaceful as if my soul were already in eternity; let nothing disturb my peace nor separate me from You, O my unchanging God, but that each moment may take me further into the depths of Your mystery ! Pacify my soul! Make it Your heaven, Your beloved home and place of Your repose; let me never leave You there alone, but may I be ever attentive, ever alert in my faith, ever adoring and all given up to Your creative action.

Day 9 – St. Elizabeth of the Trinity Novena – Discerning Hearts Podcast

Day Nine:  For the grace to become the praise of the glory of the Holy Trinity

Day 8 – St. Elizabeth of the Trinity Novena – Discerning Hearts Podcast

Day Eight:  For the grace of possessing heaven already in this life by faith.

Day 7 – St. Elizabeth of the Trinity Novena – Discerning Hearts Podcast

St. Elizabeth of the Trinity Novena – Day Seven – For the grace to become, like Mary, the “prey” of the Trinity – a soul consumed by love.

Day 6 – St. Elizabeth of the Trinity Novena – Discerning Hearts Podcast

Day Six  For the grace of living in the shadow of the Father

Day 5 – St. Elizabeth of the Trinity Novena – Discerning Hearts Podcast

Day Five – For the Grace of being overcome by the Fire of God’s Love

Day 4 – St. Elizabeth of the Trinity Novena – Discerning Hearts Podcasts

Day Four – For the grace to be captivated by Christ

In her prayer to the Trinity, Saint Elizabeth asks particular graces of each of the Divine Persons. From Christ, she asks to be captivated by Him. She refers to Him as the Radiant Star and asks for the grace to fixate on Him and to learn all from Him.

Day 3 – St. Elizabeth of the Trinity Novena – Discerning Hearts Podcast

My God, Trinity whom I adore, help me to forget myself entirely so as to be established in you as still and as peaceful as if my soul were already in eternity…

Day 2 – St. Elizabeth of the Trinity Novena – Discerning Hearts Podcast

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 Samaritan Woman heard Christ speak to hers.  Our Lord wants adorers “in spirit and truth.”

For Saint Elizabeth, Jesus is the great Adorer, and he wants us to become what He is. When we look at how He adored the Father, we see that his prayer was not a good intention or a nice wish, but a lived reality.  What Christ offered to the Father in the silence of prayer, He gave up on the Cross for our sake.  His whole existence became an act of worship and spiritual sacrifice.