“You are uncommonly loved … Let yourself be loved.” – St. Elizabeth of the Trinity
As we prepare for the nearing feast of the Most Holy Trinity, I thought I would share this prayer written by St. Elizabeth of the Trinity, the Carmelite nun whose insights into the mystery of God are wildly profound. She entered a Carmelite monastery in Dijon, France in 1901, and died there in 1906 – at the age of 26 – from Addison’s disease.
Join me in praying with St. Elizabeth:
“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.
O my beloved Christ, crucified for love,
would that I might be for you a spouse of your heart!
I would anoint you with glory, I would love you — even unto death!
Yet I sense my frailty and ask you to adorn me with yourself;
identify my soul with all the movements of your soul,
submerge me,
overwhelm me,
substitute yourself in me that my life may become
but a reflection of your life.
Come into me as Adorer, Redeemer and Savior.
O Eternal Word, Word of my God,
would that I might spend my life listening to you,
would that I might be fully receptive to learn all from you;
in all darkness, all loneliness, all weakness,
may I ever keep my eyes fixed on you
and abide under your great light;
O my Beloved Star, fascinate me
so that I may never be able to leave your radiance.
O Consuming Fire, Spirit of Love,
descend into my soul and make all in me
as an incarnation of the Word,
that I may be to him a super-added humanity
wherein he renews his mystery;
and you O Father,
bestow yourself and bend down to your little creature,
seeing in her only your beloved Son
in whom you are well pleased.
O my Three,
my All,
my Beatitude,
infinite Solitude,
Immensity in whom I lose myself,
I give myself to you as a prey to be consumed;
enclose yourself in me
that I may be absorbed in you
so as to contemplate in your light
the abyss of your Splendor!
Amen.
Neal Obstat Theological Opining 