Quote of the day, 28 October: St. Elizabeth of the Trinity

Our God is a consuming Fire.

J.M. + J.T.

Before flying away to Heaven, dear little Sister Marie-Odile, I want to send you a little note from my soul, for I am anxious for you to know that in the Father’s House I will pray especially for you.

I am keeping a rendezvous with you in the Furnace of love; my eternity will be spent there, and you can begin it already here on earth. Dear Sister, I will be jealous for the beauty of your soul, for, as you know, my little heart loves you very much, and when one loves, one desires the best for the beloved.

I think that in Heaven my mission will be to draw souls by helping them go out of themselves to cling to God by a wholly simple and loving movement, and to keep them in this great silence within that will allow God to communicate Himself to them and transform them into Himself.

Dear little sister of my soul, it seems to me I now see everything in God’s light, and if I started my life over again, oh, I would wish not to waste one instant!

He does not allow us, His brides in Carmel, to devote ourselves to anything but love, but the divine, and if by chance, in the radiance of His Light, I see you leave that sole occupation, I will come very quickly to call you to order; you would want that, wouldn’t you?

Saint Elizabeth of the Trinity

Letter 335 to Sr. Marie-Odile, O.C.D., Carmel of Paray-le-Monial
28 October 1906 (excerpt)

Note: Biographer and editor Father Conrad de Meester, O.C.D. indicates that Elizabeth had known Sister Marie-Odile very well, first as the extern Sister at Dijon, then for another two months as a lay sister inside the Carmel. She then left for the new foundation at Paray-le-Monial. Elizabeth wrote to Sister Marie-Odile several times. Sister later explained what she did with all of the precious correspondence from the Saint: “I burned all her letters; I kept only the last. . . . Because it was the last.” It was a tradition among the Carmels in France to write J.M. + J.T. at the top of correspondence, which stands for “Jesus, Mary, Joseph, Teresa.” You also will see this in some of the letters of St. Thérèse.

Elizabeth of the Trinity, S 2003, The Complete Works of Elizabeth of the Trinity volume 2: Letters from Carmel, translated from the French by Nash, A, ICS Publications, Washington DC.