Quote of the day, 8 March: St. Elizabeth of the Trinity

“Abandonment is the delicious fruit of love.”

St. Thérèse of Lisieux, Poem 52

Very dear Madame,

Before entering the great silence of Lent, our Reverend Mother is allowing me to tell you how much my dear community and I are praying for you. I can understand what apprehensions you must feel in facing an operation; I am asking God to ease them, to calm them Himself.

The holy Apostle Paul says that “He works all things according to the counsel of His will” [Eph 1:11]; thus we must receive everything as coming directly from that divine hand of our Father who loves us and who, through all trials, pursues His goal, “to unite us more closely to Himself” [cf. The Living Flame of Love, 2:23-30].

Dear Madame, launch your soul on the waves of confidence [or, trust] and abandonment [cf. St. Thérèse of Lisieux, Ms A 80v], and remember that anything that troubles it or throws it into fear does not come from God, for He is the Prince of Peace [cf. Is 9:6] and He promises that peace, “to those of good will” [cf. Lk 2:14].

When you are afraid you have abused His graces, as you say, that is the time to redouble your confidence [or, trust], for, as the Apostle says, “where sin abounds, grace abounds all the more” [Rom 5:20] and farther on, “I boast of my weaknesses, for then the power of Jesus Christ dwells in me” [2 Cor 12:9].

Saint Elizabeth of the Trinity

Letter 224 to Madame Angles
Shortly before 8 March 1905

Note: Lent began on Wednesday 8 March in the year 1905.

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.