Oh! if you knew how beautiful Holy Week is in Carmel! I wish you could have attended our beautiful Offices, and especially on our beautiful feast of Easter.
On that day, we chant Matins at 3 o’clock in the morning; we enter the choir in procession, wearing our white mantles, each holding a candle and singing the Regina Coeli.
At 5 o’clock, we have the Mass of the Resurrection, followed by a magnificent procession in our beautiful garden.
Everything was so still, so mysterious, that it seemed our Master was going to appear to us along the solitary paths as He once did to Mary Magdalene, and if our eyes did not see Him, at least our souls met Him in faith.
Faith is so good; it is Heaven in darkness, but one day the veil will be lifted and we will contemplate in His light Him whom we love; while awaiting the Bridegroom’s “Veni” we must spend ourselves, suffer for Him, and, above all, love Him greatly.
Saint Elizabeth of the Trinity
Letter 162 to her Rolland Aunts
28–30 April 1903
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.
Featured image: Noli me tangere is an oil on canvas painting executed ca. 1580 by Veronese (Paolo Caliari, Italian, 1528-1588). It is part of the permanent collection at the Musée des Beaux-Arts in Grenoble. Photographer and art historian Jean Louis Mazières comments that “specialists believe this painting comes from the end of the artist’s life when he was influenced by his collaboration with Francesco Bassano. This explains the dark palette that is unusual for Veronese. In the background, the other holy women discover the empty tomb and an angel alerts them to the Resurrection of Christ.” Image credit: Jean Louis Mazières via Flickr (Some rights reserved)
Carmelite Quotes 
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