Quote of the day, 26 April: St. Elizabeth of the Trinity

My darling Guite,

We have sung the Alleluia, so our Reverend Mother is letting me come tell you right away how united I am with you in your joys of motherhood.

I’m so happy to be an aunt once again, and especially of a little girl, for, you see, I think the union that existed between us is going to live on in your sweet home, and I’m delighted that Sabeth has an Odette just as Aunt Elizabeth had a Marguerite.

Our dear Mother [the prioress], who takes such an interest in you, was overjoyed at announcing the big news to me, and she asks me to tell you so. Sabeth [Guite’s first child] was born on the feast of the Five Wounds of Jesus [11 March 1904], and here is Odette arriving on the day when the Master was sold to redeem her little soul [Holy Wednesday, 19 April 1905]. Isn’t that touching?…

I hope you can have dear Sister Thérèse [St. Thérèse-Agnès, a Sister of Bon-Secours]; I have certainly been asking that of God [Sr. Thérèse-Agnès would assist mothers after giving birth]. And then I hope too that you can nurse her like last time. Mama will tell me all that on Wednesday [26 April 1905]. We have so much to tell each other. Kiss that dear grandmother for me, tell her I share her happiness, and thank her for her kind letter.

I’ve carried your soul with mine everywhere during this great week, especially during the night of Holy Thursday, and since you could not go to Him, I told Him to come to you.

In the silence of prayer, I whispered to my Guite those words that Père Lacordaire addressed to Mary Magdalene when she was searching for her Master on the morning of the Resurrection: “No longer ask anyone on earth or anyone in Heaven for Him, for He is your soul; and your soul is He!” (cf. Sainte Marie-Madeleine,p. 132). 

Oh, little sister, how He is blessing your little nest, how He loves you in entrusting these two little souls “whom He chose in Him before creation that they might be holy and spotless in His presence in love” (Saint Paul) [cf. Eph 1:3–6]. You are the one who must guide them to Him and keep them all His.

Please tell Georges [Chevignard, Guite’s husband], my Guite, how all your joys echo in my heart, for which I give thanks to “God, from whom every perfect gift comes” [Jas 1:17].

A Dieu. In Him, little mama, I recollect myself with you close to the little ones; each has her own beautiful angel beside her who sees the Face of God [cf. Mt 18:10]. Ask Him to carry us away in Him and hold us firmly in His Love.

I’m surrounding you as well as your two treasures with all my tender affection and prayer. I’m delighted to see Sabeth. Tell her to give a kiss to her grandmother for her aunt.

I’m sending Odette a medal that has touched the miraculous Infant Jesus of Beaune; it’s of copper, for I’m a poor Carmelite; you can put it on her cradle, so that God, who so loves little ones, may bless and protect her.

Saint Elizabeth of the Trinity

Letter 227 to her sister Marguerite Chevignard
Easter Vigil, 22 April 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.