Bl. Elizabeth of the Blessed Trinity
This spiritual legacy was written by Elizabeth in the form of a letter to her superior, Sister Marie Germaine, in the last weeks of her life (at the end of October 1906).
J.M.+J.T. (= Joseph, Mary, Crucified, John, Teresa)
My dear mother, my holy priest,
when you read these lines, your little Praise of Glory will no longer sing on this earth, but will dwell in the infinite Home of Love, and thus you will be able to believe and listen to it like God's "trumpet." Dear mother, I would like to tell you what you have been to me. But the moment is so serious, so solemn... I do not wish to linger on things that I might diminish by expressing them in words. Your child wants to reveal to you what it feels, or rather, what God has allowed it to understand in the hours of deep recollection, of unifying touch.
"You are extraordinarily loved." Loved with that special love that the Master had for some here on earth, and which has led them very far. He does not say to you as He did to Peter: "Do you love me more than these?"1 Mother, listen to what He says to you: "Let yourself be loved more than these here. This means without fear of any obstacle, for I can pour out my love on whomever I please." "Let yourself be loved more than these here; that is your vocation, and if you are faithful to it, you will make me happy, for you will glorify the power of my love. This love always succeeds in mending what you may have spoiled. Let yourself be loved more than these here."
So beloved mother, if you only knew with what certainty I see God's plan for your soul! It appears to me as if in enormous light, and I also understand that up there I will again fulfill the priestly service concerning your soul. Love connects me to its work on you, O mother; how great and perfect is that work from God and how simple for you, and that is exactly what makes it so splendid. Mother, let yourself be loved more than the others! It explains everything and prevents your soul from wondering.
If you allow it, your little host will spend its Heaven in the depths of your soul: it will keep you in communion with Love, in faith in Love, and that will be the sign of its dwelling in you. In what intimacy we will live... Dear mother, may your life also take place in heaven, where I will sing in your name the eternal Sanctus; without you, I will do nothing before God's throne, you know well that I bear your seal and that something of you has appeared2 with your child before God's face. And I also ask you not to do anything without me, for you have allowed me to do so. I will live in you; this time I will be your Mother, who will teach you that what I can now belong to will benefit you, that you may participate in it and also live the life of the blessed.
Venerable mother, mother given to me from eternity, I am leaving and leaving you that vocation, which was in the womb of the fighting church mine and which from this moment I will relentlessly fulfill in the victorious church: "Praise of Glory of the Most Holy Trinity." Mother, let yourself be loved more than these here: this is how the Master wants you to be a praise of His glory! He rejoices that in you He builds His love for His glory; He Himself wants to do this, even though you, to gain this grace, may have done nothing but what a creature can: the work of sin and misery. He loves you so much! He loves you "more than these," He will do everything in you, He will go to the utmost, for when a soul is so loved by Him, loved with an unchanging and creative love, a free love that transforms as He pleases, O, how far this soul will go!
Mother, the fidelity that the Master asks of you is to remain always in communion with Love, to disappear, to take root in this Love that wants to mark your soul with the seal of its power, its greatness. You will never be banal if you are vigilant in love! But in moments when you feel only how exhausted and worn out you are, you will please Him if you remain faithful to the faith that He still acts, that He loves you nevertheless, perhaps even more, because His love is free and because He wants to glorify Himself in you just this way, and you let yourself be loved "more than these here." I think that is it. Live in the depth of your soul! My Master makes me clearly understand that by doing so,3 He wants to create amazing things: you are called to honor the Simplicity of the divine Being and to celebrate the power of His Love. Trust in His "trumpet" and read these lines as if they came from Him. †
(Thoughts of St. Angela of Foligno)
“I love you, I love you more than
anyone else in this valley...
It is I who come and bring you
unknown joy...
I will enter your depths.
My beloved! I have placed myself
and rested in you; now sit
and rest you in me!...
Love me, your whole life
will please me, only when you
love me!... I will do great things in
you, in you I will be
recognized, glorified, understood...“
Translated from French by Elizabeth Graubner.
