Quote of the day, 25 January: St. Elizabeth of the Trinity
“You have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God” [Col 3:3].
St. Paul comes to bring us a light to guide us on the pathway of the abyss. “You have died!” What does that mean but that the soul that aspires to live close to God “in the invincible fortress of holy recollection” [St. John of the Cross, The Spiritual Canticle, 40:3] must be “set apart, stripped, and withdrawn from all things” [Spiritual Canticle, 40:2] (in spirit). This soul “finds within itself a simple ascending movement of love to God, whatever creatures may do; it is invincible to things which” pass away, “for it transcends them, seeking God alone” [Rusbrock l’Admirable, Perrin, Paris 1902].
“Quotidie morior” [1 Cor 15:31], “I die daily.” I decrease [cf. Jn 3:30], I renounce self more each day so that Christ may increase in me and be exalted; I “remain” very little “in the depths of my poverty.” I see “my nothingness, my misery, my weakness; I perceive that I am incapable of progress, of perseverance; I see the multitude of my shortcomings, my defects; I appear in my indigence.” “I fall down in my misery, confessing my distress, and I display it before the mercy” [Rusbrock] of my Master.
“Quotidie morior.” I place the joy of my soul (as to the will, not sensible feelings) in everything that can immolate, destroy, or humble me, for I want to make room for my Master. I live no longer I, but He lives in me: [cf. Gal 2:20] I no longer want “to live my own life, but to be transformed in Jesus Christ so that my life may be more divine than human” [cf. Spiritual Canticle, 12:8], so that the Father in bending attentively over me can recognize the image [cf. Rom 8:29] of His beloved Son in whom He has placed all His delight.
Saint Elizabeth of the Trinity
Heaven in Faith, third day, second prayer
Elizabeth of the Trinity, S 2014, I Have Found God, The Complete Works of Elizabeth of the Trinity Volume 1: Major spiritual writings, translated from the French by Kane, A, ICS Publications, Washington DC.
Featured image: The Conversion of Saint Paul, is an oil on panel painting created ca. 1525 by Benvenuto Tisi, called “Il Garofalo” (Italian, 1481–1559). Image credit: Yale University Art Gallery (Public domain)
#abyss #GodAlone #humility #JesusChrist #light #mortification #StElizabethOfTheTrinity #StPaul
