Blessed Elizabeth of the Trinity
Not just another nun.
One thing about strictly cloistered, Discalced Carmelite nuns, is that when a candidate is accepted for entrance into the community, the woman well knows what sort of life she is in for. Very few women enter Carmel with romantic illusions of the contemplative life, although sometimes the writings of those who persevere can read like a romance novel. At first glance, when reading Therese of Lisieux, Teresa of the Andes, or today’s saint, Bl. Elizabeth of the Trinity, a guy like me can get that impression.
Years ago, when I first read about Elizabeth Catez, I thought she was just another dream-girl, who died in the first fervor of her religious life. I saw very little difference between her and Therese of Lisieux. Like Therese, she died very young. Yet even before entering Carmel, Elizabeth demonstrated she possessed a deeply contemplative soul. Monastic life matured, refined, and purified her spirit. Accompanied by intense suffering, her spirituality and holiness quickened, proving itself heroic and exemplary.
What does Blessed Elizabeth teach us though? Her life’s mission seems to be to teach souls the riches of interior recollection. That by baptism, each of us are the very tabernacle of God, the dwelling place of the Blessed Trinity. It is a simple thing - much like her life - something so profound can often be overlooked by those of us who grow accustomed to looking for the spectacular.
I think that in Heaven my mission will be to draw souls by helping them to go out of themselves in order to cling to God by a wholly simple and loving movement, and to keep them in this great silence within which will allow God to communicate Himself to them and to transform them into Himself. - Elizabeth of the Trinity
