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BLESSED ELIZABETH
OF THE TRINITY
1880 - 1906

    Update 17 (30th April 2006)

ELIZABETH AND PRAYER

Part I

Notes Scope,limitations, disclaimers.
Background Definitions of Prayer
The Cross in the prayer
of (Sr) Elizabeth		 Introduction.
The Foot of the Cross
Examples prior to Carmel
Examples in Carmel
Comment -



THE PROFESSION CROSS OF BLESSED ELIZABETH






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'ELIZABETH and PRAYER'

(Part I)


“Prayer is our principal and even our unique occupation.” [1]


NOTES

1. As 'prayer' has been mentioned in most of the Updates, and this Update is in part a drawing together of previous threads, some repetition is unavoidable. The 'Background' section of these notes is common to both parts of the Update,'Elizabeth and Prayer'.
2. References for Sr Elizabeth's letters and poems from previous Updates can be found on the Web-site. Go to the 'Index Page', then scroll down to the bottom table for the listing.
3. Definition of terms as used in these notes. ‘Cross’ may refer to the wooden Cross with or without the body of Jesus, it can loosely include ‘Crucifix’ and ‘Crucified’. ‘Crucifix’ is a representation (having any size) of the Cross with the dead body of Jesus (the Corpus)
[2]‘Crucified’ may be a synonym for Jesus, or mean Jesus suffering on the Cross. An initial capital letter is used, independent of context.
4. Where Fr De Meester has been quoted or paraphrased, in translation, any misrepresentation in his intended meaning is unintentional and is regretted.
5. References '[ ]' in this Update are neither 'active' nor provided with 'tool-tips'. Access to the expanded references is obtained by clicking the active track of the twin tracks on the left side of this text.
6. The opinions expressed are those of the site owner and as such may not be assumed to reflect or to represent the official teaching of Holy Mother Church at any time past or present, neither are those opinions intended in any way as criticism by the site owner of Holy Mother Church or her pastors.


 BACKGROUND

Holy Mother Church used to define prayer as: "the raising up of the mind and heart to God" [3]; noting from Holy Scripture: at all times (Lk 18:1; 1Thess 5:17); with a clean heart (Ps.65:18); through Jesus (Eph 2:18); in praise (Heb 2:12); in thanksgiving (Apoc.7:12); for all men (1 Tim 2:1-3); and for those who abuse us (Matt 5:44). HMC has now added: "or the requesting of good things from God" [3,bis]; again noting from Holy Scripture: petitions (Phil 4:6; 1 Jn 5:15); intercessions (Jas 5:15); and desires (Mk 11:24). HMC draws our attention to God longing for this reciprocal 'encounter' between Himself and man [4]. Some writers on prayer suggest that it can be helpful to think in terms of raising "the heart through the mind" to God; while others add that we must actively "turn towards God" for prayer to have meaning. Although Sr Elizabeth only read selections from Ruysbroeck, she may well have noted his definition of prayer as "ascent". [5]

Such definitions and comments are a distillation of generations of experience in prayer and cannot be challenged; but rarely do we learn to pray from definitions. Many people learned to pray as children in loving families: Therese and Elizabeth were typical. Loving families conjured up thoughts of Our Loving Father in Heaven and ourselves as His loving children: expressed so beautifully in Therese's 'definition' of prayer, “With me prayer is an uplifting of the heart; a glance towards heaven; a cry of gratitude and love, uttered equally in sorrow and in joy”[6]; or so succinctly by Elizabeth, “the union of her who is not with Him Who Is” [7]. Yet neither definition is the equal of that due to our Holy Mother, "... prayer in my opinion is nothing else than intimate sharing with friends; it means taking time to be alone with Him who we know loves us." [8]. To emphasize this 'friendship', she passionately insisted that her nuns (and also ourselves) "look at Him" on the Cross [9], and interiorly with the eyes of their souls [10]. Elizabeth refers to this 'sharing with friends' as 'heart-to-heart' in her diary prior to Carmel [11] and in letters from Carmel [12]; also as 'a continual heart-to-heart' [13] and an 'intimate heart-to-heart' [14]. In Carmel Sr Elizabeth wrote: " It is so simple, the divine Adorer is within us, so we have His prayer; let us offer it, let us share in it, let us pray with His Soul!" [15]. Ruth Burrows notes that some people are unable to accept the sheer simplicity of prayer: instead of looking into their own hearts, they have to have a book, a set of rules, or a teacher. [16]

In Update 13 it was noted that "the ideal, the destiny, of a Praise of Glory is to love God with a perfect love: “loving Him with His own Love” [17]". In the encounter of prayer: i.e., love in action; God gives us His Love, and we give it back by loving Him with His Love in God. We are "cradled in the arms of Love"[18] Actually, this flow of prayer from man to God is unceasing, but we only recognize it as prayer when we are conscious of our part in the flow. God gives life and movement, by living and moving we give back to God adoration and thanksgiving and make an ongoing intercession for ourselves and for all of creation [19]. As Ruth Burrows notes, we can only serve Him by allowing Him to serve us [20]. When we pray, we are participating in a mighty choir, adding our voice to a chant which has mounted up to Him since the beginning of time. "All the sons of God made a joyful melody" (Job, 38.7). "The whole earth shall be filled with the glory of the Lord" (Num.14.21). Whether we praise, give thanks, petition, intercede, or ask; we are being docile to the movement of the Holy Spirit, that voids created in our souls will allow God to know and to love Himself in us and in all His Universe: it is to show ourselves, really and truly, made in His likeness. When we pray consciously in the presence of God, the Holy Spirit is linking us into this "oneness" with God, acting like Himself, towards Himself, wholly for Himself. The aim of our prayer is that union with God, noted by Sr Elizabeth – that "oneness" in action, direction, and significance; that sharing in the mutual Love of the Father and the Son in the mystery of the Most Holy Trinity. This wonder and glory of the 'transforming oneness' is the precious effect of prayer that brings such joy to the soul.


 THE CROSS IN THE PRAYER OF ELIZABETH

Introduction
There must have been times in each one of our lives when we have been talking to someone, only to realise that they were not listening to us: they were "miles away" as we would say! God talks to us all day and every day in the depths of our souls. Yes, we listen to Him, when we decide to; yet, when we talk to Him, He always listens to us. We have to talk to each other, and listen to each other, if there is to be that "intimate sharing with friends" that Our Holy Mother referred to as prayer. It seems that the 'in-word' today is that prayer is an 'encounter'. One good point about this word is that it conjures up the idea that both parties to prayer must be consciously 'present' to each other. God is 'present' in our souls, but is He 'consciously' present? A good analogy is the TV set: signals are being received most of the time from somewhere or other, but unless the TV is switched on, in working order, and tuned in, we neither see a picture nor hear a sound. So it is with us, we must be switched on, in working order, and tuned in: we must be recollected to realise that encounter. Recollection, both in intention and act, is part of our on-going prayer.

In Chapter 26 of the 'Way of Perfection', Our Holy Mother has given some guidelines for recollection. In particular, she invites us to, 'look at' Our Blessed Lord [21]. We 'look at Him' physically with our eyes when we say the Divine Office, read (or listen to) the Scriptures or practice Lectio Divina. In a very specially way we 'look at Him' with many an unspoken word as we make the 'sign of the Cross' or kneel silently at the 'Foot of the Cross' or 'Gaze on Him' on the Cross and on our Crucifix [22]. There we see the meeting of Divine Mercy and human misery [23] with the eyes of our soul: knowing that Jesus is there, longingly and lovingly waiting for us to find Him. Elizabeth loved the Cross, almost from the day she was born until the day she died. Her 'wishing'/ 'asking' to share ( 'Fr. Partager') the 'Cross of Jesus on the Way to Calvary', occurs frequently in her writings, where she invites correspondents experiencing 'suffering' in one form or another to offer this trial to Jesus: this is considered in detail in Updates 7,8. She refers both to 'Cross' and 'Foot of the Cross' in her letters. Loosely, there is little difference in meaning between the terms: especially in a 'passive' context, whereas 'actively' there is a world of difference.

 The Foot of the Cross
It is a long-standing mystical tradition that the lance which pierced the side of Christ opened the door of Salvation: that the Church and the Sacraments were born from that pierced side; that all saving truth centres in the Cross and all sanctifying blessings spring from the Cross [24]; that water from the side of Christ cleanses us (Anima Christi); that we can most effectively petition after receiving the Blessed Sacrament in adoration before the Cross (En ego). When we venerate the Cross, we kiss the Foot of the Cross, to express our adoration of Our Divine Saviour. The 'Foot of the Cross' is very precious in Christian thought, because it was there that the Mother of God became our Blessed Mother and we became her children. As we kneel at the Foot of the Cross we are drawn into the Cross in humility; drawn into the side of Christ; drawn to look upwards at the Face of Christ. The Face of Love, covered in His Blood and His Sweat, as well as in spittle; yet through it all we observe His Eyes looking so gently, so lovingly at us, bringing that peace to our souls which we seek. That is prayer.

As Pere Vallee said "Martyrdom is the response of any lofty soul to the Crucified" [25] and commenting on this Sr Elizabeth wrote, "So let us be sacrificial souls, which is to say, true in our love: “He loved me, He gave Himself up for me!” (Gal 2.20 last part). " [26] These were no idle words in a letter: Sr Elizabeth died a martyr of Love, "Now that (Jesus) has returned to the Father, He has put me in His place on the Cross" [27]. With a beautiful turn of phrase, Sr Elizabeth wrote: "There is no wood like that of the Cross for lighting the fire of love in the soul" [28]; "The Cross is a token of His Love" [29]; "I find Him on the Cross, it is there He gives me his life" [30]; "I am begging Him to give you that love for the Cross which makes saints" [31]. Sr Elizabeth always linked 'fire' with 'Love', as Sr Therese had done [32]. Commenting on (Lk 12:49) she wrote: "The Master Himself here tells us of His longing to see the fire of Love ignited" [33]; also asking, "Isn't fire Love?" [34]. Fr Dubay relates the story of a lady who had spoken with a nun, "almost visibly on fire with Love" so that "talking with her is like holding the straw of my soul close to a fire." [35]

The Foot of the Cross was also precious to Elizabeth because Mary Magdalen: her Baptismal Saint; stood at the Foot of the Cross. Mother Marie would have explained to her, as an extra-muros, that it was "only at the 'feet of Jesus' dying on the Cross (Mary Magdalen) saw: and in what awful light; the cost of that quick, sweet, and complete pardon" at His feet in Simon's house! [36]. Sr Elizabeth sent Guite a holy card on which was a picture depicting Mary Magdalen, at the Foot of the Cross, kissing the feet of Jesus. [37]. Often when writing of the Foot of the Cross, even prior to Carmel, Sr Elizabeth used the phrase, "recollect yourself at the Foot of the Cross". Her reasoning was that the Church born from the side of Christ, as the veil of the temple was rent, was none other than the mystical body of Christ: the triumphant, militant, and suffering arms of the Church with Christ as the Head. The Cross is identified with the Vine so that all members of the Church abide in Him and He abides in them (Jn.15:4). In the 'Heaven in faith' of our souls not only is Jesus present, but His mystical Body must be present as well. Elizabeth believed that this 'union' of souls in Christ meant that souls could communicate with each other: not of their own accord; if, and only if, it were the Divine Will; that they were each docile to the Holy Spirit; and were recollected in Him [38]. In a letter to Guite, she wrote: "It is the fusion of our two souls in Him, oh! if you knew how close we are!" [39]. Examples of other references to fusion: "I believe there has been a fusion between the soul of the priest and that of the Carmelite!" [40]; "no more distance, no more separation, but already, as in Heaven, the fusion of hearts and souls!" [41]; "Heaven would only have made the fusion of our souls more true" [42]. These are not examples of "spiritualism" in disguise: remember how Sr Elizabeth was aghast at this thought after having received a rather ambiguously worded letter from someone well-known to her [L323]. We are encouraged to pray, in an approved manner, by Holy Mother Church for the souls of the Faithful Departed; also to, and with, the Saints of God in intercessory prayer.

Sr Elizabeth often ended her letters to her friends and relations with a suggested form of union. One of these was: "I entrust a kiss to my Crucifix for you, He will give it to you, "this kiss of the Bridegroom." Union within, in silence and Love!" [43]. This is not a 'throw-away' ending, simply to complete a letter. Fr de Meester tentatively suggests an allusion to the 'Song of Songs': "Let Him kiss me, with the kisses of His mouth" [44]. The intention is straightforward. Sr Elizabeth kisses her Profession Cross and tells her prospective recipient that Our Lord will deliver this kiss of Love. In effect she is sending her Spouse on an errand. The recipient reads her letter, while thinking about Sr Elizabeth; and, because of the content of the letter, is recollected. At the end she will receive the intended kiss, in the form of grace of the Holy Spirit. This is an over-simplification, complicated, not least, by the fact that there had been a 'dry-run' previously in the parlour [45]. The final sentence about union, simply refers to the union of the souls of Sr Elizabeth and the recipient within the Soul of Christ. The "kiss of the Bridegroom" is mystical, representing the final stages of union [46], while in the Song of songs quote, 'mouth' equates to 'desire' so that Sr Elizabeth desires are joined by Love to what Christ desires: to do His Will. The word 'Bridegroom' relates to Sr Elizabeth as the Bride of Christ; but not to the recipient.

In this part of the notes it is proposed to limit discussion of references to the 'Cross', and the 'Foot of the Cross', to those associated with Elizabeth's life. While there are many such references; for me, there are 6 which stand out: (a) as a toddler, throwing kisses at the Cross [47]; (b) on her last evening in the world, writing to her sister about recollecting herself at the Foot of the Cross: "Guite will always find her Sabeth" [48]; (c) on her first evening in Carmel, "passing into the Soul of my Christ", at the Foot of the Cross [49]; (d) in a letter during her novitiate, repeating Our Holy Mother's words, "A Carmelite is a soul who has gazed on the Crucified" [50]; (e) When she was in the infirmary and so very ill, holding and kissing her Profession Cross, as Lacordaire had done so many years before [51], and saying "I am not worthy of it" [52]; and (f) in her very last letter, written to 'my darling Charles' - a childhood friend, " recollect yourself in prayer and we will meet each other in an even deeper way" [53].

 Examples prior to Carmel.
Elizabeth was introduced early in life to the Cross and prayer by her Mother. In her Mother's letters, we read of her daughter not yet 2 years old, kissing the Cross, praying for the sick, and teaching her doll to pray [54]. Elizabeth never forgot that she was baptized on the feast of Mary Magdalen, who stood at the Foot of the Cross. In her letters to friends who were sick, or who had relatives who were sick, she almost always quoted the words used by Mary Magdalen to Jesus: "Lord, the one You love is sick". Finally, to her dying day, Elizabeth never forgot the preparation she received from her Mother for her First Holy Communion.

Elizabeth was part of a devoutly religious and loving family, irrespective of whether her Mother had leanings toward Jansenism. She was a regular churchgoer, she sang in the choir, she attended missions, and retreats. She also made pilgrimages to shrines in France: e.g., Fourvieres [55], Lourdes [56], Paray-le Monial [57], and Beaune [58]. One pilgrimage in particular to N.D.d'Etang at Velars, is noted, where Elizabeth prayed to die young [59]. She was 14 years old: the same age that she heard the word 'Carmel ' pronounced one day after Holy Communion [60]. At the end of the same year (1894) she wrote: "I will follow you carrying my Cross, listening only to Your voice" [61]. "Even before making her First Communion, she had such a love of God and of prayer that it was inconceivable to her that she could give her heart fully to anyone but God." [62]

From what little information we have then, about this period in her life, we may conjecture that at her First Holy Communion, Elizabeth was aware of the 'price which was paid' for this precious gift: that with each thanksgiving [63]; and with each passing Lent, the Cross assumed greater significance to her. The praises cited in the 'Litany of the Holy Cross' [64] would have helped: for example, 'hope of Christians', 'refuge of sinners', 'succour of the distressed', 'hope of the hopeless', 'safeguard of childhood', 'sure rule of life', etc. A 2 verse poem 'To my Crucifix' (of uncertain date) reveals the importance of the 'Foot of the Cross' in her prayer life [65]. "Whatever could she do, in return, for Jesus?", was the question uppermost in her mind. It is conjecture, but was this connected with her devotion to her baptismal saint: Mary Magdalen? She was far too young to become a nun – she 'knew' from her reading of Our Holy Mother's works that nuns 'suffered for Jesus'. This longing was exacerbated by the nearness of the Dijon Carmel to her home [66]. She could increase her prayer life and her mortification – but this was often thwarted by an ever-watchful caring Mother. She was not allowed to give up the round of social engagements expected by her family and friends, so that her 'life with God' became more hidden: even Guite did not realize the depth of that hidden life when Elizabeth entered Carmel. In some respects, these 'sufferings' paled to insignificance when compared with the effect on her of the religious persecution taking place in France, and the resulting profaning of the Blessed Sacrament and of the Cross [67]. Little wonder that Elizabeth experienced an inner darkness and became terrified of the judgment.

Jennifer Moorcroft records how the Parish Priest helped Elizabeth to appreciate the tender loving care of God, "who only wanted her total love in return" [68]: her total love, nothing else. It is very difficult to appreciate, a century later, the stark reality of the judgment in a penitent's mind. Reading prayers, "In Preparation for Death" every night before going to bed was a recipe for being scared witness, rather than for a good night's sleep in His Redeeming Love. The detail of the Judgment in (Matthew 25), is as applicable today as it was then. The difference between now and then, so I posit, is that chosen 'servants of God', through their lives, have enabled us to appreciate more fully (should we so desire) the meaning of being docile to the movement of the Holy Spirit in relation our 'heaven in faith' here and now: more succinctly, to 'live' the Cross, not 'fear' the Cross, day by day. "The Cross always stands ready, and everywhere awaits you. You cannot escape it, wherever you flee; for wherever you go, you bear yourself, and always find yourself. Look up or down, without you or within, and everywhere you will find the Cross. And everywhere you must have patience, if you wish to attain inner peace, and win an eternal crown."[69] Elizabeth gave, and now gives, 'her total love': loving Him with His own Love, through Him, in Him; and she has left us the guideline 'Quotidie Morior' in her treatise 'Heaven in Faith'. [70]

In 1897 Elizabeth was banned from visiting Carmel by her Mother. Elizabeth obeyed her Mother and, instead, turned more intently to the works of Our Holy Mother: ironically using her Mother's own copies of her books. As a gifted pianist, she had the facility to readily memorize texts and, in addition, she copied selected passages into her notebooks. Nevertheless, this did little to alleviate her anguish as is evident from her poems [71]. She marked the Feast of the Holy Cross by extending her earlier poem 'To her Crucifix'. Now she expresses her happiness in being able to share her Saviour's sorrows on the Way to Calvary. Fr DeMeester links this to her Mother's ban: referring to it as a 'sad trial' [72]. This theme is repeated at the end a poem, 'After Communion', written only a short time later [73]. The poem reveals something of the effect of the ban on visiting Carmel. One may well ask, where is the joy after "Jesus has fed me!" ? It is there, but severely repressed. Elizabeth wants to be in Heaven with her 'only Love, her Life'. She has been punished enough, let there be an end to her long anguish, let the heavens open to receive her. At this point a new verse, and a different point of view, is commenced. It doesn't matter whether, in this verse, she has copied, or simply remembered, a poem of Our Holy Mother: she is making the contained thought her own, because it is appropriate. In relation to the previous verse, she has changed her mind: now, she wishes to go on suffering with Jesus for a long time yet, and to experience the happiness of climbing Calvary with Him.

A year later she expresses her grief over her Mother's illness in a deeply sincere poem, "O Master, Whom I adore". She concludes by addressing Jesus, "In the world it is necessary to carry my Cross, and You have sent me another suffering. O, Jesus, my Strength, my Hope, I wish to carry it with You" [74]. Here, Elizabeth, has taken the 'sharing' of His Cross to a conclusion. In her earlier poem she expressed her joy at sharing the Cross of Jesus. In this poem she wants to carry her own Cross with Him. When we suffer, Jesus suffers also and He wants to help us if we will let Him. When others suffer, whom we perhaps know nothing about, Jesus also suffers. If, "God in me, and I in Him" means anything at all to us, it means really wanting to share His burden [75], His Cross: in His Love. This we do by being docile to the Spirit of Love and, not least, by "looking at Him" [9,bis] in prayer.

Elizabeth's exposure to talks on the Cross during the Great Mission of 1899 is covered in 'The Elizabeth of the Diary" (Update 4). This also covers relevant poems. If we exclude material directly relating to the talks, Elizabeth's spontaneous entries in her diary, like her poems, are intimate conversations with God: we are eavesdropping on her prayers. Although the mission may have acted as a catalyst, comparison with her poems prior to the mission, does not markedly support this proposition, neither do entries in her diary made prior to the mission. For example: "Oh that I always show myself worthy of my Well-Beloved.." [76]; "Oh yes, Jesus, I am jealous of Your Love.. poor Jesus." [77]; "O Jesus, I beg You to give me Your Cross, I want to share it with You, I want to comfort You." [78]; (You) "choose me as confidante, consolatrice of Your Heart." [79]. These themes occur frequently during the actual mission, sometimes passionately: "I want the Cross, I want to live with it for strength and support; and for treasure: since Jesus chose it for Himself, since he also chose it for me. Supreme treasure that Jesus reserves for the privileged of His Heart; I want to live with you, die with you, following the example of my well-Beloved" [80]. In this last prayer, she repeats the words, 'Ave Crux, Spes Unica' taken from the Vespers hymn of the Passion, 'Vexilla Regis prodeunt' with the poignant phrase, "The Cross on which Life suffered death and by that death gave back life to us'.

Elizabeth wrote a commemorative poem about the Mission just after it ended, and a 'last poem in the world' to mark the feast day in 1899 of Our Holy Mother. Her next poem was written almost 2 years later when she was in Carmel. In the period from the end of the Mission up to July 1900, there is no mention of the Cross in Elizabeth's letters and personal notes. [81]. No diary entries are preserved for the period between the ending of the mission and the start of a retreat which she attended in January 1900. The central theme was the Cross and the retreat was given by Pere Hoppenot. Fortunately, this section of the diary is extant and there are several gems: for example, "O my Crucifix, it is by contemplating you that I understand all the mischievousness of sin. Ah, my Beloved, while the torturers bored Your Feet and Your Hands, while You endured a thousand tortures on the Cross, You saw my faults without number and all my infidelities – how these made you suffer!" [82]

In April 1901 in a letter to another 'extra muros' Elizabeth wrote: "Isn't it good to suffer, giving something to Him Who one loves. Never, my sister, have I understood this so well. It is there at the Foot of the Cross that one discovers her Betrothed; all these darknesses, these sufferings detach one so that we can become attached to a Unique All, they purify one also in order to arrive at Union. Ah, my sister, when will this divine union be consummated in our souls? "God in me, I in Him", that is our motto." [83] The teaching of Mother Marie is very evident, for she had a great love for the Cross; for example, making the Stations of the Cross at all times of the day and the night. In 2 more letters to the same recipient,she wrote: "Let us remain at the Foot of the Cross and when we cannot pray anymore, Oh! let us look at Him!" [84]; and, "Let us always remain united at the Foot of the Cross, quiet near to the Divine Crucified, and listen to Him". [85]

The night before she entered Carmel, Elizabeth wrote what must have been the most difficult note of her life to the 'echo of her soul' and 'devotion personified', her beloved sister Guite. "At the Foot of the Cross, where He has given me so much, I give you a rendez-vous: there, there will be no separation, and my small Guite will always find her Sabeth" [86]. Elizabeth was to remind Guite that she would keep the rendez-vous, in a letter written some 6 weeks later [87]. That note, together with an accompanying Cross, were kept by Guite in her room, and only found after her death. This is the prime example of Elizabeth's 'union of souls', undoubtedly inspired by the Spirit of Love. It is certain that Guite prayed through the night before that Cross for a cure for her own daughter, Elizabeth, and for her dying son, Xavier; as she had done on the death of her beloved husband, Georges. Elizabeth's final words in the world to her childhood confidante, Canon Angles, were: " I feel that I am all His, that I do not keep anything for myself, I throw myself into His arms like a little child." [88] Bearing in mind her mixed emotions at this time, it is not unreasonable to suggest that Elizabeth threw herself into the open arms of Our Divine Saviour on the Cross: the one place of perfect repose, where Jesus rested on completion of His work, the Cross on Calvary. "Behold the arms of the Cross are wide ... take thy rest in them! ... The Cross is not a dead and barren tree, its sap is powerful ... it brings forth flowers and fruits ... thou art not alone on thy cross ... thy God hangs there to receive thee ... " ( the words of Jesus to Lucie Christine, 1885) [89].

 Examples in Carmel.
"The Cross is the heritage of Carmel".[90]. In Carmel, many of Sr Elizabeth's letters contained references to the Cross in relation to suffering. In addition to praying in support of a correspondent's requests, she was keen to get them to offer their trials to Jesus, to share the joy of His Cross. Other references to the Cross are relatively few.

On her first evening in Carmel, standing outdoors at the Foot of the Cross, she told Mother Germaine "I have passed into the Soul of my Christ". [91] . There are 2 points worth noting here: first, she would have done this previously while in the world, so she was affirming that she had left the world and was giving herself to Jesus in Carmel; second, she said "I have passed into" : the act of 'passing into' was complete, but the permeance as measured by 'conformed with and transformed in' would continue to change in this life, as the next quotation confirms. At the end of her life, she wrote, "When I have wholly passed into Him and He into me, then I will fulfil my eternal vocation: the one for which God has chosen me in Him." [92]. Answering a question on the 'questionnaire' [93] a week later, she wrote that her favourite book was, "The Soul of Christ", because in it, "I learn all the secrets of the Father Who is in heaven". A little later in a letter she wrote: "I feel that all the treasures of the Soul of Christ are mine" [94]. and clearly extending this theme, " if we are faithful in living His life, if we identify ourselves with all the movements of the Soul of the Crucified, quite simply, we no longer need to fear our weaknesses, for He will be our strength" [95].

Sr Elizabeth had been in Carmel almost a year, before she used the word 'Cross' in a letter: "We must not stop before the Cross and look at it in itself, but, recollecting ourselves under the light of faith, we must rise above this to recognize an agent of Divine Love" [96]. The Cross is the 'perfect example' which illustrates the maxim, "Where there is no love, put love, and you will draw out love..." [97] The Cross restores waning love, and nurtures its growth, provided that we do more than just 'look at Him', "When I feel a little tired: I look at the Crucified, and when I see how He delivered Himself up for me, it seems to me that I can do no less for Him than spend myself, wear myself out in order to repay Him a little of what He has given me!" [98]. "Let us look at the Crucified and be conformed to that divine image". [99] Yet to do this, Sr Elizabeth noted, we must be recollected under the light of faith. Like love, our faith, a gift of God, must be nourished; which it is, by the changeless efficacy of the atoning (at-'oneing') Blood of Christ on the Cross: the Lamb of God; cleansing us from all sin (Eph.1:7, 1Jn.1:7-10). "I place myself with you beneath the divine outpouring so that our Christ may keep us “holy and spotless in His presence in love.”[100] "I have sacrificed all that on the altar of my heart to Him who is a Spouse of Blood." [101]. "Poor France. I love to cover her with the Blood of the Just One". [102] Equally, she loved to ask Priests to place her "in the chalice so that (her) soul may be wholly bathed in (her) Christ" [103]. Let us emulate Sr Elizabeth and 'do more than just look at Him', by being "baptized, virginized and purified" [104] in the Blood from His Side and from the wounds in His Sacred Hands and Feet: that is prayer!

One often finds prayer cards with the quotation: "A Carmelite is a soul that has gazed on the Crucified, who has seen Him offering Himself to the Father as a victim for souls ....." . [105] The first part of this quotation is suggested by the 'Interior Castle' [106] . Our Holy mother invites us to 'gaze', not just to look, on the Crucified. Here, we should become like little children who, seeing a shop window display, are so enthralled that they have to be 'dragged away' – let us also have to be 'dragged away' from gazing on the Crucified. "We must gaze (for a very long time) at the God Crucified by Love, to receive an out-flowing of His power". [107]. This is the first use in a letter of Sr Elizabeth's statement that Jesus was 'Crucified by Love'. The thought must have originated in the community retreat which preceded Sr Elizabeth's 'Prayer to the Trinity'; for its first appearance in her works was in that prayer. It then seems to have been more or less put aside until her Last Retreat [108] and 3 letters written just before, and after, that retreat [109] . In the last of the mentioned letters, she wrote, "We must contemplate the God Crucified by Love". That is prayer.


 COMMENT

"Everyone who accepts God in Christ accepts Him through the Cross" [110]; and follows Him through the Cross, while sharing that Cross with Him. 'Sharing the Cross with Him' is prayer; we contemplate the 'Christ of the Cross by 'looking at' a Man crucified by Love: with Blood dropping from His Sacred Hands and Feet, from His crown of thorns, and the wound in His side; in the manner shown us by Our Holy Mother and by Bl. Elizabeth, as we journey on the Way of the Cross. No route maps are necessary: even if we lose our way once in a while, the Cross is our compass which always points to Jesus; no matter how rough the going may become. As Pope John Paul implies, the Cross is also our passport to move through the various stages of purification at the behest of the Spirit of Love. In this Update the Cross as a compass, and a passport, in the life of Bl. Elizabeth has been examined. In the next Update, 'prayer' as an 'intimate conversation' in her life is examined in more detail.



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Next Update: June 11th 2006


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