In her spiritual treatise, 'Heaven in Faith', Sr Elizabeth wrote "During the period between the Annunciation and the Nativity, our Lady seems to me to be the model of interior souls: those whom God has called to live within themselves, in the depths of the bottomless abyss. In what peace and recollection did Mary live and act!" [1] Fr Deeney has stressed that this 'inclination to meditate in the heart' is present in any person with a true Marian vocation to Carmel. It would be a mistake to think that Sr Elizabeth's words: 'to live within themselves', imply isolation from the world, for she went on, "Yet that did not prevent her from spending herself for others when charity required it". Likewise when He gave us the Beatitudes, Our Blessed Lord emphasized that although we may seek to be not of the world, we are inescapably in the world.

In both 'Heaven in Faith' and the 'Last Retreat', Sr Elizabeth quotes from the Gospel story; and writes how she pictures Mary on her journey, "absorbed in communion with the Word of God within her" [2]. Indeed Mary would have had much upon which 'to meditate in her heart', "as she made her way across the plains of Galilee southward to Judea and traversed the Holy Land, where almost every inch of ground evoked a sacred memory" [3]. In the Gospel story, St Luke tells us that "Mary ... went into the hill country with haste to a city of Juda" (Lk.1:39): an understatement indeed, of a demanding journey for a young girl, urged on by charity and wholly forgetful of herself (cf 1Cor.13:5). Mary made the journey to be with Elizabeth in Elizabeth's time of need; Elizabeth was 'family', and 'family' was important to Mary. As Carmelites we honour Our Blessed Mother in a very special way, when we actively seek to lose ourselves in the unifying concept of 'community' : her family, our brothers and sisters in Carmel. Sr Elizabeth is, again, our example; and in her letters from Carmel, we read of 'my dear community' [4]. In the Feast of the Visitation, we recall the journey, the 'family', and the highlights of the visit. It affords us an opportunity to reflect on the Marian nature of our precious vocation, our approach to 'community', and the place of the Beatitudes in our everyday lives.

The visit also reminds us that God makes use of those whom we seek to help, to help us deepen our love for Him. After her initial salutation, Elizabeth continued with the beautiful words, "whence is this to me that the Mother of my Lord should come to me?" (Lk. 1:43). The import of her 'fiat' was brought home to Mary by Elizabeth's words, and the Magnificat was born. Sr Elizabeth looked upon Mary as the model of interior souls: for her, she was the perfect 'Praise of Glory'. In her song of joy, Mary twice refers to giving thanks, and she also proclaims her nothingness; two points which Sr Elizabeth highlights in her treatise. Sr Elizabeth would, of course, be the first to admit that her own exacting requirements for a 'Praise of Glory' in the final prayer of Heaven in Faith could never do justice to the interior life of Our Blessed Mother.

Mary selflessly brought Jesus to cousin Elizabeth in her time of need [5]. She responded, without hesitation, to Gabriel's news about her cousin. Today, Mary is still bringing Jesus to each one of us, if we did but realise it; and following her example, in our lowliness and docile to the Holy Spirit, we must take Him to each other in our prayers, in our practise of the Beatitudes, and as part of our ongoing formation as Carmelites: all of which is summed up in one of the central planks of Sr Elizabeth's spiritual doctrine, 'He in me and I in Him'. This aspect of Mary's journey to her cousin, has been emphasized by Holy Mother Church, at least twice in the past. In 1389, the feast was extended to the entire Church with the hope that Jesus and His Blessed Mother would visit the Church to end the schism which had rent the 'seamless garment of Christ'. Then, in 1850, Pius IX raised the importance of the feast following his safe return to the albeit some-what diminished papal states.[6]

Jesu that dost in Mary dwell, Be in thy servants' hearts as well, In the spirit of thy holiness, In the fullness of thy force and stress, In the very way that thy life goes, And virtues that thy pattern shows, In the sharing of thy mysteries; And every power in us that is Against thy power put under feet In the Holy Spirit the Paraclete To the glory of the Father. Amen. [7]

"Let Mary's soul be in us to glorify the Lord; let her spirit be in us that we may rejoice in God our Saviour" [8] .

The opinions expressed in this paper are those of the Web site owner and as such may not be assumed to reflect or represent the official teaching of Holy Mother Church at any time past or present.

REFERENCES

1...... MPA229, CW1p110 §40
2...... MPA253, CW1p160 §40
3...... 'The Mother of God', M.M.Philipon, Newman 1953, p38
4.......see L155; L216; L224; L230; L285 (this letter is very poignant).
5...... 'The Reed of God', Caryll Houselander Sheed & Ward, 1955, p32
6...... Note that Sr Elizabeth would have celebrated
.........this feast-day on July 2nd.
7...... Trans. by G.M.Hopkins of a prayer by Fr Condren
........ of the French Oratory of St Philip Neri - undated in poems
........ of GMH, Robert Bridges, Oxford, 1930 (No.132)
8...... St Ambrose, In Lucam, 1. II, n.26 given in
.........'Mother of the Saviour', R. Garrigou-Lagrange,
.........Golden Eagle, 1941, p106

CW……‘Complete Works of Elizabeth of the Trinity’, ICS;
….……..Vol 1(CW1) 1984
MPA….‘The Spiritual Doctrine of Sister Elizabeth of the Trinity’,
………..M.M.Philipon, Mercier Press, 1947