Let Yourself Be Loved

A personal letter to you from St. Elizabeth of the Trinity:


When you read these lines, your little Praise of Glory will no longer be singing on earth, but will be living in Love's immense furnace; so you can believe her and listen to her as "the voice" of God. Cherished one, I would have liked to tell you all  . . . but the hour is so serious, so solemn . . . and I don't want to delay over telling you things that I think lose something when trying to express them in words. What your child is coming to do is to reveal to you what she feels, or, to be more exact: what her God, in the hours of profound recollection, of unifying contact, makes her understand.

"You are uncommonly loved," loved by that love of preference that the Master had here below for some and which brought them so far. He does not say to you as to Peter: "Do you love Me more than these?" . . . Listen to what He tells you: "Let yourself be loved more than these! That is, without fearing that any obstacle will be a hindrance to it, for I am free to pour out My love on whom I wish! 'Let yourself be loved more than these' is your vocation. It is in being faithful to it that you will make Me happy for you will magnify the power of My love. This love can rebuild what you have destroyed. Let yourself be loved more than these."

Dearly loved one, if you knew with what assurance I understand God's plan for your soul; it appears to me as in an immense light, and I understand also that in Heaven I will fulfill in my turn a priesthood over your soul. It is Love who associates me with His work in you: Oh, how great and adorable it is on God's part! And how simple it is for you, and that is exactly what makes it so luminous! Let yourself be loved more than the others; that explains everything and prevents the soul from being surprised . . .

If you will allow her, your little host will spend her Heaven in the depths of your soul; she will keep you in communion with Love, believing in Love; it will be the sign of her dwelling in you. Oh, in what intimacy we are going to live. Let your life also be spent in the Heavens where I will sing in your name the eternal Sanctus; I will do nothing before the throne of God without you . . . I also ask you not to do anything without me; you have granted me this. I will come to live in you . . . I will instruct you, so that my vision will benefit you, that you may participate in it, and that you too, may live the life of the blessed!

As I leave, I bequeath to you this vocation which was mine in the heart of the Church Militant and which from now on I will unceasingly fulfill in the Church Triumphant: "The Praise of Glory of the Holy Trinity." "Let yourself be loved more than these": it is in that way that your Master wills for you to be a praise of glory! He rejoices to  build up in you by His love and for His glory, and it is He alone who wants to work in you, even though you will have done nothing to attract this grace except that which a creature can do: works of sin and misery . . . He loves you like that. He loves you "more than these," He will do everything in you. He will go to the end: for when a soul is loved by Him to this extent, in this way, loved by an unchanging and creative love, a free love which transforms as it pleases Him, oh, how far this soul will go!

The fidelity that the Master asks of you is to remain in communion with Love, flow into, be rooted in this Love who wants to mark your soul with the seal of His power and His grandeur. You will never be commonplace if you are vigilant in love! But in the hours when you feel only oppression and lassitude, you will please Him even more if you faithfully believe that He is still working, that He is loving you just the same, and even more: because His love is free and that is how He wants to be magnified in you; and you will let yourself be loved "more than these." That I believe is what this means . . . Live in the depths of your soul! My master makes me understand very clearly that He wants to create marvelous things there; you are called to render homage to the simplicity of the Divine Being and to magnify the power of His Love. Believe His "voice" and read these lines He spoke to St. Angela of Foligno as if they are coming directly from Him to you: 

Oh! I love you, I love you more than anyone else in this valley! . . . It is "I" who come, and I bring you unknown joy . . . . I will enter into the depths of your being.

O My Spouse! I have rested and remained in you; now possess yourself and repose in Me! . . . 

Love Me! All your life will please Me, provided that you love Me! . . . I will do great things in you; I will be made known in you, glorified, and praised in you!

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Happy Feast of St. Elizabeth of the Trinity!

How wonderful that our sister Elizabeth, who left the house of Carmel in Dijon for the House of Our Father in Heaven on November 9, 1906, just 9 years after our sister Therese left the Carmel in Lisieux, should have read and loved Story of a Soul in the very scant 8 years between its publication and Elizabeth's departure from exile. Like our sister St. Therese, she beautifully articulates her mission, and like Therese she imagines, anticipates, and fully expects and promises to be very near to us and help us on our own little way to Heaven.

Do stay with us Elizabeth, and help us let ourselves be loved!

For further reading in this 10th anniversary year of the departure from exile of our own beloved Dr. Ronald P. McArthur, a huge fan of both these little Carmelites, click here:

https://catholicexchange.com/books-and-friendship-with-the-saints/

​And meanwhile, don't forget to let yourself be loved!

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Draw me, we will run!