Day 4 St. Elizabeth of the Trinity Novena – Mp3 audio and Text


 Day Four – For the grace to be captivated by Christ

In her prayer to the Trinity, Saint Elizabeth asks particular graces of each of the Divine Persons. From Christ, she asks to be captivated by Him. She refers to Him as the Radiant Star and asks for the grace to fixate on Him and to learn all from Him. She situates this petition within her awareness of her own inadequacies, voids, weaknesses and failings. She does not run from these struggles, but she also knows that she cannot overcome these on her own. She needs help – the help that comes from Christ alone. When we look to Him, it is not our failures that ultimately define us – instead, it is the love that He has for us that becomes definitive in our lives. If we allow the dynamism of His presence to draw our hearts to Him, rather than self-pity or despair, we find the strength to trust Him even as everything in our lives seems to be falling apart. If we keep our eyes fixed on Jesus, He will lead us to the victory of good over evil in our hearts, our families and our communities. He is greater than every evil and He loves to reveal His strength in our weakness. When we come across that painful emptiness in which everything seems impossible, Jesus is present there too — ready to shine on us anew and to help us find our way once again.

In the spiritual mission of Saint Elizabeth of the Trinity, she knows how much it brings the Radiant Star great delight when we allow Him to be the light that shines in the darkness of our lives – and, when we ask her to help us find this light, it increases Saint Elizabeth’s joy to help us triumph. Let us pray:

O My God, Trinity whom I adore, help me to forget myself entirely so as to be established in you as still and as peaceful as if my soul were already in eternity. May nothing be able to disturb my peace, nor make me depart from you, o my Unchanging One, but may each moment carry me further into the depths of your Mystery. Pacify my soul, make it your heaven, your beloved abode, your resting place. May I never leave you there alone, but may I be entirely present, my faith completely ready, wholly adoring, fully surrendered to your creative action.

O my beloved Christ, crucified by love, I would like to be a bride for your heart. I would like to cover you with glory, I would like to love you… unto death. I feel my powerlessness, however, and I ask you to clothe me with yourself, to identify my soul with all the movements of your soul, to defeat me, to overwhelm me, to substitute yourself for me, that my life might be but the radiation of your Life. Come into me as Adorer, as Healer, as Savior. O Eternal Word, Word of my God, I want to spend my life listening to you, I want to be completely docile, ready to learn everything from you. Then, through all nights, all voids, all weakness, I want to fixate on you always and to remain under your great light. O My beloved Star, fascinate me so that I would not be able to forsake your shining light.

O Consuming Flame, Spirit of love, come over me until my soul is render into an incarnation of the Word; may I be for Him another humanity in which he renews His whole Mystery.

And you, O Father, bend over your little creature, cover her with your shadow, and see in her only the Beloved in whom You are well-pleased.
O my Three, my All, my Beatitude, Infinite Solitude, Immensity in which I loose myself, I surrender myself as prey. Bury yourself in me in order that I might bury myself in you, while waiting to contemplate in your light the immeasurable depths of your grandeur.

Amen

The Novena to St. Elizabeth of the Trinity is authored by Dr. Anthony Lilles S.T.D.

For the entire 9-Day Novena to St. Elizabeth of the Trinity

Day 3 St. Elizabeth of the Trinity Novena – Mp3 audio and Text


 Day Three – For the Grace that makes our sins into a source of humility

Today we ask Saint Elizabeth to intercede for us against the temptation to be discouraged by our sins.  It is possible to take sin too lightly, to not realize the great price that was paid so that we might live as sons and daughters of God.  It is also possible to allow our awareness of sin to discourage us, even to the point of abandoning prayer.  Saint Elizabeth is adamant that we should never abandon prayer, that even our awareness of sin can help us go deeper into the silence in which the Lord wants to heal and transform us. This is because she keeps her eyes fixed on “God, who is rich in mercy.”

Those who keep the mercy of God before them never grow tired of confessing their sins and deepening their life of conversion.  Mercy is love that suffers the misery of another, and Christ has justified us by suffering the misery of our sin for our sake. He has rescued our dignity and given us standing before the Father by accepting the consequences of our sin out of love for us and dying for us.  This is the reason that Saint Elizabeth refers to Christ “crucified by love.”  As long as we keep our eyes fixed on this love, rather than discourage us, our sins can become occasions for gratitude to the Lord and confidence in the immensity of His devotion to us.

Saint Elizabeth says that the Lord has found a way to convert our sins into instruments of salvation.   This does not diminish the horror that we should have for sin.  It opens up, instead, a source of humility.  We are a little more free from self-love when we accept how broken we are and how much we need God’s love. Less self-satisfied, we discover in our hearts a new openness to die to ourselves and to live the life that the Lord would have for us instead. Whenever we humbly repent of what we have done and turn with confidence to the Lord, He is ready to give us peace and help us to begin again.

In her mission, Saint Elizabeth wants us to plunge into humility before the mercy of God.  She does not want us to be discouraged by sin, but with a simple movement of love and confidence to confess it, to feel sorrow over it, and to humbly work to repair the damage that we have done. Instead of being pre-occupied with personal failure or even the hurt we have caused, we must see how God is turning even our weakness into a new kind of wisdom. We must allow God to love us in this way. Saint Elizabeth explains, “Love rebuilds what you have destroyed.”

O My God, Trinity whom I adore, help me to forget myself entirely so as to be established in you as still and as peaceful as if my soul were already in eternity. May nothing be able to disturb my peace, nor make me depart from you, o my Unchanging One, but may each moment carry me further into the depths of your Mystery. Pacify my soul, make it your heaven, your beloved abode, your resting place. May I never leave you there alone, but may I be entirely present, my faith completely ready, wholly adoring, fully surrendered to your creative action.

O my beloved Christ, crucified by love, I would like to be a bride for your heart. I would like to cover you with glory, I would like to love you… unto death. I feel my powerlessness, however, and I ask you to clothe me with yourself, to identify my soul with all the movements of your soul, to defeat me, to overwhelm me, to substitute yourself for me, that my life might be but the radiation of your Life. Come into me as Adorer, as Healer, as Savior. O Eternal Word, Word of my God, I want to spend my life listening to you, I want to be completely docile, ready to learn everything from you. Then, through all nights, all voids, all weakness, I want to fixate on you always and to remain under your great light. O My beloved Star, fascinate me so that I would not be able to forsake your shining light.

O Consuming Flame, Spirit of love, come over me until my soul is render into an incarnation of the Word; may I be for Him another humanity in which he renews His whole Mystery.

And you, O Father, bend over your little creature, cover her with your shadow, and see in her only the Beloved in whom You are well-pleased.
O my Three, my All, my Beatitude, Infinite Solitude, Immensity in which I loose myself, I surrender myself as prey. Bury yourself in me in order that I might bury myself in you, while waiting to contemplate in your light the immeasurable depths of your grandeur.

Amen

The Novena to St. Elizabeth of the Trinity is authored by Dr. Anthony Lilles S.T.D.

For the entire 9-Day Novena to St. Elizabeth of the Trinity

CW5 All Hallow’s Eve (Halloween) – The Great Cloud of Witnesses: Guides for Prayer with Fr. Mark Cyza – Discerning Hearts

Fr. Mark Cyza discusses the origins of All Hallow’s Eve and it’s development into the secular celebration known as “Halloween”.  How should celebrate this time and what should our prayer reflect?

Day 2 St. Elizabeth of the Trinity Novena – Mp3 audio and Text


 Day Two – For the grace to give our hearts to Jesus

Saint Elizabeth wants us to give our heart to Jesus, to enter into a prayer so deep and beautiful, that we hear Him ask for it.   She invites us to hear the Word of the Father speak to our souls the way the Samaritan Woman heard Christ speak to hers.  Our Lord wants adorers “in spirit and truth.”

For Saint Elizabeth, Jesus is the great Adorer, and he wants us to become what He is. When we look at how He adored the Father, we see that his prayer was not a good intention or a nice wish, but a lived reality.  What Christ offered to the Father in the silence of prayer, He gave up on the Cross for our sake.  His whole existence became an act of worship and spiritual sacrifice.

This means that to be an adorer in “truth,” we must also live out the truth in our actions.  We must give Jesus the gift of our hearts not only in our words and intentions but our actions as well. Here, however, our weaknesses seem to hinder us.  The truth is that God loves us, and He does so, even in the face of our sins. Christ-crucified lived in the love of the Father, even as He took on the consequences of our sins to show us that God’s love is greater than sin.  Everything for Jesus was done out of love for the Father. For us to be adorers in truth, we must, like Christ, live in God’s love – until every decision, every action is carried out in that love, by that love, and for that love.  Even in the midst of difficult trials, our actions must be Christ-like – just as Jesus Christ lived by complete confidence in the Father, we must live in complete confidence in Him.

How do we acquire this is childlike posture before the Lord? Saint Elizabeth wants to help us spend time in the silence of prayer.  Trying to stay in this silence is difficult.  We must face our tendencies to brood over injuries or else simply not deal with the interior pain that we carry.  Silence wasted on such interior rancor is dangerous. Saint Elizabeth describes another kind of silence, and it this silence that we must seek in prayer by renouncing every thought or feeling or fantasy that is not worthy of it.  Each renunciation deepens childlike confidence and trust. The greater this trust, the deeper the silence God guides us into. She describes this silence as allowing the Lord to sit us on His knee and caress us like a mother comforts her child —  an image from Isaiah.  Throughout the trials and difficulties in life, the silent and tender love of God surrounds us and is completely present to us.  This is the same love that gave Christ the strength to die for us. Now the Trinity gently offers it to strengthen us, too.  In the silence of prayer, we can hear and respond to God’s gentle invitation, “Give me your heart.”

The spiritual mission of Saint Elizabeth is to keep us in the deep silence in which we can hear this tender voice.  So that she might help us give our hearts in the stillness of this immense love, let us pray:

O My God, Trinity whom I adore, help me to forget myself entirely so as to be established in you as still and as peaceful as if my soul were already in eternity. May nothing be able to disturb my peace, nor make me depart from you, o my Unchanging One, but may each moment carry me further into the depths of your Mystery. Pacify my soul, make it your heaven, your beloved abode, your resting place. May I never leave you there alone, but may I be entirely present, my faith completely ready, wholly adoring, fully surrendered to your creative action.

O my beloved Christ, crucified by love, I would like to be a bride for your heart. I would like to cover you with glory, I would like to love you… unto death. I feel my powerlessness, however, and I ask you to clothe me with yourself, to identify my soul with all the movements of your soul, to defeat me, to overwhelm me, to substitute yourself for me, that my life might be but the radiation of your Life. Come into me as Adorer, as Healer, as Savior. O Eternal Word, Word of my God, I want to spend my life listening to you, I want to be completely docile, ready to learn everything from you. Then, through all nights, all voids, all weakness, I want to fixate on you always and to remain under your great light. O My beloved Star, fascinate me so that I would not be able to forsake your shining light.

O Consuming Flame, Spirit of love, come over me until my soul is rendered into an incarnation of the Word; may I be for Him another humanity in which he renews His whole Mystery.

And you, O Father, bend over your little creature, cover her with your shadow, and see in her only the Beloved in whom You are well-pleased.
O my Three, my All, my Beatitude, Infinite Solitude, Immensity in which I loose myself, I surrender myself as prey. Bury yourself in me in order that I might bury myself in you, while waiting to contemplate in your light the immeasurable depths of your grandeur.

Amen

The Novena to St. Elizabeth of the Trinity is authored by Dr. Anthony Lilles S.T.D.

For the entire 9-Day Novena to St. Elizabeth of the Trinity

IP#320 Fr. Wade Menezes C.F.M. – The Four Last Things on Inside the Pages

  With the incredible Fr. Wade Menezes we discuss “The Four Last Things: A Catechetical Guide to Death, Judgment, Heaven, and Hell.”

You can find the book here
From the Inside Flap

Few things in this earthly life are absolutely certain, but the most undebatable of these is death. Every person, even the atheist, will admit that death is certain. Death, however, is not the last event in this life of ours. Immediately after death, we shall be judged and then again on the Day of Judgment when all humanity will know us for what we are.

Too often the reality of Heaven and salvation are highlighted at the expense of the Church’s teachings on Death, Judgment, Purgatory, and Hell. Yet, these important doctrines of the Church hold the truths of salvation — truths that can lead us to Heaven or can pull us away from it.

In these pages, Fr. Wade Menezes, EWTN television host and Assistant General of the Fathers of Mercy, shows us that God has not called us to His wrath, but to salvation. He shows us that Heaven and Hell, salvation and damnation, eternal life and eternal punishment are all complementary doctrines. They need each other to be complete and we must understand the Church’s teachings on all of these doctrines in order to have a balanced view of the world.

Death, Judgment, Heaven and Hell these are the Four Last Things toward which we are moving each hour of the day and night. Read this book, and you’ll have a firm grasp of one of the most important doctrines of Holy Mother Church that holds the truths of Heaven and our own salvation.

Day 1 St. Elizabeth of the Trinity Novena – Mp3 audio and Text

Dr. Anthony Lilles STD - Beginning to Pray 3
 Day One – For the grace to enter into great silence

In this nine days of prayer with Saint Elizabeth of the Trinity, we will offer her oblation to the Trinity, “O My God whom I adore. “ Elizabeth wrote this prayer to help souls seek a spiritually mature relationship with God. This journey to spiritual maturity progresses by way of silence, an interior silence. This is not an empty silence or an alienated one. It is a silence that is vigilant for the new work that the Holy Trinity is waiting to do in us. On this first day of this Novena, let us begin by recalling Saint Elizabeth’s mission – a mission completely oriented to the powerful silence in which the soul encounters the fullness of God. She writes, shortly before her death:

I suppose that in heaven my mission will be to attract souls
Helping them go out of themselves
To cleave to God by an entirely simple and loving movement
And to keep them inside this great silence
That will allow God to imprint Himself in them
And transform them into Himself. L 335

That this mission might be realized in us, and that we might enter into great silence, and through Saint Elizabeth’s intercession, remain there, let us pray:

O My God, Trinity whom I adore, help me to forget myself entirely so as to be established in you as still and as peaceful as if my soul were already in eternity. May nothing be able to disturb my peace, nor make me depart from you, o my Unchanging One, but may each moment carry me further into the depths of your Mystery. Pacify my soul, make it your heaven, your beloved abode, your resting place. May I never leave you there alone, but may I be entirely present, my faith completely ready, wholly adoring, fully surrendered to your creative action.

O my beloved Christ, crucified by love, I would like to be a bride for your heart. I would like to cover you with glory, I would like to love you… unto death. I feel my powerlessness, however, and I ask you to clothe me with yourself, to identify my soul with all the movements of your soul, to defeat me, to overwhelm me, to substitute yourself for me, that my life might be but the radiation of your Life. Come into me as Adorer, as Healer, as Savior. O Eternal Word, Word of my God, I want to spend my life listening to you, I want to be completely docile, ready to learn everything from you. Then, through all nights, all voids, all weakness, I want to fixate on you always and to remain under your great light. O My beloved Star, fascinate me so that I would not be able to forsake your shining light.

O Consuming Flame, Spirit of love, come over me until my soul is rendered into an incarnation of the Word; may I be for Him another humanity in which he renews His whole Mystery.

And you, O Father, bend over your little creature, cover her with your shadow, and see in her only the Beloved in whom You are well-pleased.
O my Three, my All, my Beatitude, Infinite Solitude, Immensity in which I loose myself, I surrender myself as prey. Bury yourself in me in order that I might bury myself in you, while waiting to contemplate in your light the immeasurable depths of your grandeur.

Amen

The Novena to St. Elizabeth of the Trinity is authored by Dr. Anthony Lilles S.T.D.

For the entire 9-Day Novena to St. Elizabeth of the Trinity

FG#13 The Way of Trust and Love episode 2 – Fountains of Grace with Donna Garrett

Join host Donna Garrett, with Fr. James Perez, LC, as they discuss the spiritual classic “The Way of Trust and Love: A Retreat Guided By St. Therese of Lisieux” by Fr. Jacques Philippe.

Discussed in this episode, among other topics, from “The Way of Trust and Love”

The fact that we can’t save ourselves is something we acknowledge in words, but in fact we find it very hard to accept. We’d all like to be saved by our own efforts, to be strong and robust, to boast about our successes, to shine in other people’s eyes, even on the spiritual level. Worldly people want to be highly regarded because they have luxurious cars, expensive watches, designer clothes, professional prestige, and go around with beautiful people. As good Christians, we may want to stand out for our virtues, charisms, experience, and sound judgment. Then we consider that we are on the right path. But in fact we’re in danger of ending up with exactly the same mindset as the worldly people described above. Very often, without realizing it, we have a worldly outlook on the spiritual life: self-fulfillment, self-affirmation, expansion of ego, etc. And spiritual pride, we must be aware, is sometimes more destructive than social, worldly pride.

Fr. James Perez, LC, joins Donna for this series

We cannot be saved by what we do; we can only be saved by grace, when God’s freely given love comes, takes hold of us, and transforms us, sometimes gently and progressively, but sometimes in a spectacular way. In general, the transformation is fairly slow and progressive, without our always being able to notice the action of grace.

Philippe, Jacques (2012-06-07). The Way of Trust and Love – A Retreat Guided by St. Therese of Lisieux (Kindle Locations 445-454). Scepter Publishers. Kindle Edition.

For other episodes in the this series click hereFountains of Grace w/Donna Garrett

You can find “The Way of Trust and Love” here

Fr. Jacques Philippe

BTP-WP5 Chap 19 The Living Water & Nature of Mystical Prayer – The Way of Perfection by St. Teresa of Avila – Beginning to Pray w/Dr. Anthony Lilles

Dr. Lilles discusses the “Living Water” as described by St. Teresa of Avila “The Way of Perfection.” We also discuss the nature of mystical prayer.

CHAPTER 19 –
Begins to treat of prayer. Addresses souls who cannot reason with the understanding.

Saint Teresa Painting Convento de Santa Teresa Avila Castile Spain.

 

For the audio recordings of  St. Teresa’s “The Way of Perfection” you can visit the Discerning Hearts Spiritual Classics audio page

For other episodes in the series visit
The Discerning Hearts “The Way of Perfection with Dr. Anthony Lilles”s

Anthony Lilles, S.T.D. is an associate professor and the academic dean of Saint John’s Seminary in Camarillo as well as the academic advisor for Juan Diego House of Priestly Formation for the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. For over twenty years he served the Church in Northern Colorado where he joined and eventually served as dean of the founding faculty of Saint John Vianney Theological Seminary in Denver. Through the years, clergy, seminarians, religious and lay faithful have benefited from his lectures and retreat conferences on the Carmelite Doctors of the Church and the writings of St. Elisabeth of the Trinity.

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To Our Fathers and Their Posterity Forever – Mary’s Magnificat, Word by Word with Sonja Corbitt

The pulse of life within my wrist / A fallen snow, a rising mist / There is no higher praise than this / And my soul wells up / O my soul wells up / Yes my soul wells up with hallelujahs.

Oh praise Him all His mighty works / There is no language where you can’t be heard / Your song goes out to all the earth / Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah! / O hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah!

Songwriters: CHRIS RICE, CHRISTOPHER M. RICE © Warner/Chappell Music, Inc.

For other episodes in this series, visit the Discerning Hearts Sonja Corbitt page

Scripture References for The Show

Luke 1:46-55, the words of the Magnificat

And Mary said:
“My soul magnifies the Lord,
47 and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
48 for he has regarded the low estate of his handmaiden.
For behold, henceforth all generations will call me blessed;
49 for he who is mighty has done great things for me,
and holy is his name.
50 And his mercy is on those who fear him
from generation to generation.
51 He has shown strength with his arm,
he has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts,
52 he has put down the mighty from their thrones,
and exalted those of low degree;
53 he has filled the hungry with good things,
and the rich he has sent empty away.
54 He has helped his servant Israel,
in remembrance of his mercy,
55 as he spoke to our fathers,
to Abraham and to his posterity for ever.”

Song in the Bible

Song of Creation

  • Job 38:6-7, The angels sang at the creation of the cosmos.
  • Psalm 19:1-4, All creation sings praise simply by being what it was made to be.
  • Zephaniah 3:17, God Himself sings and dances (“rejoices”) over His people in a new, spiritual creation.
    • (NAB-A) The LORD, your God, is in your midst, a mighty savior; He will rejoice over you with gladness, and renew you in his love, He will sing joyfully because of you,
    • (NJB) Yahweh your God is there with you, the warrior-Saviour. He will rejoice over you with happy song, he will renew you by his love, he will dance with shouts of joy for you,
    • (RSV-CE) The LORD, your God, is in your midst, a warrior who gives victory; he will rejoice over you with gladness, he will renew you in his love; he will exult over you with loud singing
    • “Rejoice” is translated from a Hebrew word, a primitive root; properly to spin around (under the influence of any violent emotion), that is, usually rejoice… : – be glad, joy, be joyful, rejoice.
    • The Hebrew word means to “spin around under violent emotion,” or basically to dance. So Zep 3:17 is more accurately translated as, “Yahweh your God in your midst, the Mighty One, will save; He will rejoice over you with gladness, He will quiet you with His Love, He will dance over you with singing.”
    • “My spirit rejoices in God my Savior…” (Luke 1:47).

Song of the Soul

  • Luke 1:46-55, Mary’s Magnificat
  • Psalms – a psalm is a song
  • Song of Songs, the song of all songs, the song of the soul and God
  • Song 8:10, “Then I became in his eyes as one who found peace.” Peace means consummation in this context, and it is found in His song of fire-love for you (8:6, 10).

EPISODE RESOURCES

I Wrestled with God and Won article on Jacob’s confrontation with God at the Jabbok river

Discussion of the significance of Esau selling his birthright is located in chapter three of Unleashed.

Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC) 63, Israel is the priestly people of God, “called by the name of the LORD”, and “the first to hear the word of God”, the people of “elder brethren” in the faith of Abraham.

CCC 877, In fact, from the beginning of his ministry, the Lord Jesus instituted the Twelve as “the seeds of the new Israel and the beginning of the sacred hierarchy.”

LOVE the Word(TM) is a Bible study method based on Mary’s own practice. This week’s LOVE the Word(TM) exercise is based on an Thomistic* personality approach. Go on! Try it!

Listen (Receive the Word)

“The heavens are telling the glory of God; and the firmament proclaims his handiwork. Day to day pours forth speech, and night to night declares knowledge. There is no speech, nor are there words; their voice is not heard; yet their voice goes out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world” (Ps 19:1-4).

Observe (Connect the passage to recent events.)

Study carefully these verses of praise, themselves a song, like the Magnificat.

Who and what is this psalm about?
Where and when does this song take place?
Why and how is praise occurring?

Verbalize (Pray about your thoughts and emotions.)

Who, what, where, when, why and how, do you want to thank and praise God for right now?

Entrust (May it be done to me according to your word!)

Lord, you are my beloved, and I am yours…there is no higher praise than this…hallelujah…

*LOVE the Word(TM) exercises, vary weekly according to the four personalities, or “prayer forms,” explored in Prayer and Temperament, by Chester Michael and Marie Norrisey: Ignatian, Augustinian, Franciscan, and Thomistic.

St. Teresa of Avila – From the teachings of Pope Benedict XVI

ST. TERESA OF AVILA

WEDNESDAY, 2 FEBRUARY 2011 Paul VI Audience Hall

Benedict XVI, Pope. Holy Men and Women Of the Middle Ages and Beyond (p. 185). Ignatius Press. Kindle Edition.

This audio recording is taken from writings of Pope Benedict XVI found in “Holy Men and Women of the Middle Ages and Beyond” published by Ignatius Press.  For the text of this recording and for an incredible selection of other lives reflected upon by Pope Benedict XVI, following the link provided to obtain the book.  We thank Ignatius Press for granting Discerning Hearts permission to produce this audio recording.