As if Already in Eternity: The Wisdom of Blessed Elisabeth of the Trinity by Anthony Lilles

Anthony-Lilles

As if Already in Eternity: The Wisdom of Blessed Elisabeth of the Trinity (as found on Anthony’s “Beginning to Pray” blog site)

 

Blessed Elisabeth of the Trinity is a witness to the primacy of contemplation in the life of the Church and the mystical wisdom contemplation releases into human history.  This is the wisdom that understands how God is present in both the public square as well as in the intimacy of our hearts.   Today, when the whole world needs this wisdom renewed, the Church celebrates her feast day and invites us to consider her powerful spiritual doctrine.

She wrote a famous prayer to the Holy Trinity that has helped many contemplatives recover devotion to the Divine Persons in their life of prayer.  This work is cited to support the  Catechism of the Catholic Church’s teaching on the Divine Works and the Trinitarian Missions.  The teaching itself is that God calls every individual to a great and beautiful purpose, to become a dwelling place for His presence in the world:

The ultimate end of the divine economy is the entry of God’s creatures into the perfect unity of the Blessed Trinity.  But even now we are called to be a dwelling for the Most Holy Trinity, ‘If a man loves me,’ says the Lord, ‘he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him, and make our home with him’ (CCC 260).

This is a rich teaching because it says that our ultimate fulfillment is not simply something waiting for us in a remote future, in a distant afterlife.  Instead, the Catechism proposes that heaven can begin now in faith.   This means that our faith offers us a fullness of life.  We do not have to be content with managing through life’s ambiguities and uncertainties with the hope that someday it might get better.  Instead, our faith gives us a real foretaste of the fullness that awaits us — so that the excessiveness of God’s love can pour into our lives here and now, if we will believe in Him.

To encourage this decision to believe in the love that God has for us in the here and now of our lives, the Catechism cites the beginning of Blessed Elisabeth’s prayer to the Trinity, “O my God, Trinity whom I adore, help me to forget myself entirely so to establish myself in you, unmovable and peaceful as if my soul were already in eternity.”

Blessed Elisabeth’s prayer helps us consider what it means to have faith, to believe in God and what He calls us to become.  This kind of faith is a matter of a love that takes us out of ourselves. It is, in this sense, an ecstatic movement of heart, a decision to lay aside everything so that there is space for God to dwell in us.  Faith helps us see that our own bloated egos need to make way for God.  To love Christ to the point of welcoming His word in our hearts means He can begin to help us forget our very self.  He is the One who frees us so that the fullness of life that awaits us in heaven begins here on earth.

Her words suggest that the biggest obstacle to prayer is not anything outside ourselves, but proclivities within.   The ego has its own specific gravity.  Its force, if left unchecked, its deadly.  Anxieties over our own plans and for security, our lust for control and to put others in their place, our need to be right and esteemed, our obsession with being liked or affirmed, our gluttony for comfort and entertainment; all of this fails to provide any firm ground for rectifying our existence.  Unchecked, these tendencies suffocate the heart, and as long as one’s heart is pulled by these forces, it can find no peace.

Only when we can get out of ourselves are we able to breath the fresh air of friendship with God and true solidarity with one Blessed-Elizabeth-4another.   At the same time, even after we see how imprisoned we are, left to our own resources, we cannot entirely free ourselves.  The answer is not to be found in our own cleverness or in some Titanic effort to surmount oneself through techniques.  Only Christ can help us leave our old way of life behind.  This is why Blessed Elisabeth’s prayer begins with a cry for help.

Clinging to what Christ has revealed about the Father and about humanity, this is the essential movement of faith.  This is His word to us – for He is the saving Word that reveals this inexhaustible mystery.  Those whose hearts are vulnerable to this radiant beauty find true inner freedom.

Souls whom Christ helps to be free of themselves stand firm in love even as everything in life falls apart around them.  This is only because through Christ they have found the ground of their very being in the excessive love flowing from the Holy Trinity into their nights, their voids, their inadequacies and even their failures.  In short, come what come may they know they are loved and that love awaits them.

It by standing on this ground that a soul opens itself to God’s presence in ever new and surprising ways.  On this ground, He dwells in them.  With the inflow of His truth and love, it is easy to let go and to trust, and anyone who has discovered this freedom wants to be established there in an unmovable way.

Today is the feast of Blessed Elisabeth of the Trinity.  She lived out this truth to her last anguished heartbeat, bedridden with an incurable disease even as the political powers of her day threatened those she loved the most and the Church was rocked by all kinds of scandal.  This Carmelite Mystic, the Mystic of Dijon, believed her mission was to help souls enter to a transforming encounter with Christ, one that requires a journey out of ourselves where we are vulnerable enough to be touched by Him. Her words encourage us to call out to the Word, and to let His great Canticle of love resound in our hearts with all its fulness — for to know this saving truth is to live as if already in eternity.

IP#238 George Weigel – Roman Pilgrimage on Inside the Pages with Kris McGregor

weigel“Roman Pilgrimage: The Station Churches” is a stunning work.  A must have for those who love beauty, the heritage of the Catholic faith, and the celebration and depth of the Church’s liturgy.  The lives of the saints and martyrs come alive in this work which features the spiritual reflections of theologian George Weigel, the exquisite  artistic insights of art historian Elizabeth Lev, and the beautiful photography of Stephen Weigel.  George opens with the history of the practice of visiting the tombs of Christian martyrs  which began in the 4th century.   No one tells a story quite like he does. The pilgrimage would eventually evolve into a journey to churches, basilicas, and cathedrals throughout the city of the Saints.  Through this work, in a very real way,  the gift of Rome comes to meet in your home.  The spiritual contemplations are not only ideal for Lenten devotion, but are excellent for any time of the year.  A gift to give to yourself and to anyone you may care about who is traveling the pilgrimage of faith.

Roman-PilgrimageYou can find the book here

Fr. Robert Barron, Rector-President, Mundelein Seminary
“An astonishingly good book. George Weigel’s meditations on the liturgical texts of Lent and Easter are intellectually rich, spiritually alert, and rendered in beautifully crafted prose; Elizabeth Lev’s examinations of the station churches themselves are always informative, insightful, and witty. Equally impressive are Stephen Weigel’s artfully composed photographs. Roman Pilgrimage will delight your eye and feed your soul.”

Timothy Cardinal Dolan, Archbishop of New York
“On cold, damp, late-winter early mornings, hundreds of priests, seminarians, sisters, and devoted lay people walk the Roman cobblestones to one of the Eternal City’s forty most venerable sites, the station church of that Lenten day. It’s a microcosm of the pilgrim Church and of life’s journey, and Easter is never brighter than after faithfully completing this sixteen-century-old pilgrimage tradition.”

IP#237 Fr. Joseph Fessio S.J. – The Transforming Power of Faith on Inside the Pages with Kris McGregor

What a delight to speak once again to Fr. Joseph Fessio, this time about “The Transforming Power of Faith” by Pope Benedict Fr.-FessioXVI.  Ignatius Press has once again brought to us a wonderful compilation of the final sixteen talks given at his weekly audience from October 2012 to the end of his papacy in February 2013.  These talks explore how and why faith is relevant in the contemporary world.

In this discussion, Fr. Fessio offers his insights on the pontificate of Pope Francis, a brother in the Jesuit order.  He also addresses an issue concerning the work of Fr. Hans Urs von Balthasar as found in his book “Dare We Hope That All May Be Saved”, which has, in some cases recently, been mistakenly understood and represented to others.  He breaks open a bit Fr. von Balthasar’s teachings on hell, the mercy of God, and the proper understanding of “hope”.  Another engaging conversation with the ever fascinating Fr. Fessio.

Transfroming-Power-of-FaithYou can find the book here

From the book description:

“Having faith in the Lord is not something that involves solely our intelligence, the area of intellectual knowledge; rather, it is a change that involves our life, our whole self: feelings, heart, intelligence, will, corporeity, emotions, and human relationships. With faith everything truly changes.”

So Pope Benedict XVI introduced his catecheses for the Year of Faith, a series of sixteen talks given at his weekly audience from October 2012 to the end of his papacy in February 2013. These talks explore how and why faith is relevant in the contemporary world. How can we come to certainty about things that cannot be calculated or scientifically confirmed? What does God’s revelation mean for our daily lives? How can the hunger of the human heart be fulfilled? Offering the guidance of biblical exegesis, pastoral exhortation, and brotherly encouragement, Pope Benedict seeks to answer these questions and many others.

BKL#51 – BEWARE: The Danger of Self-Righteous Prayer – Building a Kingdom of Love w/ Msgr. John Esseff – Discerning Hearts

Msgr.-John-EsseffShow 51 ” Building a Kingdom of Love” –   BEWARE:  The Danger of  Self-Righteous Prayer

Msgr. Esseff reflects on the teaching of the Sacred Scriptures and on how we pray:

Gospel     LK 18:9-14

Jesus addressed this parable
to those who were convinced of their own righteousness
and despised everyone else.
“Two people went up to the temple area to pray;
one was a Pharisee and the other was a tax collector.
The Pharisee took up his position and spoke this prayer to himself,
‘O God, I thank you that I am not like the rest of humanity —
greedy, dishonest, adulterous — or even like this tax collector.
I fast twice a week, and I pay tithes on my whole income.’
But the tax collector stood off at a distance
and would not even raise his eyes to heaven
but beat his breast and prayed,
‘O God, be merciful to me a sinner.’
I tell you, the latter went home justified, not the former;
for whoever exalts himself will be humbled,
and the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”

Msgr. John A. Esseff is a Roman Catholic priest in the Diocese of Scranton.  He was ordained on May 30th 1953, by the late Bishop William J. Hafey, D.D. at St. Peter’s Cathedral in Scranton, PA.  Msgr. Esseff served a retreat director and confessor to Blessed Mother Teresa.    He continues to offer direction and retreats for the sisters of the missionaries of charity around the world.  Msgr. Esseff encountered St.  Padre Pio,  who would become a spiritual father to him.  He has lived in areas around the world,  serving  in the Pontifical missions, a Catholic organization established by Bl. Pope John Paul II to bring the Good News to the world especially to the poor.  Msgr. Esseff assisted the founders of the Institute for Priestly Formation and continues to serve as a spiritual director for the Institute.  He continues to  serve as a retreat leader and director to bishops, priests and sisters and seminarians and other religious leaders around the world.   

 

 

To obtain a copy of Msgr. Esseff’s book byvisiting here

 

Be sure to visit Msgr. Esseff’s website “Building a Kingdom of  Love

 

LFT-10 Living a Life of Virtue Prayer – Listening For Truth with Deacon James Keating episode 10 – Discerning Hearts

Keating-2Episode 10-Listening For Truth Practical ways of living a life of virtue prayer…one way to listen to friends and even enemies to hear the truth God may be wanting to reveal to us.  The wounds that surface in the healing process. The interior healing that can occur and who should help with that process.

Deacon James Keating, PhD., the director of Theological Formation for the Institute for Priestly Formation, located at Creighton University, in Omaha, is making available to ”Discerning Hearts” and all who listen, his series of programs entitled “Listening For Truth”.

Listening for Truth leads men and women in a search for a fuller experience of God that begins in prayer, grows in the rediscovery of our spiritual being, and grounds itself in the truth of Jesus Christ. A presentation of the Christian life as an engagement of the whole person — body, mind, and soul — in the challenge of daily living.

 

 

IPF logo small WOM#1   Deacon James Keating – Way of Mystery episode 1 from Resting On the Heart of Christ

For more information on the “Institute of Priestly Formation” and for other material available by Deacon Keating, just click here

Communion with Christ WOM#1   Deacon James Keating – Way of Mystery episode 1 from Resting On the Heart of Christ

Don’t forget to pickup a copy of “Communion with Christ” , it is one of the best audio sets on prayer…ever!

Check out Deacon Keating’s “Discerning Heart” page

CW4 Our Lady of the Rosary – Praying with the Blessed Virgin Mary – The Great Cloud of Witnesses: Guides for Prayer with Fr. Mark Cyza – Discerning Hearts

Fr.-Mark-Cyza

Fr. Mark Cyza discusses praying with Our Lady of the Holy Rosary.  He speaks of the history of the devotion., as well as,  the importance of spending time in contemplation of the saving mysteries of our salvation.  Fr. Cyza explains why should welcome the opportunity to pray with Blessed Virgin Mary and how she walks with us in her great garden of prayer.

ourladyoftherosaryResources:  Visit the Discerning Hearts Holy Rosary Page here
rosary

BTP#32 St. Bernard, the 12 Steps to Humility and Pride, On Loving God – Beginning to Pray with Dr. Anthony Lilles

BTP#32 St. Bernard and the 12 Steps to Humility and Pride  – The Mystery of Faith in the Wisdom of the Saints.  In this episode Dr. Lilles continues the discussion on St. Bernard of Clairvaux and his teachings found in “The 12 Steps to Humility and Pride” and “On Loving God”.

Dr. Lilles offers 4 key points we should keep in mind as we move forward in this series

1.    The Search for God
2.    Listening to God – Lectio Divnia
3.    Conversion to God – Conversatio Morum
4.    Living with oneself and letting God fashion one into His image

Dr. Lilles’ continues his discussion on St. Bernard of Clairvaux, “The 12 Steps of Humility and Pride” and “On Loving God”:

St.-Bernard-with-Christ

[gview file="https://www.discerninghearts.com/catholic-podcasts/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/onlovinggod.pdf"]
Hidden-Mountain
To obtain a copy of Dr. Lilles’ book click here

Dr.Anthony Lilles is a Catholic husband and father of three teaching Spiritual Theology at St. John Vianney Theological Seminary. He  teaches spiritual theology and spiritual direction to transitional deacons, and the spiritual classics to the men who enter the Spirituality Year, a year of prayer in preparation for seminary formation.  He is the author of the “Beginning to Pray”  Catholic blog spot.

For other episodes in the series visit the Discerning Hearts page for Dr. Anthony Lilles

 

Here is the bibliography that Dr. Lilles spoke of in this episode:

The Mystery of Faith in the Wisdom of the Saints

Saints, other figures, dates and bibliographic information

 

St. Benedict of Nursia  – b. 480 –  d. 547.

St. Benedict.  The Rule.  Edited by Timothy Fry, O.S.B.  New York: Vintage Books, Random House, 1981, 1998.

Read more

IP#233 Dr. Matthew Bunson – Pope Francis “the interviews” on Inside the Pages

Matthew-BunsonIt was great to discuss with Dr. Matthew Bunson the interviews given by Pope Francis to America Magazine and La Republicca .  We discuss the poor translations, issues which have arisen from some of the “statements”, and  the reaction of Catholics to this new “genre” of papal reporting.  Dr. Bunson is a master of seeing through the fog to the heart of the matter.  Great insights!!!

Pope-Francis-book

You can find the book here

 

For the outstanding article from the OSV Newsweekly authored by Dr. Bunson:

Interview reveals discerning, transparent pontiff

Looking past sensational headlines, it gives insights into his ideas for governance, plans for reform

By Matthew Bunson – OSV Newsweekly, 10/6/2013

Jesuit journal
The interview was conducted by editor-in-chief of Jesuit journal La Civiltà Cattolica, Jesuit Father Antonio Spadaro. CNS photo

The flurry of misinterpretation in the secular media following the Sept. 19 publication of a 12,000-word interview with Pope Francis in America magazineand other Jesuit journals around the world was hardly surprising. Conducted over the course of three sessions in August with Jesuit Father Antonio Spadaro, editor-in-chief of La Civiltà Cattolica, the Italian Jesuit journal, the interview sparked eye-grabbing headlines that painted a false narrative that the pope was somehow declaring the Church’s teachings on abortion, homosexuality and sexual ethics to be no longer relevant.

Incidentally, Pope Francis’ remarks the next day to a group of obstetricians and gynecologists, in which he strongly spoke out against an anti-life culture, threw the secular media for a loop.

A further effect of the brief sensation resulting from the interview, though, was the unfortunate overshadowing of the rest of the deeply personal, transparent and all-around remarkable conversation.

Ideas of government

The wide-ranging questions prompted some profound insights by the pope and also uncovered further aspects of his personality and his formation as a priest and one of the most intensely pastoral pontiffs in living memory.

Read more

IP#232 Alissa Jung – Mary of Nazareth on an Inside the Pages Special

What an absolute to delight to speak with actress Alissa Jung about her performance in the breathtaking film “Mary of Nazareth”. Alissa-Jung The German actress is luminous in her portrayal  of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Alissa shares the challenges and the joys she encountered in taking on this challenging role.  She also shares with us the work of her very special non-profit organization “Pens, Paper, Peace” which funds much needed schools for the children of Haiti.

“Stunning in its beauty, breathtaking in its scope! Mary of Nazareth is simply a joy for the heart. This is the film we have been waiting for. This is the Blessed Mother we have come to know in our hearts and the depiction that we want not only our families and friends to see, but all the world as well. A joy-filled expression of faith, hope and love. The Mary of this film is no ‘pouty teenager’ or ‘hapless victim’ as she is too often portrayed in film today. No, this is our Mary, who says with trust a glorious ‘Fiat’ to the will of the Father. This work, with its gorgeous cinematic qualities and touching performances, is worthy to honor the one who would say, “I am the Handmaid of the Lord”. Kris McGregor

Mary-FilmTo learn showtimes in your town or how you can bring the movie to your area visit www.maryfilm.com

The most stunning portrayal of the Virgin Mary on film. It will make you want to love her more than ever. An absolute masterpiece! Yes, my friends, I can assure you that we finally have a movie that gets Mary totally right! Trust me, I am super hard to please when it comes to any portrayal of Mary in film, but this one nailed it entirely! Fr. Donald Calloway, MIC

BKL#47 – ” On what side of the gulf will you be found?” – Building a Kingdom of Love w/ Msgr. John Esseff

Msgr-Esseff-2-e1442263119679-497x526-283x300

“On what side of the gulf will you be found?”

Msgr. Esseff reflects on the teaching of Jesus:

Gospel

 LK 16:19-31

Jesus said to the Pharisees:
“There was a rich man who dressed in purple garments and fine linen
and dined sumptuously each day.
And lying at his door was a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores,
who would gladly have eaten his fill of the scraps
that fell from the rich man’s table.
Dogs even used to come and lick his sores.
When the poor man died,
he was carried away by angels to the bosom of Abraham.
The rich man also died and was buried,
and from the netherworld, where he was in torment,
he raised his eyes and saw Abraham far off
and Lazarus at his side.
And he cried out, ‘Father Abraham, have pity on me.
Send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue,
for I am suffering torment in these flames.’
Abraham replied,
‘My child, remember that you received
what was good during your lifetime
while Lazarus likewise received what was bad;
but now he is comforted here, whereas you are tormented.
Moreover, between us and you a great chasm is established
to prevent anyone from crossing who might wish to go
from our side to yours or from your side to ours.’
He said, ‘Then I beg you, father,
send him to my father’s house, for I have five brothers,
so that he may warn them,
lest they too come to this place of torment.’
But Abraham replied, ‘They have Moses and the prophets.
Let them listen to them.’
He said, ‘Oh no, father Abraham,
but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent.’
Then Abraham said, ‘If they will not listen to Moses and the prophets,
neither will they be persuaded if someone should rise from the dead.'”

Msgr. John A. Esseff is a Roman Catholic priest in the Diocese of Scranton.  He was ordained on May 30th 1953, by the late Bishop William J. Hafey, D.D. at St. Peter’s Cathedral in Scranton, PA.  Msgr. Esseff served a retreat director and confessor to Blessed Mother Teresa.    He continues to offer direction and retreats for the sisters of the missionaries of charity around the world.  Msgr. Esseff encountered St.  Padre Pio,  who would become a spiritual father to him.  He has lived in areas around the world,  serving  in the Pontifical missions, a Catholic organization established by Bl. Pope John Paul II to bring the Good News to the world especially to the poor.  Msgr. Esseff assisted the founders of the Institute for Priestly Formation and continues to serve as a spiritual director for the Institute.  He continues to  serve as a retreat leader and director to bishops, priests and sisters and seminarians and other religious leaders around the world.   

 

 

To obtain a copy of Msgr. Esseff’s book byvisiting here

 

Be sure to visit Msgr. Esseff’s website “Building a Kingdom of  Love