Sister Elizabeth and Her Family Circle

The first anniversary— All Souls' Day, 1902— Filial affection- Divine Providence — " My two lovely lilies" — The mystery of Divine adoption.

Intermingled with her spiritual sayings are touching words addressed to those whom Sister Elizabeth said she had never loved so deeply as since she became a nun. Her correspondence with her relatives delights as much as it helps us, while completely refuting the prejudice felt by the world against those who sacrifice the ties and joys of home for the sake of God.

The following letter was written by the little novice in August, 1902, on the first anniversary of her entrance into Carmel :

"Dear Mamma,

" Just a year ago I gave to God the best of mothers, yet the great sacrifice has not separated our souls ! Do you not realize that they are more united now than ever before ? Oh, let me tell you how happy I am ! The good God has been too kind to me ; my whole soul is filled with gratitude and love to Him and to you. I thank you for having given me to Him. When I remember the anguish of those last hours, I thank Him Who upheld us both. . . .

" Marguerite was radiant the other day. I have not seen her so happy for the last year ; she has lost her little heart. ... I assure you that she who is enamoured of Christ is no less happy. My Bridegroom is so beautiful! I love Him passionately, and am transformed into Him by loving Him ; besides, it is such joy to have Him always with me. We love one another so dearly ! Ah ! but for that, I should still be with you. I feel the sacrifice, yet I am perfectly happy.

" Tell the engaged couple that I continually pray for them."

Three months later, All Souls' Day revived sad memories in her mother's heart, Sister Elizabeth consoled her by the radiant hope of her own faith.

" November i, 1902.

"My dear Mamma,

"Our Reverend Mother, who knows you must be feeling lonely, has given me leave to tell you how closely united my soul will be to yours during the next few days, and that, one in our faith and love, we shall find the dear ones who have left us and have gone to Paradise. I never before felt them so present with me. They are glad I am in Carmel, for it is very near heaven ; indeed, we Carmelites are already in heaven by faith.

"When you hear the bell toll for the Office of the Dead, join your prayers to mine ; whatever I do is done by you too ; that agreement has been made with the good God.

" The Divine Master says to-day : < Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted.'¹ ( God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes 'f in heaven. Dear mother, I have often seen you weep ; your life has been full of sorrow and sacrifices ; but you know that the more God asks, the more He gives.

"The Lamb Whom the blessed adore in the Vision is He to Whom your Elizabeth is betrothed, and Whose bride she longs to become. Oh, how beautiful a lot is mine! All heaven belongs to me ; my life is centred where, even in this world, I follow my 'Lamb wherever He goeth.'

" If you could only know how happy I am, you would thank Him Who has chosen me ! Listen to what He says to you : < Whosoever shall do the will of My Father that is in heaven, he is My brother and sister and mother. 'J Remember, you are not alone ; the Divine Friend is with you, and with Him your Elizabeth !"

All her letters are in the same strain of supernatural tenderness.

" February, 1902. "My dear Marguerite,

"... I address my letter to Luneville, as I think you are there now. Give all sorts of kind messages to Mademoiselle A and tell her that the grille of Carmel, which made her blood freeze and seemed so melancholy to her, looks gilded to me. Ah ! if toe could only raise the curtain, what a prospect we jshould see on the other side! Infinitude itself! and that is why it enlarges every day. Carmel, which is politude with Him we love, is heaven beforehand.

Do not be jealous ; He alone realizes the sacrifice I made in leaving you. I know that I could never have made it unless His love had upheld me, for I love you so dearly — more dearly every day, for He makes it supernatural.

c< These carnival days are delightful and full of God. The Blessed Sacrament is exposed ; I am before Him nearly all day, and Marguerite, whom I seem to keep in my soul, is there with me. We are in darkness, for the grille is open and all the light comes from Him. I like to see the grating between us. He is a prisoner for me and I for Him.

" Since mamma is interested in my health, tell her that I am quite well. I should never notice it was winter but for the pretty curtains with which the good God covers our windows. How charming the cloister looks with its decorations of hoarfrost I

"Do you remember," she writes to her mother about August 15, 1903, "how cunningly your Elizabeth used to hide to make a pretty surprise present for you ? This year, too, I am making my preparations, my secret plans, with my Divine Spouse. He opens all His treasures to me, and I have taken this lovely bouquet from them, a crown which will shine on your brow for all eternity. Your little daughter will rejoice some day in heaven, thinking she has helped the Divine Master to make it ; that she set it with glowing rubies, the blood of your heart and her own ! . . .

" I am writing in our little cell, which is full of silence, and, above all, full of God. 1 feel to-night² that I must thank you again, for you well know that I should never have left you without your fiat, and He wished me to sacrifice you for love of Him. Carmel is like heaven ; we must separate ourselves from all to possess Him Who is the All, but I love you as we shall love in our fatherland. There can never be any greater separation between us than there is now, for He Whom I possess within me dwells in you, so that we are united.

"And now, dear mamma, I only have time to wish you one thing : that God, Who has taken me for Himself, may, as time goes on, be more and more the one Friend Who is your solace at all times. Live on intimate terms with Him, heart to heart, as we live with one we love ; that is the secret of the happiness of your child, who embraces you with all the tenderness of her Carmelite heart — the heart that is all your own, for it is all His, and belongs to Him and to the Blessed Trinity."

When Elizabeth met her relatives in the parlour, she generally spoke to them of recollection, of intimacy with God, and of the joys of Divine love. Her fervour made her delight in raising the souls she loved to greater heights.

" I am overjoyed at seeing what the good God is doing for mamma and Marguerite," she wrote to

Canon A . "He has taken me that He may give Himself more fully."

Again : " I long to send my dear mother to you. You will see how God is carrying out His work in her, so that I cry for joy and gratitude sometimes. How happy it is to share one's mother's religion, to feel that she is all His, to be able to speak to her from one's soul, and to be understood ! It is well i24 THE "PRAISE OF GLORY"

for us to confide in God and to abandon the care on self and those we love to Him. . . ."

Heaven repaid her self-abandonment by showering blessings upon the home still dear to her. Her young sister married a man who was all her faith could desire. The wedding gave her an opportunity of explaining her own happiness to her mother.

" Marguerite and her husband came to see me. They seem very happy. I thanked God on their account . . . and on my own. From a worldly point of view my lot seems nothing but self-sacrifice, yet, believe me, I have the better part. In spite of the tears it cost her, a mother ought to rejoice at :| having given a Carmelite to God, for, after a priest, i I know of nothing more holy upon earth. The j name of Carmelite implies that the soul is angelic. Ask our holy Mother, St. Teresa, whom you taught me to love while I was a young child, that I may j become a saintly Carmelite. You should rejoice at ] being loved by the little heart that is wholly given j to God. If I love Him, it is you who led me to Him ; you prepared me so well for our first meeting j on that great day when we gave ourselves to one another ! Thank you for all you have done ! I long i to make Him loved, and to give Him to souls as ; you have done.

" I give my crucifix a kiss for our Lord to take to j you from His bride, your fond little daughter."

" November, 1903.

" c The kingdom of God is within youS* "Dear Marguerite,

" What pleasure you gave me on my feast by your pretty message and your lovely photograph! \ * St. Luke xvii. 21.

St. Elizabeth must have let you know what I wanted most. Your likeness makes me become recollected, and then it seems as if we two were both close to our Lord. It is really true that He is in our souls, and that we are always near Him like Martha and Mary. While you are busy I keep you at His feet. You know that when we love Him, outside things cannot distract our thoughts from Him, and so Marguerite is Martha and Mary at the same time!

" How I enfold you in my prayers, you and the jdear little creature who is already in the mind of God ! Let yourself be given up to and possessed by His Divine life, so that the little one will enter this world enriched with blessings.

" I hope it will be very pretty, and am delighted to think what happiness it will bring with it, thank 'God 1 I share your joy in the midst of the solitude I love so well."

The following charming lines were written on the JDirth of little Elizabeth :

" I feel full of reverence before this little temple bf the Blessed Trinity ; her soul seems to me like a crystal through which God shines. If I were with [her, I should kneel to adore Him Who dwells within her. . . . How I should like to nurse her ! But the good God has called me to the mountain to be her angel and to protect her by my prayers, and I joyfully sacrifice all the rest to Him for her sake. t'How happy I feel at thinking that you are a mother ! I confide you and your little angel to the care of Him Who is Love itself. I adore Him with you and embrace you in His heart."

" March, 1 904.

" ' How good God is t

"Dear c Grandmamma ' !

" How glad I am that 1 can call you by this sweet name, and that the dear little one is called! Elizabeth! Thank God for giving her to me, sol that I may be her angel ! I have adopted her asl my own property. I prayed much for her before] her birth, and now my prayer and self-denial will; be the two wings beneath which I shall shelter her. j

" I offered a novena of Masses that she might bej washed in the Precious Blood. The novena ended j to-day — the Feast of the Five Wounds of our Saviour — and the little angel has come to us from the woundj of His Heart ; is it not touching ?

" Let me know the day of her baptism, so that I may accompany my little darling to the font, where;! the Holy Ghost will descend into her soul. Your?) Carmelite would have been delighted to see you, yet' sacrifice is sweet, especially when it is our heart we offer. You gave your Elizabeth to God, He has sent you a second, and we shall try which of us cant love you best. . . ."

" ' The eye of God is upon her ; His love encircles her like a rampart!

"Dear little Sister,

" ' Echo of my soul,' as Teresa of the Infant Jesus called one of her sisters. I love to give you this sweet name on the eve of your feast.

" My darling flower, my Marguerite, I beg God to grant all the wishes of your great 'heart of gold/ to send down on you the fire of His love, thati³ beneath these Divine rays you may grow and bloom, and that in the shadow of your c great white petals,' another little flower very dear to my heart may open its tender bud.

" How pretty your little ' Sabeth ' is ! She made me all sorts of charming little signs yesterday from the arms of her delighted grandmother. She looked so sweet with her eyes closed and her hands folded on her heart. I made our Reverend Mother smile by telling her that my niece was an < adorer ' ; that is her calling as the ' House of God.'"

" August, 1904.

"'God is Love.1

"My darling little Sister,

" Yes, I do indeed find you at the feet of Jesus, and I never leave you, but share the joy of His Heart at finding a Marguerite wherein He can rest. Be His paradise in this land where He is so little known and loved ; open your heart wide that He may enter as your Guest, and when He is in the little cell of your soul, love Him, Marguerite ! He thirsts for love . bear Him company. . , . I am pleased with you, and the Master loves His little blossom.

" It seems a long time ago since we climbed the mountains together ; I remember what a lovely view we had from our room. Does not such scenery lead you to God? Enjoy beautiful Switzerland and our dear mother's companionship. I can understand I that you are making a sacrifice in going so far from J George. It is the law of this life : sacrifice and joy go side by side. The good God wishes to remind us that we have not yet reached our final happiness.

Still, we have turned in that direction, and He Himself will carry us there in His arms. There in heaven, little sister, He will satisfy all our cravings. Meanwhile, let us dwell in the heaven of our soul, where we can be so happy even here."

" Easter , 1 904. u< Alleluia !'

"Dear Marguerite,

" We have sung the Alleluia, and I am writing to tell you how I rejoice in your happiness of motherhood. I am so glad to be made an aunt a second time, especially of a little niece, for I think there will be the same sisterly love in your happy home as there was between you and me, and c Sabeth' has an Odette, as Aunt Elizabeth had a Marguerite. * Sabeth ' was born on the Feast of the Five Wounds of Jesus, and now Odette has arrived on the day the Master was sold to save her little soul. Is it not touching ?

"I bore your soul with me wherever I went during this great week, especially during the night of Maundy Thursday ; and since you could not go to Him, I asked Him to go to you. During the silence of prayer I whispered to my c Guite ' the words addressed by the Pere Lacordaire to Magdalen when she went to seek her Master on the morning of the Resurrection : { Ne Le demandez plus a personne sur la terre, a personne dans le ciel, car Lui c'est votre ame, et votre ame c'est, Lui F *

"What blessings He is showering on your little⁴ nest, and what love He shows you by entrusting to you the two little souls which * He chose in Him before the foundation of the world, that they might be holy and unspotted in His sight in charity!'⁵ It is you who must guide them to Him and make them all His own.

" Tell George from me how my heart shares all your joys, for which I thank c the Father/ from Whom comes 'every perfect gift.' t

" Good-bye. I keep close to your babies with you. Each has a beautiful angel beside her who sees the Face of God ; let us ask them to lead us to the Love which is unchangeable and keep us there.

" I send Odette a medal which has touched the miraculous Infant Jesus of Beaune ; fasten it to her cradle, so that He Who so dearly loves the little ones may bless and protect her."

Later on she writes to Elizabeth and Odette themselves — a charming way of pleasing and touching the soul of their mother, which is so faithful an echo of her own.

" My dear little nieces, my lovely pure white lilies, whose calix contains Jesus Himself, if you only knew how I pray that He may overshadow and protect you from all harm ! You look very tiny in your mother's arms, but to your aunt, who sees you with the eye of faith, you partake of infinite grandeur for you have been present in the mind of

God from all eternity, since He ' predestinated you

I to be made conformable to the image of His Son,'

; and has clothed you with Himself in baptism, making

I you both His children and His living temple.

i3o THE "PRAISE OF GLORY"

"O dear little sanctuaries of love! When I see the splendour which shines within you, though as yet it is only the daybreak, 1 am silent, and adore Him Who has created such marvels !"

" August \ 1905. " ' He who is joined to the Lord is one spirit"⁶

" My dear little Sister,

" To-day is Sunday, the happiest of days, for I spend it before the Blessed Sacrament exposed in the oratory, excepting the time when I am at the turn, of which I take advantage to have a chat with you, beneath the eyes of Him we love. I have chosen a large sheet of paper, for I have so many things to say to my ' Guite '!

" I have lately been reading some splendid things by St. Paul about Divine adoption, and I naturally thought of you. Being a mother, you know what depth of love for your children God has put into your heart, so you can understand how great is the mystery of our being the children of God. Does it not make you tremble, Marguerite ? Listen to what my dear St. Paul says : * God chose us in Him before the foundation of the world. . . . Who hath predestinated us into the adoption of children . . . unto the praise of the glory of His grace.'f Which means that, almighty as He is, it does not seem as if He could have done anything more grand. Again : * If a son, an heir also through God.' J And what is this inheritance ? c God hath made us worthy to be partakers of the lot of the saints in light.'§ And then, as if to show that it does not mean in the far

% Gal. iv. 7. § Col. i. 12.

future, the Apostle adds : • Now, therefore, you are no more strangers and foreigners, but you are fellowcitizens with the saints, and the domestics of God.'⁷

" Meanwhile, let us ' believe in His love, and the charity which God hath to us,'f like St. John. Since we possess Him within us, what does it matter if our heaven is obscured by night? If Jesus seems to sleep, let us rest beside Him ; let us be calm and silent ; do not let us wake Him, but wait in faith.

" I was always fond of a large park, for solitude is a delight. I think you appreciate it. Will you * Eph. ii. 19. f 1 St. John iv. 16.⁸

make a retreat with me for a month ending on September 14? Our Mother has given me this little holiday from the turn so that I shall not have to talk or think about it ; I am going to bury myself in the depths of my soul, that is, in God. Will you imitate me in this very simple action ?

" When your many duties distract your attention, I shall try to compensate for you, and you, if you like, will enter each hour into the centre of your soul where your Divine Guest dwells. You might think of the beautiful words I quoted to you : ' You are the temple of God, and the Spirit of God dwelleth within you,' # and those of the Master : l Abide in Me, and I in you.'f It is said that St. Catharine of Siena always dwelt in her cell even when in the midst of the world, for she lived in that inner dwellingplace in which Marguerite, too, knows how to live. . . ."⁹

Footnotes

1. St. Matt. v. 5. f Apoc. vii. 17. t St. Matt. xii. 50. ↩

2. Live close to God ; we are one in Him." ↩

3. July 20, 1904. ] ↩

4. It was thought best to leave this sentence untranslated, a hardly admits of an English rendering apart from its context Translator. ↩

5. Eph. i. 4. t St. James i. 17. ↩

6. 1 Cor. vi. 17. f Eph. i. 4, 5, 6. ↩

7. Marguerite ! this heaven is the centre of our soul ; as St. John of the Cross says, when we are in its deepest centre, we are in God. How simple and consoling it is I In the midst of all your motherly cares and occupations you can retire into this solitude and give yourself up to the Holy Spirit, so that He may transform you into God, impressing the divine image of His beauty on your soul, in order that, when the Father looks down on you, He may see nothing but His Christ, and may say : ' This is my beloved daughter in whom I am well pleased !7 Little sister, I shall rejoice in heaven at seeing the beauty of my Christ shining in your soul. I shall not be jealous, but shall say to Him, with a mother's pride : * It is I, wretched creature as I am, who brought her forth unto Thy life.' St. Paul spoke so of his converts ; I should like to imitate him. What do you think about it ? ↩

8. do not think that ' Sabeth ' and Odette trouble themselves much as to whether there is sun or rain, while they are in their mother's arms ; let us imitate the little ones and rest as simply in the arms of God. ↩

9. 1 Cor. iii. 16. t St. John xv. 4. ↩