"What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ – the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith. I want to know Christ – yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead."
"Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus."
"Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You are my friends if you do what I command."Lent of love
The season of Lent invites us to journey to the desert with Jesus: forty days to familiarize ourselves with God, listen to His Word, and welcome His tenderness and forgiveness. This approach of turning our back on the world and opening ourselves up to Him, changes us by a conversion of heart. From an attitude of self-centered isolation, we plunge into the communion of the Three Divine Persons, and with Jesus, abandon ourselves to the Father. We emerge transformed, enabling us to face the reality of daily life with its sufferings and joys.
When Elisabeth of the Trinity was in Carmel, she lived this special season of Lent with great intensity. She understood the deeper purpose of it:union, silence, communion and love, which were what she felt attracted to. In her writings, she rarely speaks of penitence, asceticism and fasting, because according to her, those are only tools to reach the essential thing: to live everything with Christ in love.
Journey into the desert
It is not to run away that Elisabeth looks for solitude, but it isto imitate Christ, her Master: "After his Baptism, Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil. After having fasted forty days and forty nights, He was hungry"Matthew 4:1
« During this Lent, I will keep a rendez-vous with you in the Infinity of God, in His Charity: Would you like that to be the desert where, with our divine Bridegroom, we go to live in a profound solitude, since it is in this solitude that He speaks to the heart? »
Letter 156 to Mrs Angles. 15th of February 1903
Jesus resists the tempter by relying on the Word of God. He remains faithful to his fundamental choice to listen to His Father, to trust Him in spite of all opposition. "Again it is written: “You shall not put the Lord,your God to the test." Matthew 4:7
Elisabeth, too, only wants to obey the Word of her Master in whom she finds all her happiness.
During this holy time of Lent; let us retire to the desert with our Master and ask Him to teach us to live by His life.
Letter 224 to Mrs Angles, March 1905
Remaining with Christ
The liturgy of the Second Sunday Lent invites us to contemplate the transfigured Christ on the mountain: "This is my son, the Beloved; He enjoys my favour. Listen to Him!"Matthew 17:5
Elisabeth let herself be fascinated by this Face of Light. She contemplates it in faith; she wants to resemble Him, to be transformed into His image.
« I have set off into the soul of my Christ, and there I am going to spend my Lent. Ask Him that I might live no longer, but that He might live in me, that the “One” might be consumed more every day, that I might always remain beneath the great vision! »
Letter 107 to Mother Marie of Jesus, February 1902
In the Gospel of the Third Sunday of Lent, Jesus invites us in His conversation with the Samaritan womanto question ourselves about our thirsts. After Jesus acknowledges Himself as Savior of the world, we can respond to His initial question, "Give me something to drink”... “ The water that I shall give will become a spring of water within, welling up for eternal life." John 4, 7:14
Elisabeth liked comparing herself to a little vase, keeping herself at the Fountain of life but in her spousal love, she aspires to relieve Christ.
« During this Lent, my soul will be especially united to yours. I am asking God to show you the sweetness of His presence and to make your soul a sanctuary where He can come to be consoled »
Letter 257 to Mrs de Sourdon, 21st of February 1903
Praying with love
On the Fifth Sunday of Lent, the Church ends our catechetical journey with the Gospel of the Resurrection of Lazarus: Jesus, distressed by the death of his friend, responds to Martha’s act of faith with an act of giving life. "If you believe you will see the glory of God." John 11: 40.
Elisabeth intercedes for others with confidence, and she gives herself to it with a particular intensity during the season of Lent.
« Have a good Lent; as you say, there is much to ask for, and I think if we are to meet so many needs, we must become a “continual prayer” and love much. The power of a soul surrendered to love is so great; Magdalene is a beautiful example of this: one word from her is enough to obtain the resurrection of Lazarus »
Letter 225 to Father Angles, march 1905
It is in loving that Elisabeth wants to live those forty days,through the acts and words of her daily life at the service of her community. That way, she will be ready to relive the Easter mystery with Christ in the manifestation of the “excessive love” of our God.
« Would you like to make a Lent of love together? “He loved me, He gave Himself up for me” that,then , is the goal of love: to give ourselves, to empty ourselves entirely into Him we love. »
Letter 194 to Mrs Angles, February 1904