Dear Friends, Family, and Fellow Carmelites,

I am going to Light, to Love, to Life. These are Bl. Elizabeth’s dying words. Her words are a great comfort to us as we remember in a special way all our departed loved ones. That is their destiny—a God who is All Love—and ours as well! We follow them with our prayers as we look forward to being reunited with them for all eternity. We are remembering your departed loved ones and those whom you wish us to keep in our prayers all during this month of November and in a special novena of Masses toward the end of the month. (Please forgive us for sending our newsletter so late this year; we have acquired some new equipment and are learning as we go!)
As we mentioned in our July 16th mailing, the Carmelite Order is celebrating the Centenary of the death of Bl. Elizabeth of the Trinity, a Carmelite nun who lived in Dijon, France. Bl. Elizabeth is not as well known as her contemporary, St. Therese of Lisieux, but she too reached the heights of union with God and was able to express her experience in her writings. Her letters to her family and friends reveal her as an exceptional combination of the mystical and the human, of attention to God and deep friendship with her family and friends.

Elizabeth, affectionately called Sabeth, was born on July 18, 1880 into a military family. Her parents, Captain Joseph Catez and Marie Rolland, provided a very happy home for her and her younger sister, Marguerite, “Guite” for short, who was born in 1883. Sabeth was a very lively child with a strong disposition, unruly and sometimes even violent, “a real devil” according to her mother who spoke of her “furious eyes,” but with a good heart and an intense love of her parents and Guite … and Jesus. The death of her father when she was seven bound her even more closely to her mother and Guite and by then she was fully engaged in the struggle to master her “terrible character” for the love of Jesus and those around her. Her First Communion at the age of eleven made her very aware of the presence of God within her, an awareness that grew throughout her life and to which she responded with unlimited generosity.

Sabeth was gifted in music and won the top prize for piano at the Conservatory of Dijon when she was thirteen. Music was very important for her, a way of expressing what was in her heart. But that heart was set on Jesus and at fourteen she consecrated her whole life to Him in a vow of perpetual virginity and discerned that He was calling her to Carmel. She would have to wait until she was twenty-one to receive her mother’s permission to enter. In the meantime she accepted everything as the will of God and participated in life with enthusiasm and joy, doing everything in union with the Presence within her. She loved the beauties of nature, the company of her family and friends, beautiful clothes, outings, even dances. She was active in her parish, visiting the sick and catechizing the children. Everyone loved her; she was a very attractive young woman.

Sabeth entered the Carmel at Dijon on August 2, 1901 and found at last the peace and silence in which she could give herself totally to Jesus and pray for the Church and all humanity. All the nuns noticed her deep recollection and outgoing love. She was given the name Elizabeth of the Trinity, a mystery into which she penetrated deeply in the six years remaining in her life. Her first radiant months in Carmel were followed by a difficult novitiate year after which she made her vows on January 11, 1903. Peace returned to her soul and she made great strides in her already rich spiritual life finding her nourishment especially in the letters of St. Paul and the teachings of St. John of the Cross. In 1904 she composed her famous prayer to the Trinity in which she gave herself entirely. The following year she experienced the first symptoms of Addison’s disease for which there was no cure at that time. After a long period of suffering in which, with joy in her heart, she gave every ounce of her being to redemptive suffering with Christ her Spouse, Elizabeth died at the age of 26.

In his Foreword to Volume I of The Complete Works of Elizabeth of the Trinity, Conrad de Meester writes that in addition to…her special graces of recollection and prayer, of listening to and understanding the word of God… the scope of this charism expands wide enough to encompass in its light the smallest events of our daily life, the least encounters with our neighbor, which, like so many sacraments, reveal God’s presence and demonstrate how we are to give ourselves to Love at each moment. She shows us…that the contemplation of the Word is prolonged in the concrete act of the gift of self.

… In a noisy world, Elizabeth of the Trinity invites us to create a silence within us so that we may not live on the margin of the essential, of the fully human, of the fully divine. She shows us to what a happy plenitude, faith in Love, Who dwells in the inmost depths of our being, can lead us—wherever we are, whoever we are or have been. All people are called, loved, inhabited by His Presence.

During this Centenary year we have had several events honoring and studying Elizabeth of the Trinity’s life and works. Fr. Gregory Ross, our Father Provincial, took time out from his busy schedule to give us three talks on Blessed Elizabeth from June 19th through the 21st. He spoke about Elizabeth’s thoughts on Mary, the Eucharist, and from the view of Christian Anthropology. We were very enriched by his conferences.

Again in October Fr. Juan De Bono, OCD from Malta, who studied Elizabeth with Fr. Gregory in Rome and who wrote his thesis on suffering in her life and writings, was in our Province and we were privileged to have him share his knowledge and love of Elizabeth with us the weekend of October 21st. Our Carmelite Sisters of St. Therese from Villa Teresa joined us for Father’s presentation on Elizabeth’s understanding of the meaning of suffering and on her special Prayer to the Holy Trinity. Afterwards we celebrated Vespers and enjoyed a delicious supper together. The next day Father gave another conference on the life and spirituality of Bl. Elizabeth to the members of our Carmelite Secular Community and several friends. All gave high praise of his knowledge, understanding and enthusiasm for sharing her penetrating insights.

Another enriching event which took place from June 5th through 9th was the Initial Formation Seminar of our Association in Redlands, CA. Srs. Donna, Ruth Miriam, Maria and Agatha attended. The presentation given by Fr. Martin Martinez Larios, OCD from Mexico on The Spiritual Reading of the Bible in the Carmelite Tradition was excellent! Father prepared a Power Point presentation and a complete set of notes for each participant. Everyone thoroughly enjoyed not only the conferences but also the chance to meet or renew friendships with the Nuns from the various Carmels.

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On June 24th, Dave Goeckner and Kerry Ruane came to visit us from Cottonwood, Idaho. Both were teaching in the Catholic school there and planned to marry in August but were looking for a less demanding job in a religious atmosphere during their first year of marriage. Their letter inquiring about work arrived the day after we had included in our novena to St. Joseph our need to replace Binh Nguyen, who had been with us for more than 10 years. Happily they returned in September and are a great help to us. They are a beautiful young couple; it is wonderful to see two young people so serious about their marriage.

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July brought a double celebration for the Solemnity of Our Lady of Mount Carmel. On Saturday, July 15th we celebrated with Archbishop Eusebius Beltran and many friends and on Sunday, the 16th with Fr. Larry Gatlin. Frs. Jenaro and Henry and Br. Juan from Little Flower Church joined us on Sunday evening. We “carmelized” our novena to Our Lady this year by beginning on July 15th and ending on the 23rd, Our Lady of Divine Grace, another Carmelite feast.

August 12th was Sr. Jeanne Marie’s Golden Jubilee of Profession and at her request we had a beautiful quiet celebration. It is so characteristic of her; in her wholehearted dedication of Our Lord, she has served the Church and our Community quietly, capably, and with great care and integrity all through these years. Sr. Jeanne Marie’s mother, Martha Rose, was a great friend and support to our Community from the time of their arrival here in 1939, and her father, who had a lumber company, supplied the lumber for much of the building during the early years at Meridian. Father Paul Donovan celebrated her Jubilee Mass and Fr. Franklin Wrigley and Sr. Jan Futrell, OSB, her sister, were her only guests. Her family later sent flowers and well wishes once her secret celebration was revealed by Sr. Jan!

The following Monday we welcomed the Team planning the Formators Program, a new initiative of the Carmelite Order in the U.S. It is a joint project of the three Provinces of Discalced Carmelite Fathers and the three Associations of Discalced Carmelite Nuns. The team is made up of one member of each province and of each Association. Our Sr. Donna is on the team which is designing and organizing a program to help those in charge of formation in our communities, both Fathers and Nuns. It is a big project but they are off to a good start with the first year of a 3 year cycle already in the works. It was a rich and happy time for us all!

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Our greatest news is that our Sr. Maria of the Good Shepherd made her Solemn Profession on September 8th. It was a beautiful celebration. Archbishop Beltran was the main celebrant with Fr. Gregory, our Provincial and Fr. Lawrence Stasyszen, OSB, the Abbot of St. Gregory’s in Shawnee, OK, as “principal concelebrants.” It was noticed that we had a Most Reverend, a Very Reverend and a Right Reverend in our midst! Fr. Gregory gave a beautiful homily tying in the feast with the Profession and sixteen other priests concelebrated including our Friars from Little Flower and Fr. John Magdalene from San Antonio.

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Sister Maria’s parents, sister, two young nieces, and other family members attended as well as friends from her parish. Her father is in the choir at St. Andrew Dūng Lạc Church and brought some of the choir to sing at Communion time The Gift of Love, a beautiful Vietnamese hymn. One of the most moving moments, and there were many, was the sight of her mother and her father weeping as they embraced her at the kiss of peace. They have a very deep faith and their sacrificial joy in her vocation was so evident. Sr. Maria’s parents and friends also did most of the cooking for our dinner and we had a feast! Please keep her in your prayers as she launches full sail into her Carmelite life!

On October 13th we were excited to have our Father General from Rome, Fr. Luis Arostegui, come to visit us. He was making a visitation of our province and was accompanied by Fr. Gregory and our Friars from Little Flower Church. We celebrated Mass together and then enjoyed a good meal. Afterwards we took Fr. Luis on a tour of the monastery and grounds, later spending some time discussing the Order throughout the world. He is from Spain and speaks English well. We had a wonderful time.