On Sept. 24, 1906, as Sister Elizabeth of the Trinity was suffering the final stages of Addison's Disease in the infirmary of the Carmelite Monastery of Dijon, she penned a letter of encouragement to her prioress and caregiver, Mother Germaine, in honor of her 12th anniversary of profession.

Elizabeth was 26, and posed as Mary, recalling the moment that Mary, or “priestly Virgin” as Elizabeth liked to call her, first held her newborn son. She wrote, “It was in my arms that Jesus made his first oblation to the Father when entering the world, and he is sending me to receive yours!”

Continuing, she drew upon the words of her favorite apostle, St. Paul, and said, “My daughter, I am coming to finish ‘clothing you with Jesus Christ’ (Galatians 3:27) so ‘you may walk in him’ (Colossians 2:6) the royal way, the luminous road; so that you may be ‘rooted in him’ in the depths of the Abyss, with the Father and the Spirit of love. Oh, remain in the depths of your soul.”

It was from “the depths” of her soul, then, that one month later Elizabeth, in greater pain and increasingly unable to speak, expressed her need in a letter to Mother Germaine, and this time articulated her profound role, “My darling Mother and beloved priest.”

She continued, “Oh, help me to climb my Calvary. I feel the power of your priesthood over my soul so strongly, and I need you so much.” She then described her own priestly offering, explaining that Jesus, the “Master,” had reminded her she was not to choose her sufferings, and so she had acquiesced and immersed herself into immense suffering “with much fear and anguish.” 

What a remarkable gift of understanding young Elizabeth received from God about what Pope John Paul II reiterated in his 1988 Apostolic Exhortation, Christifideles Laici, saying, “The lay faithful are sharers in the priestly mission, for which Jesus offered himself on the cross and continues to be offered in the celebration of the Eucharist, for the glory of God and the salvation of humanity.” Through her correspondence, Elizabeth encouraged others in their priestly mission.

As she did for Madame Angles in 1903, who was suffering from chronic illness, and had asked Elizabeth how she was able to endure the cold temperatures in the monastery. Elizabeth replied with characteristic cheerfulness, “God gives the grace,” and, besides, she added, “It is so good, when one feels these little things, to look at the Master who also endured all that because he ‘loved us exceedingly,’ as St. Paul says; then, one thirsts to repay him love for love!”

She described her own experience as an example, and explained, “When I feel a little tired, I look at the Crucified, and when I see how he delivered himself up for me, it seems to me that I can do no less for him than spend myself.”

She then extended an invitation to pray, while at the same time teaching her good friend how to pray: “Dear Madame, in the morning at Holy Mass, let us share in his spirit of sacrifice. Then, after that, let us remain in him during the day.” 

Rooted “in his spirit of sacrifice,” Elizabeth encouraged her mother as well, who, for several years, had resisted Elizabeth's entrance into Carmel. Now, in August 1905, Elizabeth wrote to thank her for her blessing, and wrote, “O woman, your faith is great,” quoting the words of Jesus to the Canaanite woman. Elaborating, she then likened her sacrifice to that of Abraham with his son, Isaac, and said, “Yes, it was great when you led your Isaac to sacrifice him on the mountain. God has recorded this heroic act carried out by your mother’s heart in the great book of life.” 

Conversely, this same heroism could be attributed to Elizabeth as well. For, perhaps the greatest sacrifice she ever offered to God in her life was leaving her beloved mother and younger sister to enter the cloister; the three had become especially close following the unexpected death of Elizabeth’s father when she was 7.

In the same letter of 1905, then, she told her mother as much, and said, “My darling little Mama. Tuesday is your feast day and, although in Carmel it is not the custom to write on such occasions, for we must be sacrificial offerings and the sacrifice of the heart is the greatest sacrifice of all, our good mother [Germaine] has let me make my letter coincide with this date that is so dear to me.”

She recalled past joys of surprising her mother with gifts on her feast day, but explained, “I have sacrificed all that on the altar of my heart to him. It would be very far from the truth to say this cost me nothing, and sometimes I wonder how I was able to leave so good a Mama.” But, as she always did, Elizabeth concluded her letter with hope through an aspiration of faith, and explained, “The more one gives to God, the more he too gives himself; I understand this better every day."

Indeed, through her daily self-offering, Elizabeth was drawn more intimately within the embrace of the Trinity, or “My Three” as she affectionately described them. Likewise, her faith became so luminous, that one month before her death, although physically depleted, and barely able to lift her pen, she was filled with joy as she wrote again to Mother Germaine to describe a sudden revelation:

My beloved priest, I do not know what is happening. My Master caught hold of me and made me understand that today the Mother and child are beginning a new life, wholly present to Love, wholly within pure Love. At Mass, the Sovereign Priest is going to deliver up his priest and his two victims, and it will be full possession by Love! Oh, I cannot say what I feel, my Mother. How great it is!

Is this not the great hope of our journey? Yes. And through the writings and example of St. Elizabeth of the Trinity, we are once again reminded that the laity, through our baptism, have been called to share in the Royal Priesthood of Christ. St. Elizabeth, pray for us!