St. Elizabeth of the Trinity: An Examination of Conscience

In honor of her upcoming feast on November 8th, and because I just love her, I am sharing here an Examination of Conscience I wrote a few years ago for my local OCDS community. I wrote this examination of conscience as a response to St. Elizabeth's beautiful prayer, "Elevation to the Blessed Trinity". Elizabeth's words regarding the Trinity are referenced in the Catechism of the Catholic Church, making the her youngest saint to be represented in that beautiful and important compendium of our faith and doctrine. The prayer, "Elevation to Trinity" itself could be studied for weeks, so rich in depth mystery it truly is. 

I did in fact, study this prayer and many of her others, as well as her letters and theology at a week long retreat years ago, and it was during this retreat that I truly began to know and love her and to study her deeply, promoting her as often as I can in all of my work. 

The modern world needs Elizabeth's conception of Identity and nearness to God. The world needs to know that the shape of the human soul is designed to hold the infinite. If we knew these things, our conception of the human identity, which is currently caught in the crosshairs of cultural politics and semantics on global scale, would be better realized in our own thoughts and words as Catholics-and thus better projected and lived in our own lives. 

That our lives are to be "poured out for the world" as our Lord's on own life was, is at the very core of our identity and mission as believers. To participate in His own divine life and mission is the path to union with Him on this earth. In order to achieve that, we must understand who we are and who HE is in us. For this reason and many others, Elizabeth is the saint for "our times".  Elizabeth gives us a window into our own souls in a way that NO OTHER SAINT has done before or since. I am grateful to her. I ask her to come and teach me and enlighten me. I ask that for you as well. St. Elizabeth of the Trinity, apologist of the true shape of the human soul, pray for us. 

The prayer is written here first, and written again aftwards with some responses to ponder for our own lives. 

An Examination of Conscience with St. Elizabeth of the Trinity’s

“Elevation to the Blessed Trinity”

"O my God, Trinity whom I adore, help me to forget myself completely and establish myself in you, as still and at peace as if my soul were already in eternity. Let nothing disturb my peace nor draw me away from you, O my unchangeable one, but let every minute carry me further into the depths of your mystery.

Give peace to my soul; make it your heaven, your beloved abode, and the place of your rest. Let me never leave you there alone; but keep me there totally present, completely vigilant in my faith, totally in adoration and wholly surrendered to your creative action.

O my beloved Christ, crucified for love, I want to be the spouse of your heart. I long to cover you with glory, to love you...until I should die of love...Yet I feel helpless. I ask you to clothe me with yourself, to identify my soul with all the movements of your soul, to submerge me, to fill me, to substitute yourself for me, so that my life may be only a radiance of your life. Enter me as Adorer, as Redeemer, and as Savior.

O Eternal Word, utterance of my God, I want to spend my life listening to you, I want to become totally teachable so that I might learn everything from you. Through all darkness, all emptiness, and all helplessness, I want to be centered on you always and remain in your great light; O my beloved Star, make me so captivated that I no longer move away from your radiance.

O Consuming Fire, Spirit of love, let it be done that an incarnation of the Word may occur again in my soul. May I be for him another humanity in whom he may renew his whole mystery. And you, O Father, incline yourself toward your little creature, see in her only the Beloved in whom you are well pleased.

Oh my “three”, my all, my beatitude, infinite Solitude, Immensity in which I lose myself, I surrender myself to you as your prey. Bury yourself in me so that I may bury myself in you, until I go to contemplate in your light-the abyss of your grandeur."

Now we will read it again with reflections which will lead us into the heart of this beautiful prayer, bringing it home to our own hearts.

Instead of expecting answers from God all the time, am I content to be carried into “mystery” more and more, trusting his heart even when I do not see his hand?

Is my soul a “resting place” for Jesus? How can I cultivate more calm, trust, and sweetness so that I become a welcome repose for the Lord who suffers so much because of souls who do not want him, or are too caught up in their own cares to offer him consolation?

Am I holding on to my own ways of steering my ship? Or will I, like Peter, jump recklessly into the water of love, and wade into the deep? Am I holding deeply to my knowledge, experience, and stature or am I becoming lost in HIS stature, and who he is, letting him change and mold me so that I look more and more like him as time passes? Do I simply “react” to life or do I leave him room to love, work, think, and feel, in me?

In the dark, empty, and helpless feeling places in my life-do I allow myself to sit and fix my gaze on Him right in the middle of it, without expecting him to “fix or solve or take away” my suffering? Am I cultivating a teachable and listening spirit?

Are there things in my life that I desire more than being consumed by the love of God? What fears do I have about letting him use and direct me at his whim? Have I been placing my security and my identity in any other thing but in my identity in him: His beloved little creature?

Have I been running from quiet? Avoiding solitude? In what ways am I holding on to the last shreds of my own will instead of surrendering to my Lord, come what may?

Listen to more from Lauren on St. Elizabeth of the Trinity here: 

https://gatheringmanna.podbean.com/e/gathering-manna-lenten-mission-2019-podcast-series-let-us-get-u...