The Saint

Today is the feast of St. Elizabeth of the Trinity, a Carmelite mystic who died in 1906 at just 26 years old. Her spiritual insight was so profound that she was quoted in the Catechism of the Catholic Church, even before she was canonized. In the final days of her life, she wrote an extraordinary letter about God's love that I want to share with you.

After Peter denied Jesus three times, he met the risen Lord on the shore of the Sea of Galilee. Jesus asked him, “Peter, do you love me more than these?”

Elizabeth sees something extraordinary behind that question. It is as though Jesus were saying, “Peter, I love you more than anyone could. I love you unconditionally, perfectly, infinitely. My love will heal you, transform you, and take you far beyond anything you could ever imagine.”

Then Elizabeth turns Jesus' question into a command that she repeats six times: “Let yourself be loved more than these.”

Not simply, “Love God more,” but, “Let yourself be loved by God more than the others.”

Can you let yourself be loved?

Her words

At the end of this letter Elizabeth writes, “Believe God’s voice and read these lines as if coming from Him.”

“You are uncommonly loved, loved by that love of preference that the Master had here below for some and which brought them so far. He does not say to you as to Peter: ‘Do you love me more than these?’ Listen to what He tells you: ‘Let yourself be loved more than these! That is, without fearing that any obstacle will be a hindrance to it, for I am free to pour out my love on whom I wish! - Let yourself be loved more than these - is your vocation. It is in being faithful to it that you will make me happy for you will magnify the power of my love. This love can rebuild what you have destroyed. Let yourself be loved more than these.”

A Father’s Love

How could Elizabeth command us to let ourselves be loved more than these? More than others?

I understand this because when I look at each of my children and each of my grandchildren, I say to myself, “You are my favorite!” It is true, each one of them is my favorite. I love them that way. And my love is limited and imperfect. The love of God the Father is unlimited. It is perfect. It is unconditional. It is healing. It is transformative.

In the eyes of God the Father, you are His favorite. Yes, you. Can you let that sink in and let yourself be loved by God more than these?

Then turning to us Elizabeth says:

“Let yourself be loved more than these’: it is in that way that your Master wills for you to be a praise of glory! He rejoices to build up in you by His love and for His glory, and it is He alone who wants to work in you, even though you will have done nothing to attract this grace except that which a creature can do, works of sin and misery: He loved you like that. He loves you ‘more than these.’ He will do everything in you. He will go to the end: for when a soul is loved by Him to this extent, in this way, loved by an unchanging and creative love, a free love which transforms as it pleases Him, oh, how far this soul will go!”

Resolution

What does God want from us? Before anything else, He wants us to let ourselves be loved by Him.

We often think we must first become good enough to deserve God's love. We must overcome our sins, fix our lives, and make ourselves worthy. But Elizabeth tells us the opposite. God's love is not the reward for our transformation. God's love is what transforms us. We don't have to make ourselves worthy of His love. We have to receive it, trust it, and allow it to do its work in us.

Everyone is running. When are you going to stop running and let yourself be loved by God?

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