He Is My Heaven

A modern mystic, Blessed Elizabeth of the Trinity was a Discalced Carmelite nun who died in 1906 in the Dijon Carmel of France at the young age of twenty-six and was beatified by Pope John Paul II on November 25, 1984. Although influenced by Saint Therese of Lisieux, a near contemporary of hers, Elizabeth’s spirituality was distinctive in its own way, and it has inspired many Christians. Elizabeth attributes her biblical spirituality to her “dear Saint Paul”; her name, “Elizabeth,” which literally means “House of God,” captured her ongoing theology of the indwelling of the Blessed Trinity, found in the silence of prayer, transforming the very one who prays into a “Praise of Glory” (Eph. 1:6, 12).
One of her most famous sayings, “I have found heaven on earth, since heaven is God, and God is in my soul,” epitomizes Elizabeth’s realization of this doctrine in her spiritual experience. She described her mission as leading souls to seek and to find God in prayer: “My mission in heaven will be to draw souls, helping them to go out of themselves to cling to God, with a spontaneous, love-filled action, and to keep them in that great interior silence which enables God to make his mark on them, to transform them into himself.” In He Is My Heaven: The Life of Elizabeth of the Trinity, Jennifer Moorcroft encapsulates Elizabeth’s message, one that appeals to all who want to deepen their prayer lives, whether inside or outside the monastery cloister.