Mother Elisabetta Speaks

I have a vocation to the state of perfection …the resolution has been made…God will provide for making it effective. I thank the Lord for having chosen me for this life. I want to preserve in the vocation that the Lord has given me, in spite any obstacles that oppose me.

A generous soul shall find incalculable treasures in our way of life. If you know the peace and daily grace of the religious life, how attractive it would be souls who do not know it!

The road to heaven, from whatever path you begin, is never lined with roses, but the grace of religious life is that it enables us to love the thorns to the point that where we crown ourselves with them.

God did not call us, separating us from the world, just for own good, but to help souls through prayer and penance.

The cell is such a sacred place! It is an intimate sanctuary destined for Him and His bride, and it is good for them be here together.

Everything speaks to us of Him, because we bear Him within us, and our lives are a foretaste of paradise.

Oh, how blessed is the beautiful life of the sisters, the religious who have struggled for perfection, who have overcome self-love, who have acquired the habit of mortification, who repose peacefully in the love of the divine Word, in whose heart Jesus rests!

How good is the Lord! I find no words to express my happiness in the religious life. Every day I appreciate it more.

The cross! It gave peace to the world and I love it. A suffering accepted is no longer suffering. I do not complain, but rather rejoice in it, because the soul is united with Jesus Christ through love and the power of his cross. Sufferings and contradictions place us at the foot of the cross, and the cross, at the gate of heaven; therefore, they are incomparable gifts that God gives to his friends.

Whether we face a great pain or only a very small sacrifice, let us think immediately that this is our opportunity, the time in which we can prove our love to Him who has loved even too much. Let us not fear the evil that troubles us. Let us raise our eyes to heaven; our kind Jesus sees us. Certainly, we will still have to suffer and will suffer always. But without Good Friday there is no Easter; without the crucifixion, there is no Alleluia.

Jesus Christ has already suffered, for our sake, more than we suffer, and everyone is obliged to follow Him on the road to Calvary and the cross. So if everyone is must follow Him, how much more must He be followed by those who have dedicated themselves in a special way to Jesus Crucified.

I want to teach those simple means by which I always succeeded, to say that the only thing to do here is to throw the flower of small sacrifices to Jesus. Let us gather everything; let us offer to Him a beautiful bouquet of sacrifices, without losing even the smallest one. In the beautiful crown that the good God is preparing for us in heaven, they will shine like splendid rubies.

My dear Jesus taught me that our hearts cannot be satisfied by the good things of this earth, or even by the delights of paradise, but only by the enjoyment of God and of His Sacred Heart. He then taught that to arrive at this holy love it is necessary to reform my will by uniting it to the will of God, and to always work with a pure intention, and, in all the varied circumstances of my work, placing before my imagination all the things that Jesus did.

In the time of my troubles and temptations, I ought not to go first to others, but rather to turn to Him and to His Sacred Heart. He showed me how difficult it is for me to be detached from myself, because I do not love humiliations; but to overcome this, I propose to recommend myself to Him so that He will give me this grace.

Life of sacrifice of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament: I reflected that to imitate Jesus in His life of Sacrifice, it would be enough to offer continuously to His loving heart the discomforts, annoyances, and troubles that are inherent in my weak nature and present condition, giving special attention to suffering everything in order to please Him.

The morified life of Jesus in the Sacrament: Our Lord does not wish to show any sign of His greatness and majesty. I think He does this because we aquire great merit through believing by faith the things that are contained in this mystery, and while we are in this world, we have to live by faith. Also, in hiddeness we learn humility and how to love humiliation.

Each one of the generous and loving Sisters of Our Lady of Sorrows lives hidden with Christ in God, and desires only His glorification. The sister should not only talk about Jesus with pleasure, but she should also willingly listen to Him, who subjected Himself to an agonizing death, to give our souls life and all good things.

One says that she can’t pray because she cannot consult with the superior, another because she does not have a good book. Tell me, daughters, what is prayer? Prayer is a conversation with God, revealing all our needs to Him, and asking graces from Him just as a child would ask his father. Now tell me: when your father or brother comes for a visit, do you go to your superior so she can tell you what to say?

To tell our Lord God everything with deep and humble love is the secret of innumerable graces.The Poor of the Crucified seek only to have loving conversation with their Divine Spouse, and to hear His loving voice in solitude and recollection of spirit.

Silence is a necessary and effective way to preserve and deepen our recollection before God. Of all the hours of the day, my sisters, we should like best those of the Great Silence.

It is desirable to think often of Jesus Crucified. Directing the first thought of the morning to Him, you should say, “My Jesus, my love, crucified for me, have mercy on me and bless me.” Often say short fervent prayers; these are the telegraph by which earth and heaven communicate.

Mental prayer is like bread. You eat bread not only when you have a taste for it, but even when you have no appetite, in order not to die. The time of meditation is better than any other for learning the wisdom of the saints, for kindling the fire of divine love, and for progressing in virtue. Meditation does not just enlighten the intellect about the things of God; it also disposes the will to union with God.

When you pray, it is He who prays in you, but it necessary for you to be aware of this.

In the time of my troubles and temptations, I ought not to go first to others, but rather turn to Him and to His Sacred Heart. I have a great desire to do good and to prayer constantly, in the house of God, for the glory of God.

We don’t have to render an account to God just the evil we have done, but even more of not having done the good that it was in our power to do.

From your dictionary of love erase the word “discouragement.” Every worry and anxiety burdens the mind, and causes a thousand problems.

My concern, daughters, is that you acquire a genuinely interior spirit, and that you do not take on so much work that it disturbs your recollection and hinders your remaining in the presence of God.

Although it is necessary to give the children advice and counsel, it is even more essential to give them a practical example, because without this, our teaching will be superficial and ineffective. But the example the teacher gives must correspond to her words, or grave disorders inevitably arise.

Beware of speaking hard words, and don’t regret curing the wounds with the same mouth that gave them. One must not do anything or say anything that can give offense, but if by chance anyone should offend, suitable satisfaction should be made at once, with loving words and actions.

Despite our weaknesses, and our miseries, and mountain of defects, we progress towards God every day, and we advance the most on days when we are least aware of it.

I must reach the point of always doing in everything the opposite of what I wish. I sacrifice my own will to you, Lord.No matter how difficult it may seem at first sight to be stripped of oneself, of self-love and of self-will, whoever begins to practice this generously finds great comfort in divine grace, finds great joy, sweetness of spirit, and delightful union with God.

The first principle is that it is necessary to be dead to the world: the second is that it is necessary to be dead to oneself: the third is that it is necessary to live only for Jesus Crucified.

Detachment from the senses means indifference to everything that concerns food, housing, dress, entertainment and similar things.

Detachment from the vanity of the world leads to behavior that is a model of simplicity; there will be no worldly desire to make an impression either by our dress, our speech, or our dealings with others.

To be dead to oneself demands three things: detachment from one’s own judgment, detachment from one’s own will, and love of suffering.

Jesus showed me how difficult it is for me to be detached from myself, because I do not love humiliations; but to overcome this, I propose to recommend myself to Him so that He will give me this grace.

A soul that is dead to its own judgment and to its own will cannot have any reason to sadden itself, because when it is detached from itself, it lives in abandonment to God.

Just as the soul is the life of the body and directs it in everything, so Jesus Crucified has to be the life of the soul of His poor one; therefore all three of the faculties, the memory, the intellect and the will, must belong to Jesus Crucified.

It may be true that self-love can make me err, and if you know that this humiliation is necessary to mortify the spirit of pride in me, I will bless the dispositions of the Lord, manifested to me through you, even in the midst of tears.

I fear that my self-love does not allow me to see my defects.

Providence uses weak instruments to show that the work is more divine than human.You will be amazed to see the value of our work, considering the kind of instruments the Lord uses to make his greater glory visible.

We should be detached from her own opinion, and so should never believe that she knows or understands more than another, because the devil will draw her into many deceits by the road of pride.

The only thing not envied is the last place, and only in it is there no vanity or affliction of spirit. Let us humbly number ourselves among the imperfect; let us consider ourselves little souls that God has to sustain at every moment.

It is certain that persons of rank want to enjoy their privileges, that are not shared by the common people, but in the sight of God, the faults of all are equal.

Do not trust yourself; ask also for the prayers of others so that you may have clear light and the strength to break every attachment.

To imitate Jesus in His life of sacrifice, it would be enough to offer continuously to His loving heart the discomforts, annoyances, and troubles that are inherent in my weak nature and present condition.

Whether we face a great pain or only a very small sacrifice, let us think immediately that this is our opportunity, the time in which we can prove our love to him who has “loved us even too much.”

Our sacrifice must be made interiorly, and exteriorly we must never let our repugnance show.

Charity is happy and amiable. Scatter flowers; do not miss an occasion for any sacrifice, however small – a look, a word. Profit by the most insignificant occasions.

Sanctity is the fruit of sacrifice – it is death and resurrection.

Our sacrifices are little things, like teaching religion, having the children with us, and instructing them. But Jesus’ sacrifice was a matter of embracing the great poverty, contempt, fatigue, humiliation, and suffering that He was forced to undergo, ending His life on the cross in the midst of cruel tortures.

I delight in the thought that I have left everything for God. It is gratifying to give when you love.

It seems to me that I could do no less than to spend myself and be consumed to give back to Him a little bit of what He has given to me.

We must be victims sacrificed in everything, without reserving anything. There is no protection. God wants everything from us; he is not content with only a little.

It is gratifying to give everything to the One who is everything.

At the moment of death, as at the farthest frontier that separates us from the other life, we will see and understand the great reality of these things

Oh, if we would think of eternity, of that terrible “Forever”

To reach heaven, all our fatigue is insignificant.

A feast requires preparations. We prepare for Easter with Lent; we prepare for eternal life with the present life … it will be an eternal feast, unending glory!

In heaven no one will be indifferent to us. I am certain that there they will be delightfully and surprisingly sympathetic.

Without war there is no victory … I wish you a successful battle and unconquerable courage until death, so that in heaven you may place the crowns you have earned at the feet of Jesus.

Only heaven is eternal! Let us walk toward it in love and patience.