BTP-LR13 – Day 10, pt. 1 – The Last Retreat by St. Elizabeth of the Trinity – Beginning to Pray with Dr. Anthony Lilles – Discerning Hearts Podcast

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Day 10, Part 1 – The Last Retreat by St. Elizabeth of the Trinity- Beginning to Pray with Dr. Anthony Lilles

Dr. Anthony Lilles and Kris McGregor explore the spiritual insights of Day 10 from St. Elizabeth of the Trinity’s The Last Retreat and the command “Be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect,” which St. Elizabeth understands as a call to live in the eternal present—a mode of existence modeled on God the Father’s unchanging love and divine solitude. She describes this as a life of continual adoration, where one is stripped of self, free from distractions of both natural and spiritual attachments, and wholly oriented toward God. This solitude is not isolation, but a rich interior silence where the soul can remain attentive to God’s love, mirroring the Father’s own stillness and constancy.

Dr. Lilles explains how St. Elizabeth’s reflections draw attention to the Father’s unique, ungenerated nature—His eternal being from which the Son is begotten and the Spirit proceeds. The solitude she invites is not emotional withdrawal, but a purification that allows the soul to love without compromise. This life of contemplative prayer, rooted in the eternal now, is akin to martyrdom—a surrender to divine love in the face of evil and suffering.

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Discerning Hearts Reflection Questions

1. How is God inviting me to live more fully in the eternal present, rooted in His love rather than in my circumstances?
2. In what ways can I embrace the solitude of the Father as a space of love and not isolation?
3. What attachments—natural or spiritual—may God be asking me to let go of so I can be more wholly His?
4. How does my daily prayer life reflect a desire to be stripped of self in order to adore God for who He is?
5. When faced with suffering or powerlessness, do I respond from a place of trust in God’s victory through love?
6. What does it mean for me personally to be “perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect”?
7. How can I cultivate silence and interior stillness amid the noise of daily life?
8. In what areas of my life do I let circumstances determine my capacity to love rather than God’s presence?
9. Who in my life or in the world today models for me the quiet strength of love rooted in divine solitude?
10. How can I allow contemplative prayer to shape my response to injustice, conflict, or difficulty with peace and fidelity?

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From “Last Retreat Day 10 pt 1” found in The Complete Works vol 1:

25. “Be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect.” 145 When my Master makes me understand these words in the depths of my soul, it seems to me that He is asking me to live like the Father “in an eternal present,” “with no before, no after,” but wholly in the unity of my being in this “eternal now.” 146 What is this present? This is what David tells me: “They will adore Him always because of Himself.”

147 This is the eternal present in which Laudem Gloriae must be established. But for her to be truly in this attitude of adoration, so that she can sing, “I will awake the dawn,” 148 she must also be able to say with St. Paul, “For love of Him I have forfeited everything”; 149 that is: because of Him, that I may adore Him always, I am “alone, set apart, stripped” of all things, both with regard to the natural as well as the supernatural gifts of God. For a soul that is not thus “destroyed and freed” 150 from self will of necessity be trivial and natural at certain moments, and that is not worthy of a daughter of God, a spouse of Christ, a temple of the Holy Spirit. To guard against this natural life the soul must be wholly vigilant in her faith151 with her gaze turned towards the Master. Then she “can walk,” as the royal prophet sings, “in the integrity of her heart within her house.” 152 Then she “will adore her God always because of Himself” and will live, like Him, in that eternal present where He lives…”

Elizabeth of the Trinity (2014-07-24). Elizabeth of the Trinity Complete Works, Volume I: I Have Found God, General Introduction and Major Spiritual Writings (Kindle Locations 3374-3391). ICS Publications. Kindle Edition.

This the text we are using to discuss “Heaven in Faith” you can find it here and order from the Carmelite Sisters

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We would like to thank Miriam Gutierrez for providing “the voice” of St. Elizabeth for this series

For other episodes in the series visit the Discerning Hearts page for Dr. Anthony Lilles

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Anthony Lilles, S.T.D., has served the Church and assisted in the formation of clergy and seminarians since 1994. Before coming to St. Patrick’s, he served at seminaries and houses of formation in the Archdiocese of Denver and the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. The son of a California farmer, married with young adult children, holds a B.A. in theology from the Franciscan University of Steubenville with both the ecclesiastical licentiate and doctorate in spiritual theology from the Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas in Rome (the Angelicum). An expert in the writings of St. Elizabeth of the Trinity and the Carmelite Doctors of the Church, he co-founded the Avila Institute for Spiritual Formation and the High Calling Program for priestly vocations. He also founded the John Paul II Center for Contemplative Culture, which hosts symposiums, retreats, and conferences. In addition to his publications, he blogs at www.beginningtopray.com .

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