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[Worship] A Praise of Glory

A friend recently sent this to me and I wanted to share it with the list:

I came across this recently and thought some might find inspiration in
it. It is from St. Elizabeth of the Trinity, a Carmelite nun who died in
1906 at the age of 26 of stomach cancer, but who turned her suffering
into praise. She referred to herself as "laudem gloriae," "a praise of
glory," who counted the praise of God's glory her special vocation.
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     "A praise of glory is a soul of silence who holds herself like a lyre
beneath the mysterious touch of the Holy Spirit so that He can draw
divine harmonies from it; she knows that suffering is a chord that
produces still more beautiful sounds, so she loves to see it on her
instrument so as to move the heart of her God more delightfully. [NOTE:
she is not saying that God likes to see us suffer, but that God can and
does use our suffering to draw us closer to Him, which is what He
delights in.]
     "A praise of glory is a soul that gazes on God in faith and
simplicity; it is a reflector of all that He is; it is, as it were, a
bottomless abyss over which He can flow out, pour out; it is also like a
crystal through which He can radiate and contemplate all His perfections
and His own splendor. A soul who thus allows the divine Being to satisfy
in her His need to communicate "all that He is and all that He has" is in
reality the praise of glory of all His gifts.
     "Finally, a praise of glory is a being who is always giving thanks.
Each of her actions, her movements, each of her thoughts, her
aspirations, at the same time that they are rooting her more deeply in
love, are like an echo of the eternal Sanctus.
     "In the heaven of glory, the blessed "have no rest neither day nor
night, saying: Holy, holy, holy, the Lord God Almighty...And falling
down, they adore Him who lives forever..."
     "In the heaven of her soul, the praise begins already her work of
eternity. Her song is interrupted, for she is under the action of the
Holy Spirit, who effects everything in her, and, although she is not
always aware of it, for the weakness of her nature does not allow her to
be established in God without distractions, she sings always, she adores
always, she has, so to speak, passed into praise and love, into the
passion of the glory of her God. In the heaven of our soul, let us be
praises of glory of the Holy Trinity....One day the veil will fall, we
will be introduced into the eternal courts, and there we will sing in the
bosom of infinite Love. And God will give us "the new name promised to
the victor." What will it be?...Laudem Gloriae!
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Timothy Schenz
Church of the Redeemer Moravian Church
Dublin, OH
timothy.schenz@rossnutrition.com
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