Sisters of Charity Reflect on Elizabeth
Our Elizabeth—Mystic, Established in God
By S. Mary Jean FieldsWho am I to write about Elizabeth? How would I really know her heart, its movement into that still place where sacred communication takes place? Words, interpretation of another’s words in capturing the mystery of one’s experience of God fall short of absolute verification. Yet, I chose this topic because Elizabeth’s personal life history and many recorded words give me courage to write from my heart, envisioning her as mystic, established in God.
Author Beatrice Bruteau said, “A sense of oneness is the hallmark of the mystic.” And this spirit of Oneness is what I perceive to be so prevalent in the life and writings of our Elizabeth Ann Seton. May I quote her words derived from several sources; words which you, my Sisters and Associates, may have already pondered? I chose these words. You might have chosen other writings to give proof to her absolute Oneness with God.
Elizabeth said: “This union of my soul with God is my wealth in poverty and joy, in deepest affliction.”
“The nearer a soul is truly united to God, the more its sensibilities are increased to every being of his Creation.”
“The love of God in the heart is that sweet attraction which draws us incessantly to him.”
“He dwells within … our soul his palace! … No separation by space or distance, resting in his well beloved Soul. It need not fear too short an audience. Its delightful Converse with him is without bounds or limits. As often as we will enter within ourselves, we may enjoy this heavenly commerce in perfect liberty.”“Many seek to love God by different methods, but there is none so short and so easy as to do everything for his love, to set this seal on all our actions, and keep ourselves in his presence by the commerce of our hearts with him in full simplicity …”
My heart senses that Elizabeth’s oneness in God’s presence was born of surrendering to what is … surrendering to the joy, the sufferings of her life as it unfolded as a wife, mother of five children, and foundress of a religious community. I believe that in her lifetime of 46 years, her sweet heart heard Him calling her to jump over the edge from crippling fear to total trust … to fly with the wind and the breath of his love into total awareness and fulfillment of his will for her. At least this is how my heart interprets the above writings, as well as many of her other historically recorded sharings.
And so my dear Sisters and Associates, as we celebrate this 200th anniversary, I wish to quote once more author Beatrice Bruteau, as my heart attempts to share my vision of where and how we are traveling with our God and Elizabeth into the future with each other, into the world sorely in need of mystics, established in God.
Bruteau said: “Fortunately, everyone is a mystic. Mystics are gathering and uniting. Rearranging energy from within is what mysticism does. We are helping each other know that we are deeply related, that we are all precious and deserving, that the universe is our home, that we can feel safe on the deepest level of our being. In this mutual support, the sense of oneness that is the hallmark of the mystic is increasing.”
Indeed, after Elizabeth’s death (1821), the Rev. Gabriel Brute wrote, “her soul’s companion, spoke of the exceptionally ardent nature of her relationship with God and likened it to that of the great mystics.”
You and I … have we not been gathering and increasingly uniting, “rearranging energy from within” down these past decades, serving this universe which is our home, increasingly establishing ourselves in God? From that sacred space within, at one with God and each other, cannot our “empty reeds” be filled more and more with the music of his loving Presence and Voice urging us to the ever deepening risk of a caring response into this, our needy world?
“May I become hollow like the reed,
so You may play your melody
through me.
For I long to be attuned to the great
Song of the Cosmos …” Psalm 119
Amen. So be it.
References: Quotes in the above paragraphs are taken from the following sources:
“Daily Thoughts of Mother Seton” – Msgr. Joseph B. Code
“Elizabeth Seton – Selected Writings” – Edited by Ellin Kelly and Annabelle Melville
“Mystic Heart” – Wayne Teasdale (Beatrice Bruteau’s preface to his book)
“A retreat with Elizabeth Seton – Meeting Our Grace” – S. Judith Metz
“Psalms For Praying – An Invitation to Wholeness” – Nan C. Merrill