Always Believe in Love: Selected Writings of St. Elizabeth of the Trinity
Reviewed by Mike Hansell, T.O.C.
Lay Carmelites of St. Theresa Catholic Church, Sugar Land, Texas
The Lay Carmelites of Saint Theresa Catholic Church in Sugar Land, group #2241, finished reading “Always Believe in Love: Selected Writings of Saint Elizabeth of the Trinity”, at their November community meeting for ongoing formation.
The book has excellent selections from all the types of writing from Saint Elizabeth. There are entries from her diaries and selections from letters to various people including family members, friends, priests, and others. Her poetry is represented as well as important passages from her “major writings”. The selections were very well chosen and evidently by an editor (Marian Murphy) who knows her writing well.
The advantage of reading this book with the entire Lay Carmelite group is that one can very quickly get an excellent survey of her life and spirituality. Also, there are passages in this book which are not available in other English language books on the saint, such as her diaries. The book demonstrates the intimacy of her relationships with others and her inner conversation with her Lord as well. I would suggest the book to anyone who wanted to get to know Saint Elizabeth well.
However not everyone was pleased with this selection in our group. Although no book will please everyone, there was a little more grumbling about this book than many others we’ve had in the past. The main reason is its nature of being “selections”. It seems that several members of our group prefer books with continuous content rather than a “greatest hits“ approach. There is a need and desire for continuous, developing thought, and I think that is something worth supporting, as it is a positive trait.
If I were to take a guess at the number of people who really loved the book, I would say it would be about 1/4. There was another 1/4 that did not like the book and expressed it, and about 1/2 seemed to like it like other good books. However, I believe everyone without exception was impressed by Saint Elizabeth’s mysticism.
In summary, I think “Always Believe in Love“ is a good book for the lay Carmelites in that it is short, it is deep, and it is a great survey of Saint Elizabeth’s life and spirituality. At the same time, I can understand people preferring books with continued thought rather than simply selections. It might be better, for example, to find a good short summary of Saint Elizabeth’s life and choose to read the book of her major writings instead. Still, it’s not a bad selection due to the sheer quality of Saint Elizabeth’s output. She is a gem of the Carmelite order and should be well known and loved by all lay Carmelites. She does a spectacular job of translating the mystic life to the laity in the modern world and this book is a great digest of all her extant writings.
