INTRODUCTION to Contemplating the Writings of St. Elizabeth of the Trinity

So over the past few days, I came across St. Elizabeth of the Trinity and I explored some of her writing. One piece of her writing really touched my heart; it's so, so powerful. It's a full spiritual guide, a full spiritual instruction manual which she wrote for her sister, but she made it in the form of a spiritual retreat, which means passages for contemplation. If you look at the process of Advaita sadhana or Lectio Divina, you notice that they're pretty much the same.

How does Advaita sadhana start? Shravana. What is that? To hear. In this case, Lectio means to read; it starts in that way. So that involves an aspect of ourselves. It's all part of a beautiful spiritual design, which is to offer every aspect of ourselves. The branch has to offer every aspect of itself. In the same way, sadhana starts with hearing or reading. Then we dwell on it; we look at what that does within ourselves, whether it does something in our mind, intellect, or it takes us deeper.

What are the questions that show up for us when reading these holy scriptures, these holy passages? What are the things that stand out for us that are remarkable to us, that touch our heart in some way? What guidance can we get from this particular piece of reading? So that process is the process of Manana, and also in the Lectio, it is called meditation. Don't get confused; in India, we may refer to the contemplation part as meditation, but basically, they call that meditation to just... you can look at it almost as a meditation but guided by the heart.

Then from that, we go into prayer. That is not so much mentioned in Advaita sadhana. We may say Shravana, Manana, and if we can add, maybe we can call it Sharanagati—to go to offer ourselves, to go take refuge in God's light. So that process is prayer, or Oratio. It is the process of just praying based on the inspiration of the passage that we have just heard or read. We pray to God the prayer that comes from our hearts.

And then Nididhyasana, which is contemplation, which is to sit in quiet. No intellect, no mind. Allow our heart to speak to us; allow the Atma within, the Holy Spirit, to speak with us so that we deepen our communication, leading to a communion and a union with God. The branch starts to return back to the tree by offering itself fully in this particular way.