Sor Isabel

"I think it is an empty photo frame and we put our pictures in it," Trúc commented.

"Must be.  This retreat house is open to all sorts of people and so some must bring pictures of their family."  I paused momentarily.  "I didn't bring any." 

We both laughed softly because we couldn't figure out any other reason for the sisters to place black and white photos in our rooms.  And of a serious looking girl too.

The aspirants and I were on retreat at the Mount Carmel House of Prayer in Houston, ran by the Missionary Carmelites of Saint Teresa.

"Nothing is so like God as stillness," remarked the 14th-century German mystic Meister Eckhart.  We got plenty of stillness the past few days.

Yet, the black and white photos lingered in the back of my mind.
Along with the plaques in Spanish.

"Vamos a vivir con Dios con un amigo." Sor Isabel.
"Creer que un ser que se llama el Amor habita en nosotros, en todo instante." Sor Isabel.

Sor Isabel.
I spotted the name in the retreat's library.

Talented pianist.
Terrible temper.
After witnessing one of her outbursts, the parish priest declared, "A saint or a demon."

At seven, her father died.
The explosions of anger increased.
At eleven, she received Jesus for the first time in Holy Communion.
Upon leaving the church, she confided in a close friend, "I'm no longer hungry.  Jesus has fed me."

The real Isabel has been found.
In the heart of the Trinity.
Isabel de Trinidad.

Her mother testified that the temper tantrums ceased after her first Holy Communion.
At a great cost to herself.

"I am going to the light, to the life, to the love." 
These were last audible words before she died at the age of 26.


Isabel is Elizabeth in Spanish.
Upon finding out from the prioress of Carmel in Dijon that Elizabeth meant "House of God", she intuited that her heart can become the home of God.

"Vamos a vivir con Dios con un amigo." Sor Isabel.
Let us live with God as with a friend.

"Creer que un ser que se llama el Amor habita en nosotros, en todo instante." Sor Isabel.
 I confide to you a secret which has made my life on earth an anticipated Heaven: the belief that a Being Whose name is Love is dwelling within us at every moment.

Isabel is a French Carmelite nun, like St. Therese of the Little Flower.
Yet, the black and white photos took me by surprise.
So serious and rigid.

I wonder what she looks like now with the heavenly radiance a part of her.

ps.  Photo credit:  http://srhelena5.blogspot.com/

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