28th August [Feast of] Saint Augustine – and my happy birthday, the first in course of thirty three years in which the soul has sincerely rejoiced that it exists for immortality. – When hope has ventured to step forward she has never been separate from fears, apprehension, sighs, and the tremblings of nature – today she exalting exclaims, "Thou has drawn me from the mire and clay and set me upon a rock. Thou hast put a new song in my mouth, the song of salvation to my God." (Ps. 40) O order my goings in Thy way that my footsteps slip not. 

(St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, 1807,
Spiritual Journal for Cecilia Seton)

Dear Saint Elizabeth Ann,

Give us a large share of your woman’s heart,
your courageous spirit, your tender care,
your unembarrassed outpouring of affection
for those you love, and those you hope to love.
May our love, like yours,
extend to all the world,
of which we, like you, are citizens. Amen.

Sr. Regina Bechtle, SC

What is Elizabeth [Seton’s] bequest to us? Elizabeth would have us share a deep love of Scripture and Liturgy with her. She would have us imitate Christ, perhaps suggesting that…we go to the source and accompany Jesus as he journeys through the Gospels, and sit at his feet like the disciple, Mary, ready and eager to hear what Jesus wants us to know of Abba and Abba’s desires for all creation. Elizabeth would have us be mystics.

Sr. Jean Flannelly, SC