[00:00:27] Hello, everybody. What’s up. Welcome back to another episode of Hear and Now Podcast. I’m very excited to welcome Claire Dwyer today to talk about her book, this present paradise. So Claire, welcome to the show.
[00:00:37] Claire Dwyer: [00:00:37] Hi, Sophia. Thanks for having me. It’s good to be here.
[00:00:40] Sophia Lebano: [00:00:40] You’re so welcome. We’re so happy to have you and to learn more about your book, because I’m personally interested to hear about the whole premise of it.
[00:00:47] So why don’t you take a few minutes to introduce yourself to the audience?
[00:00:51]Claire Dwyer: [00:00:51] Yes. Thank you. So I am a wife and mom of six. I live in Phoenix, Arizona, but I grew up in Wisconsin and met my husband at Franciscan university. There we were both studying theology. Yes, it is just, it was a great blessing.
[00:01:07] Still is. And so I raised my six kids and when my youngest was about two, I started working for the church first at the parish level. And now I work full time for the Avila foundation and spiritual direction.com, primarily as editor and in the marketing management position. And in my free time.
[00:01:29] What 47 seconds of free time I have every week I do like to write. And so I do have a blog called even the sparrow.com and where I started to write. And then I was taking classes in spiritual theology and encountered this beautiful young Saint that I had never heard of before. Actually I started reading about Elizabeth of the Trinity while she was still a blessing and had not been canonized yet.
[00:01:53] Which is. Just to explain. So that’s . The step before canonization – somebody declared a blessing by the church. And I started reading her and was just fascinated with her and then ended up writing some posts, which became a book. And so this present paradise was just published in January by Sophia InstitutePress
[00:02:11] congratulations.
[00:02:13] Sophia Lebano: [00:02:13] That’s amazing. But I’m going to have to ask you to take a step back and explain St. Elizabeth of the Trinity, because I personally have never heard of her until this podcast. So yeah. Tell us her story.
[00:02:24] Claire Dwyer: [00:02:24] Absolutely. So let’s just like in a nutshell, the, the short version of St. Elizabeth of the Trinity, and there’s a reason by the way that you haven’t heard of her, she was just canonized in 2016.
[00:02:36] So she’s a relatively new Saint. And it took a while for her to be canonized because she died in 1906. So there’s a lot of people that maybe had heard of her, but didn’t really know anything about or never heard of her. And then there’s some people that are like, well, I’ve loved her for decades. And I’m like, I don’t know how, but you know, they, they stumbled upon her.
[00:02:55] And had this devotion to her for a long time. Anyway, Elizabeth, as a [00:03:00] Trinity was born in 1880 in France. She had a Catholic upbringing, a very loving family. Her father was in the military. But when she was very young, her father died. And so her mom had to raise two little girls on her own. They didn’t have a lot of money.
[00:03:16] They had to move to a small apartment in Dijon, France. And that little apartment happened to be around the corner from a cloistered Carmelite, convent, and little Elizabeth bedroom overlooked the garden of that convent. So as a little girl, she experienced a lot of tragedy and loss in her life. But God was opening up something new to her because she discerned that the Lord was calling her to a religious vocation, but her mother was not excited about that.
[00:03:45] Her mom knew what it was to lose somebody through death and really was not interested in losing a daughter to the religious life because the Carmelites in particular are a cloistered order, which means that you don’t just become a sister or a nun, but you become. A cloistered sister, which means that you enter the enclosure of your convent and rarely ever leave it.
[00:04:09] So for a parent or a loved one to see somebody enter an order. Like that means that you’re really kind of experiencing a little deaths. Her mom knew that she would see Elizabeth again, but it would be sporadically and it would be through a grill, which means that you would visit your loved one, you know, in this parlor.
[00:04:27] And you would not be able to see their face fully. So yeah, it was kind of a big deal. So her mom, not surprisingly, you know, even as the devout Catholic, wasn’t excited and told Elizabeth, no, you cannot think about becoming a Carmelite and you can’t even go visit the nuns anymore because she was used to going there for mass and and seeing the nuns occasionally.
[00:04:47] And so Elizabeth had to give up her dreams for a time, which all of us maybe have experienced sooner or later, we have to give things up and the Lord would redeem them. And when she was 21 years old, she was able to enter the convent. And only was there for five years before she died. But in those five years she wrote some beautiful letters and two retreats and And a beautiful prayer, which is in the catechism of the Catholic church now, actually.
[00:05:14] So she was a beautiful Saint, lived, a very short life, similar to Saint Therese, the little flower and Anyway, she’s now burst on the church scene and has a lot to offer us. So, in a nutshell, that’s the life of Elizabeth of the Trinity.
[00:05:31]Sophia Lebano: [00:05:31] I personally have never heard of her, but I think that the modern day saints are really cool and they have a lot to offer us.
[00:05:38] So how did you come to know who Saint Elizabeth was?
[00:05:42] Claire Dwyer: [00:05:42] Well, I was taking a class in spiritual theology. At the Avila Institute as a graduate certification program in spiritual theology. I had my degree in theology for as an undergrad and just really wanted to continue my education. And there was something about the spiritual aspect.
[00:06:00] [00:05:59] Of theology that really drew me meaning like the life of prayer and the saints, the Carmelites saints that really taught about prayer St. Ignatius and discernment, and just how to really live the Christian and Catholic life fully. So it was taking these classes and I was taking a class called the Holy spirit and the divine in dwelling.
[00:06:17] And one of the books we were reading was the writings of this blessing of Elizabeth, of the Trinity. I never heard before. But I, at the time I had young children and I was reading, the first thing I read of hers was called heaven and faith. And it’s a retreat that she wrote for her sister when her sister was married and had two little kids.
[00:06:38] And I thought, Oh my gosh, this is so beautiful. This is a retreat, meaning like a series of reflections that she wrote for her sister that was written from the heart of a cloistered convent to a woman in the world with little kids. And it was really beautiful because it was like had this deep spirituality and Elizabeth is writing as a Carmelite with this, you know, intense life of prayer.
[00:07:00] But she was basically saying to this young sister, you can know what I know in the convent. You can know the Lord the way that I know you can have a prayer life. The way that I do this is not just reserved for those of us who give up the world. This is for those who live in the world, this relationship with the Lord, this deep, she would say, you know, she would remind her sister and the other people that she was writing to from the convent, that by virtue of their baptism, they have the Trinity dwelling within them.
[00:07:29] When we’re baptized, it’s not like we’re just washed of sin. And we are adopted children of God, but also we receive the indwelling presence of the Trinity. And she would remind everybody that you don’t have to go far to find God, you can just turn inward into your heart. He’s waiting there. He’s longing for you to encounter him there.
[00:07:50] He has an amazing treasure trove of gifts that he’s holding out for you. If only you can just take a moment and recollect yourself and draw near to him. So I remember where I was in the backyard. As I’m reading this retreat, I’m like with one hand and I’m pushing my son in the swing with the other.
[00:08:06] Cause you know, moms, we always have to do two things at once. And I was like, this is it. This is the same who really connects like my life as a mom with the life of the Carmelites that I admire, like Saint Therese, Saint Teresa of Avila, Saint John of the Cross, St Edith Stein. Like I admire them, but I, and I get a lot out of their writings, but this Saint, I feel like really understands my life.
[00:08:31] And can apply all of that in a really specific way to my life. So that’s how I met her. And then I just really was intrigued and wanted to know more in the more I read, the more I thought, you know what? This is a book.
[00:08:44] Sophia Lebano: [00:08:44] Yeah. So that was going to be my next question is how did her life, and you coming to know her kind of create this foundation for you to write this present paradise?
[00:08:53] Claire Dwyer: [00:08:53] It was on my heart for a while because I liked writing. I was, I had a blog, so I was writing like short. [00:09:00] Reflections or articles, essays. When I went to work for the Avila foundation, my boss said, you know, I want you to write on the website on spiritual direction.com. And I want you to write a series of posts on Elizabeth of the Trinity.
[00:09:15] And then maybe that could be a book. So the reason the book is a ver a series of very, very short chapters, like 38 chapters. But don’t let that intimidate you because they’re like two to three pages long, because originally they were blog posts. And they, they do follow her life, but it’s not just a biography.
[00:09:33] It really is a spiritual journey in the sense that for each chapter I took part of her life and I went in order roughly, but I also incorporated my own stories or stories of friends or from other saints. And I really took. With each chapter, I pulled out one theme that she was living through in her life that we all experience, whether it’s suffering or dryness in prayer or having to wait or having to give up dreams or having to, you know, discover your identity or your mission.
[00:10:04]And then I invite the reader to reflect on those with me and with them.
[00:10:08] Sophia Lebano: [00:10:08] I love that like calling into her when you’re. Sitting there reading a book, because it doesn’t have to just be reflection by yourself.
[00:10:15] You’re calling. Somebody else into it to intercede for you. So I think that’s awesome. And I love when books kind of add that reflection aspect as well. Cause it’s not just like you’re reading a book, you’re really getting into it and really enjoying what they’re saying. And you touched on some topics that I did want to ask about.
[00:10:30] So the first one is that dryness in prayer. So what, what would that look like? And what are some ways that we can, can remedy that dryness in player?
[00:10:38] Claire Dwyer: [00:10:38] Yeah. That’s a great question. It’s something all of us either have, or are going to wrestle with if we’re really intentional and following the Lord. And Elizabeth would know that experience as well.
[00:10:51] So that’s why it is one of the chapters in the book. So, Elizabeth, of course, I alluded to the fact that she wanted to enter Carmel as a young girl. Her mother was not open to the idea and she had to wait and that was the time of suffering. And I really think that we need to acknowledge the fact that waiting is a kind of suffering and that when we go through these seasons where God is not opening doors, Even when we know that we’re called to something or we believe that we’ve heard him and we’re like, Lord, did I hear you correctly?
[00:11:22] Because I’m in this season where I’m on fire for you and nothing’s happening. And a lot of times it’s God just purifying our will and asking us to surrender even our Holy desires to him. So she knew this time of suffering. When she finally did enter the convent, she was filled with constellations, meaning that she literally felt God around every corner.
[00:11:45] She had these beautiful prayer experiences. She was like floating on cloud nine. Right. And it was beautiful and it was great and it was everything. And then that all stopped. And she really entered into this time [00:12:00] of aridity and by aridity we mean when you show up to pray and it feels like nothing’s happening, you might be really distracted.
[00:12:09] I mean, you might be unable to even just concentrate. You might try to read and you’re just like, I don’t even, not even getting anything out of this, is this even doing any good? The temptation in that time is to say, well, I could go do something else and it’ll be much more productive. But the Lord allows that time because he’s removing the, the little treats that we get in prayer.
[00:12:33] Like, you know, there’s not any spiritual candy anymore. The Lord wants us to love him for him alone. And so what he’s doing is he’s very. Gently or sometimes not so gently, like removing that so that we can mature spiritually. Well, Elizabeth would know that and she would know more, even more darkness in her spiritual life in the convent.
[00:12:55] And it was very purifying. So I really called that. Like her second stage of suffering, the first stage of suffering was waiting. The second stage of suffering was this dry period in her prayer. And then even a darkness, which we would call a dark night experience in her prayer, went in the convent. And when you hear about saints going through that, it should really encourage us not to give up when things seem hard, sometimes it’s our fault.
[00:13:21] And we have to discern that, like, are we in a state of sin that we really need to confess? Are we. Not giving it our all, but sometimes God’s allowing it and there’s really nothing we can do, but lean into it keeps showing up, you know, keep praying and, and wait with God for him to reveal what he’s doing in these seasons of our life.
[00:13:43] Sophia Lebano: [00:13:43] I feel like it’s so promising that even in our dark periods, that God can still use that for something fruitful. And so it is really also promising that there are saints who they’re in heaven they achieved the greatest reward yet. They also experienced those human like errors and wills and everything.
[00:14:01] So it really is encouraging for us to know that even if you are going through like a dry period with your prayer, that sometimes it can be. Coming out with something even greater on the, of the back edge. And so I also wanted to ask you what about giving up our dreams for whether it’s what God wants us to do or what our family doesn’t want us to do in the example of Saint Elizabeth?
[00:14:23] Claire Dwyer: [00:14:23] Yes, that was so painful for her and God would end up redeeming it and using it and restoring it all. God gives us dreams and desires because he has built into us like this unique way that we are meant to reflect him and bring him into the world. So we have these Holy dreams and these Holy desires, but most of the time they have to be purified, meaning we have to get out of the way and we have to desire what God wants.
[00:14:52] Stripped of everything else. And that is a really painful process. And so what Elizabeth was experiencing in [00:15:00] that season of having to, for a time, give up a dream, give up a wholly dream was that God wanted her to, to want his will even more than she wanted this Holy vocation to come to fruition. He wanted her to be so aligned with his will that even if it meant.
[00:15:18] This, even if it meant never entering the convent, she had to reach that point because at one time before she entered, after she had permission to enter when she was 18, her mom. Said, you still have to wait until you’re 21. So she had permission to enter. She was kind of in this season where her mom still wanted her to wait and then her mom got so sick that Elizabeth was in doubt she would ever enter because as the oldest daughter and not having a father or a brother, she would be the one that would be expected to take care of her mom.
[00:15:50] So she faced the very real possibility for a while that she would never enter the convent. And while her mother was alive and. That was excruciating because she wanted it. She thought God wanted it for her. And it was, it was the fulfillment of who she was, the way that she sought. Well, the reality is that God wants our wills aligned with his even more than whatever that looks like.
[00:16:15] Even if that means a life of surrendering, all of that. And once she was able to accept that, then she could actually embrace that time and say, Lord, I want your will. And when they asked her, when she entered the convent, she had a little questionnaire, she had to fill out and they said, what would your name be in heaven?
[00:16:32] And she actually said the will of God. Because she was so aligned with the will of God that it became like her actual identity. Isn’t that amazing?
[00:16:40] Sophia Lebano: [00:16:40] Like that’s nothing else that I, what I wanted life to be that aligned with what he wants. Cause it is a battle of the wills like all the time, every day where it’s like, what I want is not going to be what he wants, unless I completely.
[00:16:53] Just strip down everything and offer it over. And that is a really tough thing to do. I’m sure you struggle with that too. It’s really hard to do and just give up what God wants us so that we can do what he wants.
[00:17:04]Claire Dwyer: [00:17:04] I was going to say that. Well, I think one of the reasons that that really resonated with me, that part of her story.
[00:17:11] Is as a mom with a lot of kids, I had to have a season. And not everybody, you know, experiences Parenthood the same way, but when my children were all young, I didn’t do much else, but take care of them. And I loved that very much. I mean, my vocation as a wife and mom is important to me and I it’s primary, but.
[00:17:32] You know, let’s not deny that that, that can be hard. You’re really giving up what you want to do to take care of other people’s needs and desires. And. That’s very purifying and at times it’s very painful. And so my writing and speaking, and the things that I do now that I find a lot of fulfillment in that did not happen for probably the first 15 years of my marriage.
[00:17:57]And I, so I think when I, when I was reading [00:18:00] about Elizabeth in her life and this period of wanting more, knowing that there was more for her and having to just wait and be obedient, To her mother, to God, to the demands of the moment. And when I saw how God took that time, see what happened is in that season of waiting, she was learning lessons that she was going to teach the entire church because God was showing her that even though you’re not in the convent, I can have this deep interior life with you.
[00:18:31] Like that is not going to stop us from having a relationship of love and that you can have this incredible prayer life that you can know my presence, that you can be literally a Carmelite in your heart, that you can build a cloister little cell in your heart where you can meet me there and you can have it all in the world.
[00:18:49] And while you might feel called to Carmel like I’m not going to wait until you’re there to reveal myself to you. So this young girl is learning and experiencing this. So when she would get to the convent, she would be able to distill it down to the rest of us. So God intentionally was using that time.
[00:19:07] Like that was not his, that was not a delay for him. That was part of his plan all along.
[00:19:14] Sophia Lebano: [00:19:14] What about her relationship with her mom? How did that kind of transform after she entered the convent? Or did your mom pass away before she did? What was their story?
[00:19:22]Claire Dwyer: [00:19:22] Yeah, so her and mother know her mother did Allow her to enter at 21, it was extremely painful for her mom.
[00:19:28] I don’t know that her mother ever really reconciled herself to it. She tried her best. Like she, she was a devout Catholic. She had, she was the one who introduced Elizabeth to Saint Teresa of Avila, the great reformer, the the Carmelite order. So, but again, it, she just never really was quite at peace with having a daughter enter the convent and be cloistered.
[00:19:49] They would actually have to relax the rules in the convent as to how often Elizabeth could have visitors and write letters because her mother was so distraught and the superiors at the convent knew like, okay boy, this mom needs a little bit more than we would normally allow. And so they actually had to break the rules just for this, this mother Josephine, Elizabeth mother.
[00:20:15] I will say too, that Elizabeth became a spiritual mother for her own mother. So we have, we have the letters that she wrote her mom from the convent, and she explains like how to pray to her mom. And we have this letter where she says, now, are you remembering to do your five minutes, three times a day that I taught you?
[00:20:33]So how beautiful is that, that there’s this kind of like spiritual reversal where Elizabeth is finally in the convent and she’s mothering her mom. And she’s becoming the spiritual guide for her mother, comforting her, consoling, her, teaching her how to pray. Anyway, it’s beautiful. And when Elizabeth would die she told her mother, she cause she died a long and painful death.
[00:20:55] She knew that she would die along before she did. And she told her mother [00:21:00] now remember that when I die you’re and you hear the news, I want you to kneel down and I want you to pray to God. Dear Lord. You gave her to me. And you took her back, like blessed be your name, like just teaching her mother. The, you have to surrender me.
[00:21:17] You have to surrender even your children to God, you know, your deepest, the things that you hold dearest in your life. Like we can’t hold anything back. If we want to really follow him.
[00:21:27] Sophia Lebano: [00:21:27] Wow. That’s really inspiring to say the least. But I always, I always admire that kind of role reversal and how much children can teach their parents too.
[00:21:36] And even if it is a spiritual aspect, that’s really awesome. So what are some ways that we can kind of use their example to maybe heal any familial relationships that we have if they’re suffering through
[00:21:50] Claire Dwyer: [00:21:50] that’s beautiful. Well, One thing I talk about in the book is devotion to our lady and Mary, as the mother of Jesus.
[00:22:00]You know, he got from the cross, he gives her to us as our mother too. And Elizabeth had to you know, she really entrusted her vocation to our lady and believed that Mary’s intercession just like at the wedding.at Canaa when our lady says to Jesus, like they have no wine. What she was really saying is like, it’s time now.
[00:22:20] Like it’s time to begin your public ministry. And so Elizabeth entrusted her vocation to our lady asking her to determine what time she would enter. And by the same token, just as Elizabeth entrusted, her vocation, we can entrust our family to our lady. And ask her to purify those relationships redeem relationships and be a real mother.
[00:22:41] Like that’s what moms do best. They bring their kids together. You know, they want to see our relationships healed and restored. And so I talk in the book about we. As Catholics, we believe that we can consecrate ourselves to Jesus this through his mother. You know, we’re not consecrating ourselves necessarily to Mary, but it’s to Jesus through Mary.
[00:23:02] But as we do that, we can also consecrate all of that, which belongs to us, which rightly belongs to us. We can’t consecrate, you know, our city cause that doesn’t belong to us. We can’t consecrate, you know, something that isn’t ours, that we can consecrate our relationship, our education. Our jobs, our homes, our, you know, all of these things that God entrusts to us.
[00:23:26] And so I just encouraged everybody in the book to look at what you have that God has given you, whether it’s your family relationships or your dreams or something important to you, your, you know, your education and give it to her. And ask her to take care of it.
[00:23:42] Sophia Lebano: [00:23:42] Yeah. I mean, that’s beautiful. And I love that you touched on that aspect of stewardship because I feel like that’s a very important thing that we’re missing is like we’re stewards of this creation right now on earth.
[00:23:51]And I’ve really been keenly aware of that as I’m going through the St. Joseph consecration for the second time. And how much there’s just this need [00:24:00] for. Us to really take ownership of what we have, but then entrusts that ownership to God. So what are some ways. To draw courage and meaning from the inevitable sufferings that we face on this earth.
[00:24:16] Claire Dwyer: [00:24:16] Understanding suffering is one of the greatest mysteries of the Christian life. And we will never get to the bottom of it. And we will always probably wrestle with it a little bit, but the saints can teach us a lot. Elizabeth you know, I talked about the suffering of waiting and then there was the suffering of the spiritual dryness.
[00:24:33] She also had this incredible period of physical suffering at the end of her life. So speaking of St. Joseph, by the way the year that she died, new year’s day, 1906, the nuns had a. Tradition on new year’s day that they would draw St for the year that they were just gonna, you know, spend the year with and Elizabeth and the new year’s day, 1906, drew St.
[00:24:52] Joseph is she knew the significance of that because we call St. Joseph by many names and he’s got many titles and roles in our faith, but one of those is patron of a happy death. And at that time she was already experiencing the beginning symptoms of Addison’s disease, which is a disease of the adrenal glands, which It basically you can’t process or digest food as the disease progresses.
[00:25:17] So over the next 10 months or so Elizabeth would. Basically starved to death. She would be able to eat less and less and less than finally she’s living on like tiny bits of cheese or chocolate or ice, and then finally nothing at all. So she would know suffering, excruciating suffering. This is, you can imagine, like what more painful way to die.
[00:25:41] At one point they left her second story bedroom window open one night and the prioris was leaving after kind of saying goodnight to her. And Elizabeth says she like motions to the window. And she’s like, are you sure you want to leave that open? She said, you know, I understand suicide at this point in my life because her suffering was so great.
[00:26:00] Not that she would give into it, but like even saints aren’t outside this temptation and the Anyway, so she suffered a lot, but, but the, the lesson is that there’s two things that suffering will do for us. If we allow it to like, we can suffer our whole life and it can not be redemptive one bit, we can rail against it.
[00:26:20] We can tolerate it, we can survive it. And it won’t be redeeming and sanctifying at all. But if we United to Christ and if we surrender it to him and allow him to use it, it can, first of all, it can purify us. Right. Because one of the fruits of suffering is to strip us of everything. It just carves out a space for us that God can fill.
[00:26:44] And if you have suffered in any way, you know what I mean? Like it just empties you. And then after it does that, it can be redemptive, meaning that, and this is one of the greatest mysteries of our faith, but in his goodness, God allows us to [00:27:00] participate. In the suffering of Jesus Christ. So our human suffering is United to his on the cross.
[00:27:08] And in some mysterious way, God is using it for the redemption of the world. And that’s what we mean by what is lacking in the suffering of Christ like Christ. Doesn’t need our sufferings, but because he loves us, he allows us to join ours with his, and somehow our little sufferings become redemptive and are drawing others to Christ and redeeming the world and, and bringing them back to the cross.
[00:27:36] Like, it’s just amazing. But so Elizabeth. That last year of suffering really uniting it to Christ, offering it through the church, offering it for the church in France at the time, which is, was kind of a disaster, honestly, and for her religious order and for all of us. So the suffering of the saints is like our inheritance, really not just the suffering of Christ, not just the blood of Christ, but the suffering of all of our brothers and sisters who have gone before us.
[00:28:05] Like that is our rich inheritance too.
[00:28:08] Sophia Lebano: [00:28:08] It’s so promising.
[00:28:09] And the aspect of redemptive suffering is one that it’s come to my attention over the last couple of years. And I’m really trying to focus in on that. It’s hard when you have to suffer through something. But if you’re able to kind of, I remember this from an interview I did where she said, take what you have.
[00:28:26] And wrap it up as the most nicely wrapped gift you’ve ever done. And literally just laid at the foot of the cross. And I thought that was beautiful because it takes it and it makes it beautiful in what you have, no matter how hard, whatever it is you’re going through is you’re able to take it and just offer it to Jesus as the most perfect gift for you could ever give him.
[00:28:46] So it’s, it’s hard to admit that suffering can be beautiful sometimes. And it probably can be cliche to say that as well. But I feel like just as Catholics, we have such a beautiful gift in offering what we have to God, without it being this fired and brimstone thing, it really can be just molded and refined into something.
[00:29:05] Beautiful. So the last thing I’m going to ask you is where can people read more and learn more about seeing Elizabeth the Trinity outside of your book? Obviously?
[00:29:17]Claire Dwyer: [00:29:17] Yes. Well, there are some great biographers of her one by Mosely there’s two volumes that are really comprehensive biographies.
[00:29:26] The Institute of Carmelite studies also has collections volume one and volume, two of all of her writings. So Elizabeth, like she never wrote a book or a biography like Saint Therese. When she was in the convent, what we have from her writings are mostly letters and then two retreats that she wrote. So it’s just like a compilation of these writings that we have of hers.
[00:29:46]But yeah, I guess I would just say start there. And there is not lot because she’s a new Saint. There aren’t a ton of books out there about her, but if you look, you will find some. [00:30:00] Yeah.
[00:30:00] Sophia Lebano: [00:30:00] And of course, I’ll give you an opportunity to promote your own book and where people can find you as well.
[00:30:05] Claire Dwyer: [00:30:05] Thank you.
[00:30:06] Yes. So this is present paradise, a spiritual journey with Saint Elizabeth of the Trinity is the full title and it is available at Sophia Institute, press a and Amazon, I think Amazon sold out by, I think by the time this airs, they should have some back in stock. So anyway, check there. And then also I.
[00:30:26] Even the sparrow.com is my blog. And I would love anybody that would love to know more, not just about Elizabeth, but about the spiritual life and the saints. And the idea that the closer you get to God, the more you will discover yourself. And what God has in store for you and how he created you uniquely beautiful with your own unique vocation and story.
[00:30:48] That’s what that’s my passion is to help women understand and discover, not just women, but primarily to understand that they have this beauty and possibility in their own interior life and an unrepeatable place in the church. So even the sparrow.com, if you want to follow my post there, you can just get on my email list and we’ll keep in touch.
[00:31:08] I would love to keep in touch with anybody that way.
[00:31:11] Sophia Lebano: [00:31:11] That’s amazing.
[00:31:12] Yeah. All of those links will be in the show notes down below for you guys. But Claire, this was amazing. And I learned so much and I, I’m definitely going to take more time to look up all about her life because I feel like it’s so inspiring.
[00:31:23] Claire Dwyer: [00:31:23] Thank you so much for having me. It was fun.
[00:31:26] Sophia Lebano: [00:31:26] Yeah, absolutely. So thank you guys so much for tuning into this week’s episode of Hear and Now Podcast . Don’t forget to subscribe and check out all of the links in the show notes below. Have a wonderful week, and we will see you next time. Bye-bye.
SHOW NOTES:
It’s the 86th episode of Hear and Now Podcast! Thank you for joining me this week as I have Claire Dwyer on to discuss her book, This Present Paradise.
Where to find Claire: Blog
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