In addition to the profound changes in her life that she accepted with her husband's death, Elizabeth went through many difficulties, including being deprived of her dower lands and income from her husband, being expelled from the castle, and experiencing persecution and defamation of her character from her enemies among her husband's vassals. She also had to deal with the harshness of her confessor, Conrad of Marburg. But she always remained serene and joyful in God.

She told one of her handmaids how to handle such tribulations: "We must bear such things gladly, for it is with us as it is with the grass growing in the river: when the river is rising the grass is beaten down and flattened, and the flood waters pass over it without doing it any harm. When the flood is over, the grass stands upright and grows in its vigor, joyfully and delightedly. We should do the same when it is necessary: bend and humble ourselves, and afterwards stand up joyfully and gladly."

We experience many of the same things, such as when we lose jobs, undergo financial difficulties, are misunderstood at work, or have others gossip about us and attack our reputations. We should recall that St. Francis prayed saying "My God and my all," because he cared so much more what God thought about him than what others did. He knew that "perfect joy" lies not in having things our own way, but in suffering and bearing it patiently. We must always be prepared instead to undergo these things as a taking up of Christ's cross, of accepting blows in union with Jesus and the blows he received during his Passion, as Elizabeth did.

Do I accept tribulation, and difficulties, material and spiritual, as God’s will? Do I consider such things a following of Christ and taking up of his cross, and realize that I can experience "perfect joy" through it? Do I see that such a path, on which I seem weak, makes me strong, and does not break me, but sets me free?

[Jesus] said, "The Son of Man must suffer greatly and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed and on the third day be raised." Then he said to all, "If anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it. (Luke 9:22-24).

"Let them also follow the poor and crucified Christ, witness to him even in difficulties and persecutions" (SFO Rule, II, 10)