+ Edith Stein (St. Teresa Benedicta) was
the youngest of seven children in a Jewish family. She was born October 12,
1891 at Breslaw, Germany (which is now Wroclaw, Poland). Losing her interest
and faith in Judaism by age 13, Edith being a brilliant student and philosopher
with an interest in phenomenology, studied at the Universities of Gottingen and
Breisgau, Germany. She earned her doctorate in philosophy in 1916 at the age of
25. Witnessing the strength of faith of Catholic friends, Teresa was led to an
interest in Catholicism, which led to studying a catechism on her own, which
led to “reading herself into” the Catholic Faith. She converted to Catholicism
in Cologne, Germany, and was baptized in St. Martin’s Church, on January 1,
1922.
From there Edith’s
God-initiated vocation to the fullness of faith continued, and she entered the
Carmelite Order in 1934, taking the name Teresa
Benedicta of the Cross. She became a teacher in the Dominican school in
Speyer, Germany and lecturer at the Educational
Institute in Munich, Germany. However, anti-Jewish pressure from the Nazis
forced her to resign both positions.
Teresa Benedicta was a profound
spiritual writer, her major work being The
Knowledge of the Cross. Being both Jewish and Catholic, she was smuggled
out of Germany and assigned to Echt, Netherlands in 1938. When the Nazis
invaded the Netherlands, she and her sister Rose, also a convert to
Catholicism, were captured and sent to the concentration camp at Auschwitz
where they died in the ovens like so many others of their own people. As they
left the convent, Teresa took Rosa’s hand and said, “Come, Rosa, we are going
for our people!” They died on August 9, 1942. Teresa was beatified May 1, 1987
by Pope John Paul II at the Cologne Cathedral and canonized by him October 11,
1998 in Rome.
Our gospel passage reminds us
of the strength and courage that comes from remaining united securely to the vine that is Christ. An amazing
amount of power can come to those who are in great need, being thus attached to
him. It is also noted that those thus united can ask what they want and it will be given them. And as St Paul tells
us in the first reading, if we let him, the
Spirit, helps us in our weakness and tells us what to say when we pray, and what to ask for: this is truly
evidenced in St. Teresa Benedicta’s trusting prayer that she be safe in God’s
hands, and that anything he wants of her is fine with her: even the supreme
sacrifice of her own life in the Name of Christ. A true martyr and example to
us all, St. Teresa , pray for us that we may remain in the love of God until
the very end of our lives, whatever the circumstances of that are!
Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment