St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross (Edith Stein)

By Fr. Conor Donnelly

(Proofread)

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

My Lord and my God, I firmly believe that you are here, that you see me, that you hear me. I adore you with profound reverence. I ask your pardon for my sins and grace to make this time of prayer fruitful. My Immaculate Mother, Saint Joseph, my father and lord, my guardian angel, intercede for me.

We are told in the letters of St. Peter: “Let not theirs be the outward adornment of braiding the hair, or of wearing gold, or of putting on robes; but let it be the inner life of the heart, in the imperishableness of a quiet and gentle spirit, which is of great price in the sight of God. For after this manner in old times the holy women also who hoped in God adorned themselves” (1 Pet. 3:3-5).

Today is the feast of St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross. She is a patron of Europe, one of the three. She was born Edith Stein in 1891 in Breslau in Poland, the youngest child of a large Jewish family.

She was an outstanding student and well-versed in philosophy, with a particular interest in phenomenology. While she had some early contacts with Roman Catholicism, it was a reading of the autobiography of St. Teresa of Ávila during the summer holidays of 1921 that caused her conversion.

Later in her life, she was to say that before her conversion, “The search for truth was my only prayer.”

She was baptized on the 1st of January 1922 in Cologne Cathedral. She wanted to enter a Carmelite convent, but her spiritual advisors dissuaded her from immediately seeking entrance into the religious life.

She obtained a position to teach at a school run by Dominican nuns in Speyer from 1923 to 1931. While there, she translated the work of St. Thomas Aquinas called Of Truth into German.

She familiarized herself with Roman Catholic philosophy in general and tried to bridge the phenomenology of her former teacher, Edmund Husserl, to Thomism. She visited Husserl and Martin Heidegger at Freiburg in April 1929, the same month that Heidegger gave a speech to Husserl on his 70th birthday.

You can see from this that she was a very brilliant lady, a very educated Jewess. She was searching for truth.

Also, she was growing up in Germany and being educated in Germany around the same time as the rise of Hitler. She became very familiar with National Socialism.

Later on, she was going to travel the whole of Europe lecturing against National Socialism. You can see how in that period she was very much one of the intellectual enemies of Hitler, and she became a very public figure.

In 1932 she became a lecturer at the Catholic Church-affiliated Institute for Scientific Pedagogy in Münster, but antisemitic legislation put by the Nazi government forced her to resign that post in 1933.

She experienced firsthand the brutality of antisemitism in all sorts of ways. She wrote a letter to the then pope, Pius XI, in which she denounced the Nazi regime, and asked the Pope to openly denounce the regime “to put a stop to this abuse in Christ's name.”

She saw all the evils that Nazism and National Socialism was going to bring to Germany. She didn't get an answer. It's not known whether or not the Pope ever read it.

But in 1937 the Pope issued an encyclical written in German called Mit brennender Sorge, translated as With Burning Anxiety, in which he criticized Nazism, listed the violations of the Concordat between Germany and the Church in 1933, and condemned antisemitism.

From a public relations point of view, having the Pope on your side was very important. So Hitler tried to court the favor of the Pope, and he wasn't at all happy with this document of Pope Pius XI.

At that time, the Nazi were in Germany. It was Cardinal Eugenio Maria Pacelli who was going to be the future Pius XII. He was elected in 1939 and was going to be a very strong, even greater, critic of Hitler and the Nazi regime.

Eventually, Edith Stein entered the Discalced Carmelite monastery in Cologne in 1933, and she took the name Teresa Benedicta of the Cross.

There she wrote her metaphysical book entitled Finite and Eternal Being, which attempted to combine the philosophies of St. Thomas Aquinas and Husserl.

We have this very educated lady with great influence in the highest intellectual and philosophical circles, making our presence felt, defending the teaching of Christ in all sorts of ways, writing important books.

It was thought that to avoid the growing Nazi threat, she should move out of Germany. With her sister Rosa, who was also a convert and also a Carmelite sister, she moved to Holland, to a convent in a place called Echt.

There she wrote another book of Studies on St. John of the Cross: The Science of the Cross.

Nobody ever thought that the Nazis would invade Holland. It was the early days of the war.

But even prior to the Nazi occupation of Holland, Edith believed that she would not survive the war, going as far as to write to the Prioress to request her permission “to offer herself to the Heart of Jesus as a sacrifice of atonement for true peace.” She also wrote her will.

Her fellow sisters would later recount how she began “quietly training herself for life in a concentration camp. She began to try to endure cold and hunger” (Joanne Mosley, Edith Stein: Modern Saint and Martyr).

The Nazis invaded Holland in May 1940, and the Pope issued a very strong condemnation of their actions. This made Hitler so furious that he decided to have an even greater crackdown on the Jews in Holland. One of his main targets was Edith Stein.

A Nazi soldier surrounded her convent and told the Prioress that if Edith Stein and her sister did not come out, they would kill all the nuns in the convent. Edith and her sister Rosa surrendered themselves.

They were sent to Auschwitz. Teresa died there in the gas chambers in Auschwitz in 1942 at the age of 50.

It's easy to understand how she captured the imagination of the future Pope John Paul II: Jewess from Poland, convert, great philosophical mind, follows a vocation to be a Carmelite nun, eventually dies a martyr in Auschwitz.

In 1987, she was beatified by Pope John Paul II in the Cologne Cathedral and canonized by him on the 11th of October 1998.

Pope John Paul II proclaimed her, a Jewess, as one of the Patronesses of Europe.

A spiritual writer said, “Out of the unspeakable human suffering caused by the Nazis in Western Europe in the 1930s and 1940s, there blossomed the beautiful life of dedication, consecration, prayer, fasting, and penance of St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross. Even though her life was snuffed out by the evil of genocide, her memory stands as a light undimmed in the midst of evil, darkness, and suffering.” (Enzo Lodi, Saints of the Roman Calendar).

All the saints have something to say to us, and all the martyrs. This particular lady is a woman who did wonderful things, gave great example, exemplified many of the virtues: love for truth, gave her life for truth, commitment, fidelity to her vocation, courage, fortitude.

Cardinal Sarah, in one of his books, reports that a Jew wrote on a slip of paper from the gas chamber, saying, “Lord, remember also the men of ill will, but do not remember then their cruelties. Remember the fruits that we have borne because of what they did. And grant, Lord, that the fruits that we have borne may one day be their redemption.”

In that book, Dom Dysmas de Lassus commented, “We should meditate on the grandeur of this message, which showed that the Holy Spirit was at work in the horror of the concentration camps.

“In the book of Daniel, God did not prevent the three young men from being thrown into the furnace, but he protects them because the angel of the Lord goes down into it with them. This story is symbolic.

“God does not spare us trials, but as he tells us in Psalm 91: ‘I will be with him in trouble; I will rescue him and honor him. With long life I will satisfy him, and show him my salvation’” (Robert Cardinal Sarah, The Power of Silence, Chapter V).

There's a story told about Edith Stein, that when she was searching for truth, in her early life, she wandered into a Catholic church in [Frankfurt]. She had never been inside a Catholic church before, but she wanted to see what it was like, what was there.

While she was there, a lady came into the church to make a visit to the Blessed Sacrament with her shopping basket. And she knelt down and said a prayer.

Edith Stein was observing this woman, and she was very impressed by the faith of this simple woman coming to make a visit to Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament. This opened up horizons of faith for Edith Stein.

She thought to herself, ‘No Jewess would ever think of passing by the synagogue to say a prayer, coming from the marketplace.’

The simple faith of this good woman was used by the Holy Spirit to light a fire of faith in the heart and mind and soul of a future martyr for the Church and Patroness of Europe.

We never know how God is using the simple things of each day, the living out of our plan of life, of our norms, the witness we give in certain moments or places, of a life lived consequentially on our faith.

St. Josemaría liked to talk a lot about the great contribution of women in the Church. He says in one of his writings, “Women are called to bring to the family, to society, and to the Church, characteristics which are their own and which they alone can give: their gentle warmth and untiring generosity, their love for detail, their quick-wittedness and intuition, their simple and deep piety, their constancy.”

He says, “A woman's femininity is genuine only if she is aware of the beauty of this contribution for which there is no substitute, and if she incorporates it into her own life” (J. Escrivá, Conversations, Point 87).

We are reminded that women, in particular, are called to promote Christian feminism in society; to promote, in a special way, the primacy of the family and the home.

John Paul II liked to say that every man that comes into the world is entrusted to the care of a woman. She is the one who teaches him how to love. She teaches him what it means to be human.

The family is this “school of deeper humanity” (John Paul II, Apostolic Exhortation, Familiaris Consortio, Point 21, November 22, 1981, and Vatican II, Gaudium et spes, Point 52, December 7, 1965) where we transmit values, where we try and build “a civilization of love” (John Paul II, Letter to Families, February 2, 1994).

There is a famous French saying that says the worth of a country is to be gauged by the worth of its women.

The Catholic Church in her teachings emphasizes and lifts up the dignity of women in all sorts of ways, and continually.

God wants us to transmit that message in all sorts of ways: the great respect for women, the details of refinement and courtesy—allowing a woman to go first, holding a door; helping a woman with small children; complimenting her as somebody who may be carrying life within her; letting her go forward in the checkout line or other little details.

Christian faith tries to venerate in all sorts of ways the concept of motherhood. That concept has been enhanced further by the lofty Christian view in which motherhood takes on an almost sacred character.

In the times that we are living, we have to try and help mothers in particular.

There is a famous doctor, Professor Robert Wally, who passed away last year, who liked to say, “We hear an awful lot about women, women, women, but we hear nothing about mothers, mothers, mothers.”

He invited doctors in the 21st century to do something special for mothers, particularly mothers who may be cooperating with God in their plans of bringing life into the world.

Scott Hahn and his wife scoured the Bible to find negative comments about children. But they couldn't find any.

The Bible doesn't say: Blessed is the woman who only has one or two because she will be able to provide for their college education. Or, Accursed is the woman who finds she is pregnant again. Or, Blessed is the woman whose career is more important so that she can have x number of years without children before she goes on to have a family.

We find very beautiful things written about women in Christian literature: Dante, Shakespeare, Dickens, Claudel.

There is a French historian who says there is no such thing as an old woman. Any woman at any age, when she is good, when she loves, can give man a taste of the infinite.

We have to try and return this respect for women and for mothers in a special way to society.

We can ask St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross to help us to do that today.

St. Josemaría was one of the greatest Christian feminists of the 20th century. He did enormous things for women all over the world: educational programs, formative programs.

He encouraged women to take their place in society. He encouraged them to develop themselves intellectually to the full, like Edith Stein and many others, so that they can have a greater influence.

In one of his writings, he says, “Development, maturity, emancipation of women should not mean a pretension to equality, to uniformity with men, a servile imitation of man's way of doing things.

“That would not get us anywhere. Women would turn out losers, not because they are better than men or worse, but because they are different.” They have different things to bring to society.

Today in our prayer we can look at this great woman and see the great legacy that she left to society: of virtue, of courage, of love for truth, of that desire to find the meaning and purpose of life. It's an important message for all young people today.

She must have looked at the silent recollection of Christ. She chose a silent vocation in Carmel.

“From the crib to the cross,” says Cardinal Sarah, “silence is constantly present, because the problem of silence is a problem of love. Love is not expressed in words. It takes on flesh and becomes one and the same thing as the one who loves in truth” (Robert Cardinal Sarah, The Power of Silence, Point 201).

Edith Stein showed her love for God with deeds. Silent deeds. She wrote a lot, but she didn't speak too much. She dedicated all of her great talents to the glory of God all over Europe.

“The strength of silence,” he says, “is such that it leads us to give ourselves even unto death, unto the humble, silent, and pure gift of our life. If we want to prolong Christ's work on earth, it's necessary to love silence, solitude, and prayer” (Ibid.).

We find a lot of these ideas manifested in the life of this great saint. We could ask her that we might learn how to pray like she did, to take the great steps forward in holiness as she did, that God may be asking of us. Ready for anything. Inspired all the time by the example of Our Lord.

“In Gethsemane,” says Cardinal Sarah, “when the end is near and the Apostles are sleeping, incapable of understanding in depth the drama that is playing out, he remains one last night in silence, in prayer. In his final moments, nocturnal silence is Christ's companion” (Ibid., Point 200).

We could try to learn how to love silence, to seek moments of silence in our day, in our week, in our year. We need it for so many things.

We need it also to contemplate and to see the great contribution that women have to make in society.

St. Josemaría says, “Women, like men, possess the dignity of being persons and children of God. … They are called to bring to the family, to society, to the Church, characteristics which are their own and which they alone can give. …

“It's not only outside the home that a woman achieves her perfection, as though time spent at home was stolen from the development of her personality.

“The attention given to her family will always be a woman's greatest dignity. In the care she takes of her husband and children, ... in her work of creating a warm and formative atmosphere around her, a woman fulfills the most indispensable part of her mission. It follows that she can achieve her personal perfection there” (J. Escrivá, Conversations, Point 87).

Each one of us has to try and see the great contribution that women make around us in the world. And every woman has to see the plans that God has for my life. What can I contribute? What can I do?

Each human person can be very grateful for the women that God has placed in their life—their mother, their sisters, their aunts, their grandparents, their grandmothers—just like Our Lord must have been very grateful for the role of His grandparents.

In silence, we can contemplate all these things. Silence when the Cross comes. Cardinal Sarah says: “The suffering of silence can also be God's hallmark on a soul” (Robert Cardinal Sarah, The Power of Silence, Point 97, quoting Dom Augustin Guillerand, Silence cartusien).

When Edith Stein was suffering during her life, she couldn't have had any idea that 40, 50 years after her death, her life, her ideas, her example were going to be a great inspiration for another Polish person who was to become possibly the most famous Polish person in the whole of human history, a great leader of the world: John Paul the Great.

He was inspired by this example of this Jewess—great philosopher, great mind, great love for the truth.

When we look at her life of martyrdom, we could try to make resolutions to accept with love, as wanted by God for our growth, all the sufferings, physical and moral, contradictions, misunderstandings, miscommunications, sicknesses, limitations, even hatred or bitterness, hostility.

Edith Stein experienced all these things in graphic ways, and she found her peace and solitude in a desire to co-redeem, to be with Christ on the Cross.

“I rejoice now,” says St. Paul, “for all the sufferings I bear for your sake; and in my body, I fill up what is lacking in the sufferings of Christ for the sake of the Church” (1 Col. 2:4).

There is nothing lacking in the sufferings of Christ, but there are things lacking from our participation in those sufferings.

So, Lord, when I look to the material world, help me to seek every day, in the little acts of self-denial that you ask of me, the humble acceptance of the little crosses that you may send me, particularly the unexpected ones.

Edith Stein must have contemplated the Cross of Christ and asked for the strength of love to carry it. She found in Christ on the Cross a book of wisdom. Supreme Love revealed.

St. Augustine says the Cross is a seat of learning. We learn things there. On the Cross, we become Christ-like and put off the old person.

There is a wisdom that comes with the cross. There is a light on the cross. There is a joy on the cross. There is a rest on the cross. It is there that our sorrows are converted into joys.

As Edith Stein went forward to her martyrdom, God must have given her a great peace in her soul and joy, as she looked forward to the eternal happiness which she richly deserved.

St. Paul says, “Do not model your behavior on the contemporary world, but let the renewing of your minds transform you, so that you may discern for yourselves what is the will of God—what is good and acceptable and mature” (Rom. 12:2).

The life of Edith Stein was full of contradictions. Things she didn't fully understand. But often, as one writer says, “Truth is the daughter of time” (Francis Bacon). When time passes, truth becomes revealed.

So we need not worry too much about the mysteries of the Cross or the mysteries of our life. In time, the truth of what we have tried to do will become apparent, as will all the fruits.

We can ask St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross to help us to give the same sort of witness that she gave in spite of everything, to be generous in our carrying of the Cross, and to look to her as the great Christian feminist that she was, living out and giving witness to the great dignity of women.

If we stay close to Our Lady, she will help us to give that same sort of witness in our apostolic life, in our professional and family life, the same sort of witness that St. Teresa gave in hers.

Mary, Queen of the martyrs, pray for us.

I thank you, my God, for the good resolutions, affections, and inspirations that you have communicated to me during this meditation. I ask your help to put them into practice. My Immaculate Mother, Saint Joseph, my father and lord, my guardian angel, intercede for me.

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

EW