Aug 09 – Homily – Fr Alan: Edith Stein – Carmelite Witness to the Truth, Virgin Martyr
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St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross, better known by her civilian name, Edith Stein, provides an example of how faith and reason combined with love can lead one from unbelief to a life and death given in witness to the Truth. Born into a pious Jewish family, the intellectually gifted young Edith saw that for many or most of her contemporaries, both Jewish and Christian, "religion" seemed to be little more than a custom, devoid of real meaning. She would not play along with such a charade, and became an atheist. Love for the truth, which caused her to reject inauthentic religion led her to the study of philosophy, and eventually to faith in the True God revealed in Jesus Christ. Once she knew Jesus and sensed the meaning and power of the Cross, she wanted to follow him, eventually becoming a Carmelite nun. She did not hide her ethnic roots, but empathically practiced solidarity with her people, offering herself as a victim to break the power of the Antichrist that acted through the Nazi regime. She was killed August 9, 1942, in the Auschwitz concentration camp, O?wi?cim, Poland, faithful to the last.
Ave Maria!
Mass: St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross (Edith Stein) - Opt Mem
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