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St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross  (Edith Stein)

Only by the power of grace can nature be liberat­ed from its dross, restored to its purity, and made free to receive divine life. And this divine life itself is the inner driving power from which acts of love come forth. Whoever wants to preserve this life continually within herself must nourish it constantly from the source whence it flows without end: from the holy sacraments, above all from the sacrament of love. To have divine love as its inner form, a woman’s life must be a Eucharistic life. 

Only in daily, confidential relationship with the Lord in the tabernacle can one forget self, become free of all one’s own wishes and pretentions, and have a heart open to all the needs and wants of others. Whoever seeks to consult with the Eucharistic God in all her concerns, whoever lets herself be purified by the sanctifying power coming from the sacrifice at the altar, offering herself to the Lord in this sacrifice, whoever receives the Lord in her soul’s innermost depth in Holy Communion can­not but be drawn ever more deeply and powerfully into the flow of divine life, incorporated into the Mystical Body of Christ, her heart converted to the likeness of the Divine Heart.  

Something else is closely related to this. When we entrust all the troubles of our earthly existence confi­dently to the Divine Heart, we are relieved of them. Then our soul is free to participate in the divine life. Then we walk by the side of the Savior on the path that He traveled on this earth during His earthly exis­tence and still travels in His mystical afterlife. Indeed, with the eyes of faith, we penetrate into the secret depths of His hidden life within the pale of the Godhead.

Feast Day is August 9^th

Profile: The youngest of seven children of a Jewish family she was born in 1891. Edith lost interest and faith in Judaism by age 13. She was a brilliant student and philosopher, earning a doctorate at age 25.Witnessing the strength of faith of Catholic friends led her to an interest in Catholicism. She converted to Catholicism on January 1, 1922.  Later she became a Carmelite nun in 1934 taking the name Teresa Benedicta of the Cross.  She was a prolific and  profound spiritual writer.

Both Jewish and Catholic, she was smuggled out of Germany 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. She offered her life for the conversion of her Jewish people.  She died on August 9, 1942. She was to be canonized by Pope John Paul II in 1998.

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Feast Day is August 9th

Some thoughts from the Saint:

Whatever did not fit in with my plan did lie within the plan of God. I have an ever deeper and firmer belief that nothing is merely an accident when seen in the light of God, that my whole life down to the smallest details has been marked out for me in the plan of Divine Providence and has a completely coherent meaning in God’s all-seeing eyes. And so I am beginning to rejoice in the light of glory wherein this meaning will be unveiled to me

God is there in these moments of rest and can give us in a single instant exactly what we need. Then the rest of the day can take its course, under the same effort and strain, perhaps, but in peace. And when night comes, and you look back over the day and see how fragmentary everything has been, and how much you planned that has gone undone, and all the reasons you have to be embarrassed and ashamed: just take everything exactly as it is, put it in God’s hands and leave it with Him. Then you will be able to rest in Him — really rest — and start the next day as a new life.

Learn from St. Therese to depend on God alone and serve Him with a wholly pure and detached heart. Then, like her, you will be able to say ‘I do not regret that I have given myself up to Love’.

O my God, fill my soul with holy joy, courage and strength to serve You. Enkindle Your love in me and then walk with me along the next stretch of road before me. I do not see very far ahead, but when I have arrived where the horizon now closes down, a new prospect will prospect will open before me, and I shall meet it with peace.

St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross  (Edith Stein)

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In dryness and emptiness the soul becomes hum­ble. The earlier arrogance disappears when one no longer finds in oneself anything that would give rea­son to look down on others; instead, others now appear to one to be more perfect; love and esteem for them awakens in the heart. One is too occupied with one’s own misery to be concerned about others. Through her helplessness the soul also becomes sub­servient and obedient; she longs for instruction in order to reach the right way. Spiritual avarice is thor­oughly healed; when one no longer finds any practice to one’s taste, one becomes very moderate and does whatever one does purely for the sake of God with­out seeking any satisfaction for the self. And so it goes with all imperfections. All the confusion and unrest disappear with them. Instead, a deep peace and a constant remembrance of God are established. The only care that remains is the concern not to dis­please God.

+ St. Teresa Benedicta (Edith Stein).

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