Today, August 9, the Catholic Church celebrates the memory of St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross, better known as St. Edith Stein.
Newsroom (August 9, 2021 8:15 PM Gaudium Press) Born in Germany on October 12, 1891, into a prosperous Jewish family, Edith Stein was always brilliant in her studies. During a teenage crisis she abandoned school, religious practices and belief in God. She later completed her studies, becoming a doctor.
The reading of St. Teresa of Avila’s autobiography touched the young Jewish girl, who converted to Catholicism, which was never accepted by her family. With the arrival of Nazism, Edith entered the Carmelite Order, where she was called Teresa Benedicta of the Cross.
In August 1942 Edith was taken by Nazi officials to the concentration camps, along with two hundred and forty-two other Catholic Jews. The Saint strove to console the most afflicted, to lift the spirits of the downcast, and to care for the children.
On August 7, 1942, Saint Edith Stein and hundreds of other Jews went by train to the extermination camp of Auschwitz, where two days later they were killed in the gas chamber and their bodies were burned by the Nazis.
Saint Edith Stein’s Phrases
01 – “He who seeks the truth seeks God, even if he does not know it”.
02 – “Answering God’s call is always an adventure, but it’s worth taking the risk”.
03 – “No spiritual work comes into the world without great suffering. It always challenges the whole man”.
04 – “The more darkness is around us, the more we should open our hearts to the light that comes from above”.
05 – “What is worth possessing, is worth waiting for”.
06 – “If Mary is the prototype of genuine femininity, the imitation of Mary must be the end of the formation of the young woman”.
07 – “The Church is unshakable precisely because she unites the absolute defence of eternal truth with an unequalled elasticity in adapting herself to the situations and demands of each time”.
08 – “The place of each one of us depends solely on our vocation. The vocation is not found simply after having reflected and examined the various paths: it is a response that is obtained through prayer”.
09 – “The most intimate essence of love is self-giving. God who is love gives Himself to the creature that He Himself created out of love”.
10 – “The Lord is present in the tabernacle with divinity and humanity. He is there, not for himself, but for us: because his joy consists in being with men. And because he knows that we, as we are, need his personal closeness. The consequence, for those who think and feel normally, is to feel attracted and to stop there from time to time, as far as they are able.”
Prayer to Saint Edith Stein
Beloved Saint Teresa Benedicta of the Cross, Daughter of the Day of Forgiveness, Martyr of Auschwitz and Teacher of the Church. Embracer of the Cross with a love like that of Christ, descendant of Abraham, Daughter of Our Lady of Mount Carmel. You who deeply enjoys the hearts of the Messiah and his Mother, please intercede for me. Amen. (EPC)
Compiled by Zephania Gangl
