Our faith 2
catholicnewsherald.com | August 3, 2012 CATHOLIC NEWS HERALD
The facts of faith
A saintly life
St. Teresa Benedicta: Jewish convert, martyr
Come back to God through the sacrament of confession
Feast day: Aug. 9
Benjamin Mann Catholic News Agency
On Aug. 9 the Church remembers St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross, also known as Edith Stein. St. Teresa converted from Judaism to Catholicism in the course of her work as a philosopher, and later entered the Carmelite Order. She died in the Nazi concentration camp at Auschwitz in 1942. Edith Stein was born on Oct. 12, 1891 – a date that coincided with her family’s celebration of Yom Kippur, the Jewish “day of atonement.” Edith’s father died when she was just 2 years old, and she gave up the practice of her Jewish faith as an adolescent. As a young woman with profound intellectual gifts, Edith gravitated toward the study of philosophy and became a pupil of the renowned professor Edmund Husserl in 1913. Through her studies, the non-religious Edith met several Christians whose intellectual and spiritual lives she admired. After earning her degree with the highest honors from Gottingen University in 1915, she served as a nurse in an Austrian field hospital during World War I. She returned to academic work in 1916, earning her doctorate after writing a highly-regarded thesis on the phenomenon of empathy. She remained interested in the idea of religious commitment, but had not yet made such a commitment herself. In 1921, while visiting friends, Edith spent an entire night reading the autobiography of the 16th century Carmelite nun St. Teresa of Avila. “When I had finished the book,” she later recalled, “I said to myself: This is the truth.” She was baptized into the Catholic Church on the first day of January, 1922. Edith intended to join the Carmelites immediately after her conversion, but would ultimately have to wait another 11 years before taking this step. Instead, she taught at a Dominican school and gave numerous public lectures on women’s issues. She spent 1931 writing a study of St. Thomas Aquinas and took a university teaching position in 1932. In 1933, the rise of Nazism, combined with Edith’s Jewish ethnicity, put an end to her teaching career. After a painful parting with her mother, who did not understand her Christian conversion, she entered a Carmelite convent in 1934, taking the name Teresia Benedicta ac Cruce” (“Teresa Benedicta of the Cross”) as a symbol of her acceptance of suffering. “I felt,” she wrote, “that those who understood the Cross of Christ should take it upon themselves on everybody’s behalf.” She saw it as her vocation “to intercede with
God for everyone,” but she prayed especially for the Jews of Germany whose tragic fate was becoming clear. “I ask the Lord to accept my life and my death,” she wrote in 1939, “so that the Lord will be accepted by His people and that His kingdom may come in glory, for the salvation of Germany and the peace of the world.” After completing her final work, a study of St. John of the Cross entitled “The Science of the Cross,” Teresa Benedicta was arrested along with her sister Rosa (who had also become a Catholic), and the members of her religious community, on Aug. 7, 1942. The arrests came in retaliation against a protest letter by the Dutch bishops, decrying the Nazi treatment of Jews. Her last recorded words were to her sister: “Come, let us go for our people.” Two days later she was killed in the gas chamber at Auschwitz. Blessed John Paul II canonized her in 1998 and proclaimed her a co-patroness of Europe the next year.
Also see Read more about Edith Stein’s views on women, 23
“To those who have been far away from this Sacrament … I make this appeal: come back to this source of grace; do not be afraid! Christ Himself is waiting for you. He will heal you, and you will be at peace with God!” (Blessed John Paul II). These words of our late Holy Father, Blessed John Paul II, underscore how vitally important and beautiful the sacrament of confession is. First instituted by Christ in the Gospel and administered by His priests over the ages, it is the sacrament of repentance and the way we reconcile ourselves to God. Through the sacrament, the shackles of our sins are removed and we become truly free. Our spiritual wounds are healed through the infinite mercy of God. We are offered conversion – returning home to God and rejecting the sinful choices of our past. Some may ask: why not just confess our sins directly to God? Why do we need to go through a priest? There are two reasons. First, we confess our sins to a priest who represents Jesus because this is the way He wanted it, as infallibly proclaimed by the Church and based on Scripture. Secondly, baring our souls out loud in a real, humble way invites true repentance, a sense of divine comfort, and solid advice from one who forgives in the name of Jesus Christ. As the Catechism of the Catholic Church explains, “Christ instituted the sacrament of Penance for all sinful members of His Church... The Fathers of the Church present this sacrament as ‘the second plank (of salvation) after the shipwreck which is the loss of grace.’” (CCC 1446). Although confession is required only once a year for any grave sins we may have committed, we will obtain innumerable graces and spiritual growth by confessing our sins frequently. Going to confession once a month is a great starting point. Preparing for this sacrament isn’t complicated: simply examine your conscience using the Ten Commandments as your guide, then ask God for the grace to be sorry for your sins, and trust in His loving mercy to help you make a good confession. Don’t worry about being nervous or unsure of what to do – the priest will help you. And lastly, whether you get nervous or not, never forget to rely on our Blessed Mother to respond to God’s love with greater trust and charity as you grow ever closer to Him. — Joseph Bruck
Your daily Scripture readings SCRIPTURE FOR THE WEEK OF AUG. 5 - AUG. 11
Sunday, Exodus 16:2-4, 12-15, Ephesians 4:17, 20-24, John 6:24-35; Monday (The Transfiguration of the Lord), Daniel 7:9-10, 13-14, 2 Peter 1:16-19, Mark 9:2-10; Tuesday (St. Sixtus II and Companions, St. Cajetan), Jeremiah 30:1-2, 12-15, 18-22, Matthew 14:22-36; Wednesday (St. Dominic), Jeremiah 31:1-7, Jeremiah 31:10-13, Matthew 15:21-28; Thursday (St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross), Jeremiah 31:31-34, Matthew 16:13-23; Friday (St. Lawrence), 2 Corinithians 9:6-10, John 12:24-26; Saturday (St. Clare), Habakkuk 1:12-2:4, Matthew 17:14-20
SCRIPTURE FOR THE WEEK OF AUG. 12 - AUG. 18
Sunday, 1 Kings 19:4-8, Ephesians 4:30-5:2, John 6:41-51; Monday (Sts. Pontian and Hippolytus), Ezekiel 1:2-5, 24-28, Matthew 17:22-27; Tuesday (St. Maximilian Mary Kolbe), Ezekiel 2:8-3:4, Matthew 18:1-5, 10, 12-14; Wednesday (The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary), Revelation 11:19, 12:1-6, 10, 1 Corinthians 15:20-27, Luke 1:39-56; Thursday (St. Stephen of Hungary), Ezekiel 12:1-2, Matthew 18:21-19:1; Friday, Ezekiel 16:1-15, 60, 63, Isaiah 12:2-6, Matthew 19:3-12; Saturday, Ezekiel 18:1-10, 13, 30-32, Matthew 19:13-15
SCRIPTURE FOR THE WEEK OF AUG. 19 - AUG. 25
Sunday, Proverbs 9:1-6, Ephesians 5:15-20, John 6:5158; Monday (St. Bernard), Ezekiel 24:15-24, Deuteronomy 32:18-21, Matthew 19:16-22; Tuesday (St. Pius X), Ezekiel 28:1-10, Deuteronomy 32:26-28, 20, 35-36, Matthew 19:23-30; Wednesday (The Queenship of the Blessed Virgin Mary), Ezekiel 34:1-11, Matthew 20:1-6; Thursday (St. Rose of Lima), Ezekiel 36:23-28, Matthew 22:1-14; Friday (St. Bartholomew), Revelation 21:9-14, John 1:45-51; Saturday (St. Louis, St. Joseph Calasanz), Ezekiel 43:1-7, Matthew 23:1-2