Today's feast of St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross, a Carmelite martyr of Nazism of Jewish origin, has been incorporated to the universal Church liturgical calendar as an optional memorial. In Europe this day ranks as Feast since she was proclaimed co-patroness of Europe together with Sts. Catherine of Siena and Bridget of Sweden in 1999.
Divine Office proper for this day:
Edith Stein was born of Jewish parents in 1891, becoming an influential philosopher following her extensive studies at major German universities. Converting to Catholicism she became a major force in German intellectual life, entering the Discalced Carmelites in 1933. She was arrested by the Nazi regime in 1942 along with many Catholics of Jewish extraction, and transported by cattle train to the death camp of Auschwitz, dying there in that same year.
Office of Readings
SECOND READING
From the spiritual
writings of Saint Teresa Benedicta of the Cross:
(Edith Stein Werke (Freiburg, 1987), 11:124-126)
Ave Crux, spes unica!
We greet you, Holy Cross, our only hope! The church puts these words on our lips during
the time of the passion, which is dedicated to the contemplation of the bitter
sufferings of our Lord Jesus Christ.
The world is in flames.
The struggle between Christ and antichrist rages openly, and so if you decide
for Christ you can even be asked to sacrifice your life.
Contemplate the Lord who
hangs before you on the wood, because he was obedient even to the death of the cross. He came into the world not to do
his own will but that of the Father. And if you wish to be the spouse of the
Crucified, you must renounce completely your own will and have no other aspiration
than to do the will of God.
Before you the Redeemer
hangs on the cross stripped and naked, because he chose poverty. Those who
would follow him must renounce every earthly possession.
Stand before the Lord
who hangs from the cross with his heart torn open. He poured out the blood of
his heart in order to win your heart. In order to follow him in holy chastity,
your heart must be free from every earthly aspiration. Jesus Crucified must be
the object of your every longing, of your every desire, of your every thought.
The world is in flames:
the fire can spread even to our house, but above all the flames the cross
stands on high, and it cannot be burnt. The cross is the way which leads from
earth to heaven. Those who embrace it with faith, love, and hope are taken up,
right into the heart of the Trinity.
The world is in flames:
do you wish to put them out? Contemplate the cross: from his open heart the
blood of the Redeemer pours, blood which can put out even the flames of hell.
Through the faithful observance of the vows, you make your heart open; and then
the floods of that divine love will be able to flow into it, making it overflow
and bear fruit to the furthest reaches of the earth.
Through the power of the
cross you can be present wherever there is pain, carried there by your
compassionate charity, by that very charity which you draw from the divine
heart. That charity enables you to spread everywhere the most precious blood in
order to ease pain, save and redeem.
The eyes of the
Crucified gaze upon you. They question you and appeal to you. Do you wish
seriously to renew your alliance with him? What will your response be? Lord, where shall I go? You alone have the
words of life. Ave Crux, spes unica!
RESPONSORY
We preach Christ Crucified, a
scandal to the Jews and foolishness to the pagans,
--* but for those who are called,
whether they be Jews or Greeks, we preach Christ, the power of God and the
wisdom of God.
The desire of my heart and my prayer
rises to God for their salvation;
--* but for those who are called, whether they be Jews or Greeks, we preach
Christ, the power of God and the wisdom of God.
PRAYER COLLECT
Lord, God of our
fathers, you brought Saint Teresa Benedicta to the fullness of the science of
the cross at the hour of her martyrdom. Fill us with that same knowledge; and,
through her intercession, allow us always to seek after you, the supreme truth,
and to remain faithful until death to the covenant of love ratified in the
blood of your Son for the salvation of all men and women. Through our Lord
Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy
Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.
