EDITH STEIN
St. TERESA BENEDICTA OF THE CROSS, Martyr, 1891-1942
"Born in Breslau, Germany, murdered in the Nazi death camp of Auschwitz, Poland, Edith Stein dedicated her life to a pursuit of truth leading from her roots in Judaism, via adolescent agnosticism to the study of philosophy, to Catholicism and ultimately to life as a Carmelite. She served God with prayer, scholarship and dedication to her fellow human beings, created in God's image.
In 1933, while others kept silent, she sought help from the Vatican for her beleaguered Jewish community, an Esther who pleaded for her people. In her writings she probed the meaning of suffering and reached for closeness to God.
She endured the indignities inflicted by her Nazi persecutors sustained by prayer and caring for the children around her.
With her older sister Rosa, she died in the gas chambers of Auschwitz. Edith Stein was beatified and declared a saint by Pope John Paul II."
Text by Susanne M. Batzdorff (Poet and Writer; niece of Edith Stein)
For more information and beautiful resume please follow the link to Vatican website http://www.vatican.va/news_services/liturgy/saints ns_lit_doc_19981011_edith_stein_en.html
NOVENA to St Teresa Benedicta of the Cross
Who are You, sweet light, that fills me And illumines the darkness of my heart? You lead me like a mother's hand, And should You let go of me, I would not know how to take another step. You are the space that embraces my being and buries it in Yourself. Away from You it sinks into the abyss of nothingness, from which You raised it to the light. You, nearer to me than I to myself And more interior than my most interior And still impalpable and intangible And beyond any name: Holy Spirit eternal love! Are You not the sweet manna That from the Son's heart Overflows into my heart, The food of angels and the blessed? He who raised himself from death to life, He has also awakened me to new life From the sleep of death. And He gives me new life from day to day, And at some time His fullness Is to stream through me, Life of Your life indeed, You Yourself: Holy Spirit eternal life! Are you the ray That flashes down from the eternal Judge's throne And breaks into the night of the soul That had never known itself? Mercifully relentlessly It penetrates hidden folds. Alarmed at seeing itself, The self makes space for holy fear, The beginning of that wisdom That comes from on high And anchors us firmly in the heights, Your action, that creates us anew: Holy Spirit ray that penetrates everything! Are You the spirit's fullness and the power By which the Lamb releases the seal Of God's eternal decree? Driven by You The messengers of judgment ride through the world And separate with a sharp sword The kingdom of light from the kingdom of night. Then heaven becomes new and new the earth, And all finds its proper place Through Your breath: Holy Spirit victorious power! Are You the master who builds the eternal cathedral, Which towers from the earth through the heavens? Animated by You, the columns are raised high And stand immovably firm. Marked with the eternal name of God, They stretch up to the light, Bearing the dome, Which crowns the holy cathedral, Your work that encircles the world: Holy Spirit God's moulding hand! Are you the one who created the unclouded mirror Next to the Almighty's throne, Like a crystal sea, In which Divinity lovingly looks at Itself? You bend over the fairest work of Your creation, And radiantly Your own gaze Is illumined in return. And of all creatures the pure beauty Is joined in one in the dear form Of the Virgin, your immaculate bride: Holy Spirit Creator of all! Are You the sweet song of love And of holy awe That eternally resounds around the Triune Throne, That weds in itself the clear chimes of each and every being? The harmony, That joins together the members to the Head, In which each one finds the mysterious meaning of his being blessed And joyously surges forth, Freely dissolved in Your surging: Holy Spirit eternal jubilation! after www.cathoilcdoors.com/prayers
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