Life (1891-1942)
Not all Jewish victims of the Hitlerian Holocaust were Jews in religion. Some were Jewish converts to Christianity, and in that sense martyrs of both the Old and the New Testaments. Edith Stein was a stellar example. Edith was born into a devout Jewish family of Breslau, Germany (now Wroclaw, Poland). She was a warm and popular member of the Stein family. Her nephews and nieces still remember her fondly for her reading to them and telling them stories when on vacation.
Brilliant and promising from childhood on, Stein began the graduate study of philosophy at the University of Goettingen in 1913. Here she became the prize pupil of Professor Edmund Husseri, founder of the modern philosophy called “phenomenonology”. During World War I she interrupted her university studies to serve in a Red Cross hospital. After the war she returned to Goettingen and finished her doctoral studies. Her dissertation was an analysis of empathy. After earning her degree, Edith worked as a teacher, counselor, lecturer and writer, growing in prominence as a professional philosopher.
In an autobiographical memoir she wrote several years later, Life in a Jewish Family, Dr. Stein said that she had given up the practice of Judaism by the time she was 15. Her conversion to Catholicism was therefore that of an agnostic rather than a Jew. Her inclination to Catholicism was probably influenced in part by the conversion of Max Scheler, one of several leading phenomenonologists who became Catholics. But what first attracted her attention to Christianity was the inspiration of Frau Adolf Reinach, a devout Protestant woman. Her husband, Adolf Reisach, one of Edith’s university friends, was killed in action in1917. The courage with which his widow accepted the loss impressed Edith with “the cross and the divine strength which it imparts to those who carry it.” “It was the moment when my belief collapsed” she said, “and Christ shone forth; Christ in the mystery of the Cross.” Now she began to study the Catholic Christian faith. Her reading of the autobiography of St. Teresa of Avila marked the turning point in her conversion. She was baptized January 1, 1922. Her family were naturally surprised, and her mother and grandmother deeply shocked. But Edith remained loyal to all her kinsfolk, and proud to “belong to Christ not only spiritually but according to the flesh.”
Although Edith now gave up her job as assistant to Professor Husseri, she continued her teaching, lecturing and writing. She undertook to reconcile the philosophy of St. Thomas Aquinas with the philosophy of phenomenology. In 1932 she was appointed lecturer at the Catholic Pedagogical Institute at Muenster, a state-funded position. Edith held that position for only one year because of ominous political developments. In 1933 the Nazi government issued an anti-Semitic ruling that no non-Aryan could teach in a school funded by the Reich. Actually, this repulsive law was not unwelcome to Dr. Stein in that it helped her to decide to become a Carmelite nun, a long-cherished wish. She entered the Cologne Carmel on October 14, 1933, taking the religious name Theresia Benedicta of the Cross. Her Carmelite superiors wisely decided to let her continue her scholarly studies and writing in the cloister.
For nine years Sister Stein continued her important literary and philosophical labors. In 1938, however, the Nazis began to bear down still more heavily upon religious Jews and people of Jewish ancestry. The Cologne Carmelites decided it would be safer for Sister Theresia to move to the Carmel at Echt, across the border in the Netherlands. So she went there on January 1, 1939. Her sister Rose, who had become a Catholic in 1936 but remained a laywoman, joined Edith at Echt a year later as a monastery guest. All went well until mid-1942. The Nazis occupied the Netherlands as early as 1940. They brought with them their mad scheme of ridding the world of Jews, but at first they raised no question about the 1,000 Dutch Catholics of Jewish background, ordering only the deportation of Jewish Netherlanders up to December 15, 1942. The Catholic bishops privately protested this measure of the occupying Germans. Failing to get action, they issued a pastoral letter read in all the churches on July 26,1942, denouncing the Nazi persecution of the Jews. The Nazis reacted quickly. On July 27, they ordered the immediate deportation of all Catholics of Jewish background. The reason? “Because the bishops interfered.” On August 4, Edith Stein and her sister were arrested at the Carmel of Echt and entrained to Auschwitz. When arrested, Edith said to Rose, “Come, let us go for our people.” Two weeks later Edith and Rose Stein were gassed to death at the infamous death camp. The Carmelite fulfilled her religious name: Theresia Benedicta of the Cross.
Pope John Paul II beatified Edith Stein as a martyr on May 1, 1987. Some have asked whether she is to be considered a Jewish martyr or a Christian martyr. Paradoxically, she could be considered both. But she could qualify equally as a person and as a saintly scholar. Her 17 volumes, when they have been translated into English, may identify her as a great intellectual. Sister Edith Stein would become even better known after her beatification. In the very year of her beatification a two-year-old girl in Brockton, Massachusetts, named Benedicta McCarthy after Professor Stein, accidentally ingested a lethal dose of Tylenol. Through the intercession of Blessed Theresia Benedicta, she was preserved from death. The Holy See approved the miracle in 1998. Pope John Paul II raised Edith Stein to the rank of “saint” on October 11, 1998. A saint for Catholics and a saint for Jesus.
--Father Robert F. McNamara
Scripture (Hosea 2L16b, 17b, 21-22)
(Year C). Venerunt nuptiae Agni et uxor eius praeparavit se (Rv 19:7). "The marriage of the Lamb has come and his Bride has prepared herself." This is certainly what echoed in our hearts on the eve of our holy profession and should be echoing again as we solemnly renew our holy vows. Mysterious words that conceal the deeply mysterious meaning of our holy vocation. Who is the Lamb? Who is the Bride? And what kind of marriage supper is this?
"And between the throne and the four living creatures and among the elders, I saw a Lamb standing, as though it had been slain" (Rv 5:6). When the seer of Patmos had this vision, the unforgettable day on the Jordan when John the Baptist showed him the "Lamb of God" who "takes away the sins of the world" (Jn 1:29) was still fresh in his memory. At that time, he had understood the word and now he understood the image. He who had once walked along the Jordan and who now appeared to him in white raiment with flaming eyes and with a judge's sword, the "first and the last" (Rv 1:17) he had in truth accomplished what the rites of the Old Covenant had suggested symbolically. When on the most momentous and holiest day of the year the high priest entered the Holy of Holies, into the supremely holy place of God's presence, he had previously taken two goats from the people: one on which to lay the people's sins, which were then carried out into the wilderness; the other to sprinkle its blood on the tent and ark of the covenant (Lv 16). This was the sin offering for the people. In addition, he had to provide a young bullock for himself and his house as a sin offering and a ram as a burnt offering. He also had to sprinkle the throne of grace with the blood of the bullock. When he had prayed, unseen by human eyes, for himself and his house and for all the people of Israel, he came out to the waiting people, and sprinkled the outer altar to cleanse it from his sins and those of the people. Then he sent the living goat into the wilderness, brought forward his own burnt offering and that of the people, and had the rest of the sin offering burned before the camp (and later before the gates). The Day of Atonement was a monumental and holy day. People remained in the holy place praying and fasting. And in the evening when everything had been accomplished, there was peace and joy in their hearts because God had taken away the burden of sin and given grace.
But what had effected the reconciliation? Not the blood of the slaughtered animals and not the high priest of Aaron's descent St Paul made this so compellingly clear in his letter to the Hebrews but rather the real sacrifice of reconciliation which was anticipated in all these legally prescribed sacrifices, and the high priest after the order of Melchizedek, who was represented by the priests of Aaron's line. He was also the true Passover Lamb for whose sake the angel of death passed over the houses of the Hebrews when he slew the Egyptians. The Lord himself made the disciples understand this when he ate the lamb of sacrifice with them for the last time and then gave himself to them as food.
But why did he choose the lamb as the preferred symbol? Why did he continue to reveal himself in this form on the eternal throne of glory? Because he was innocent as a lamb and meek as a lamb; and because he came in order to allow himself to be led as a lamb to the slaughter (Is 53:7). This, too, John had witnessed when the Lord permitted himself to be bound at the Mount of Olives and nailed to the cross at Golgotha. There on Golgotha the true sacrifice of reconciliation was accomplished. Thereby the old sacrifices lost their efficacy; and soon they ceased entirely, as did also the old priesthood when the temple was destroyed. John had witnessed all of this. Therefore, he was not surprised at the Lamb on the throne. And because he was a faithful witness to the Lamb, the Bride of the Lamb was also shown to him.
He saw "the holy city, the new Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God, prepared like a bride adorned for her husband" (Rv 21:2 and 9ff.). As Christ himself descended to earth from heaven, so too his Bride, the holy church, originated in heaven. She is born of the grace of God, indeed descended with the Son of God himself; she is inextricably bound to him. She is built of living stones; her cornerstone was laid when the Word of God assumed our human nature in the womb of the Virgin. At that time there was woven between the soul of the divine Child and the soul of the Virgin Mother the bond of the most intimate unity which we call betrothal.
Hidden from the entire world, the heavenly Jerusalem had descended to earth. From this first joining in betrothal, there had to be born all the living building blocks to be used for the mighty structure: each individual soul awakened to life through grace. The Bridal Mother was to become the mother of all the redeemed. Like a spore from which new cells stream continually, she was to build up the living city of God. This hidden mystery was revealed to St John as he stood beneath the cross with the Virgin Mother and was given over to her as her son. It was then that the church came into existence visibly; her hour had come, but not yet her perfection. She lives, she is wedded to the Lamb, but the hour of the solemn marriage supper will only arrive when the dragon has been completely conquered and the last of the redeemed have fought their battle to the end.
Just as the Lamb had to be killed to be raised upon the throne of glory, so the path to glory leads through suffering and the cross for everyone chosen to attend the marriage supper of the Lamb. All who want to be married to the Lamb must allow themselves to be fastened to the cross with him. Everyone marked by the blood of the Lamb is called to this, and that means all the baptized. But not everyone understands the call and follows it. There is a call to following more closely that resounds more urgently in the soul and demands a clear answer. This is the vocation to the religious life, and the answer is the religious vows.
For the person whom the Savior calls away from all natural ties from one's family, one's people, and occupational circles to cling to him alone, the bridal connection with the Savior also becomes more prominent than for the general host of the redeemed. They want to belong preeminently to the Lamb for all eternity, to follow him wherever he goes, and to sing the song of the virgins that no one else can sing (Rv 14:1-5).
The cross is again raised before us. It is the sign of contradiction. The Crucified looks down on us: "Are you also going to abandon me?" The day for the renewal of vows should always be one of serious self examination. Have we lived up to the promises made in our first fervor? Have we lived in a manner befitting brides of the Crucified, the Lamb that was slain? In the last few months one has often heard the complaint that the many prayers for peace are still without effect. What right have we to be heard? Our desire for peace is undoubtedly genuine and sincere. But does it come from a completely purified heart? Have we truly prayed "in the name of Jesus," i.e., not just with the name of Jesus on our lips, but with the spirit and in the mind of Jesus, for the glory of the Father alone, without any self-seeking? The day on which God has unrestricted power over our hearts we shall also have unrestricted power over his. If we ponder this, we will no longer dare to judge anyone else. But neither will we be discouraged if, after living in the Order for a long time, we must admit we are still bunglers and beginners. The fountain from the heart of the Lamb has not dried up. We can wash our robes clean in it even today as the thief on Golgotha once did. Trusting in the atoning power of this holy fountain, we prostrate ourselves before the throne of the Lamb and answer his question: "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life" (Jn 6:68). Let us draw from the springs of salvation for ourselves and for the entire parched world. Give us the grace to speak the bride's words with a pure heart: Come! Come, Lord Jesus. Come soon! (At the Foot of the Cross)
Musical Selection (John Michael Talbot)