Friday, August 9, 2024

Memorial of Saint Teresa Benedicta of the Cross, virgin and martyr

(Nahum 2:1.3,3:1-3.6-7; Matthew 16:24-28)

Today’s memorial is optional, but its saint so closely fulfilled the gospel mandate that it deserves attention.  St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross was born and raised a Jew.  A student of philosophy, she became a leading proponent of phenomenology, which might be called a “hands-on approach to reality.” Reading the works of St. Teresa of Avila, she converted to Catholicism and then, like St. Teresa, a Carmelite nun.  Nevertheless, because of her Jewish heritage she could not escape the long reach of the Nazis. She died in Auschwitz in 1942.  Pope John Paul II canonized her in 1999.

St. Teresa took up her cross, that is, her Jewish heritage.  She delivered herself to the Nazis telling her sister who accompanied her, “Come, Rosa, we are going for our people.”  She meant that she would die, as Christ did, giving testimony to God’s love first for Jews and then for all.

Each of us has a cross but, fortunately, not as onerous as that of St. Teresa Benedicta.  Perhaps it is an aged parent to care for or an excessively demanding boss.  Taking it up our cross with patience, we, like St. Teresa Benedicta, will find ourselves in eternal life.

Tuesday, August 9, 2022

 (Optional) Memorial of Saint Teresa Benedicta of the Cross, virgin and martyr

(Ezekiel 2:8-3:4; Matthew 18:1-5.10.12-14)

In today’s gospel Jesus’ disciples come to him with a childish question.  “Who is the greatest…?” they ask.  Who is the greatest basketball player of all time?  Who is the greatest philosopher?  Greatness has so many facets that it is impossible to judge its degree in individuals.  Jesus does not answer his disciples’ question.  Rather he tells them that God loves the last in the pecking order of the time –children.  They too have a place in His kingdom.

Both as a Jew and a Christian, St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross knew God’s love.  She was born into a pious Jewish family and became a Christian after reading the works of St. Teresa of Avila.  Later she became a Carmelite nun and moved to Holland.  There the Gestapo caught up with her.  She did not resist nor flee again.  Wanting to be one with her native people and one with Christ on the cross, she was executed at Auschwitz.

We are not to worry about being the best or better than another.  We are to strive to please God in all we do.  At times our call to holiness will mean sacrificing ourselves like St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross in solidarity with others.  May we embrace the opportunity as a way to follow Christ.

Monday, August 9, 2021

( Optional) Memorial of Saint Teresa Benedicta of the Cross, virgin and martyr

(Deuteronomy 10:12-22; Matthew 17:22-27)

In today’s gospel Jesus proves himself to be an earnest Jew.  He might have avoided the Temple tax.  After all, he is a rabbi and rabbis sometimes do not pay the tax.  He is also the Son of God who should not be even asked for the tax.  But he is also a pious Jew who loves his people.  Rather than give scandal, he has the tax paid.

Today the Church honors a saint who was martyred because of her similar Jewish origin.  St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross became a Christian as an adult and then a Benedictine nun.  Living in a monastery in the Netherlands during World War, the Gestapo came to send her to Auschwitz with other Jews.  She did not resist but gave herself up.  She told her sister, who was with her, “Come; we are going for our people.” Like Jesus she loved her people so much that she was willing to die to show solidarity with them.

Christianity has been accused of giving root to anti-Semitism.  Pope Pius XI challenged that assertion the year before World War II broke.   “Spiritually,” he said, “we are Semites.”  He explained that our reference to Abraham in the liturgy and our union with Jesus make us common descendants of Abraham with all Jews. (He might have added Muslims as well.)  Jews are still persecuted for their faith.  We should stand in solidarity with them.

Friday, August 9, 2013

Friday of the Eighteenth Week in Ordinary Time

(Deuteronomy 4:32-40: Matthew 16:24-28)

Today’s optional memorial celebrates St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross, more commonly known by her name at birth, Edith Stein.  Her death amply illustrates Jesus’ gospel message, “…whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.”

Edith Stein was born a German Jew.  She earned a doctorate in philosophy studying with the eminent phenomenologist Edmund Husserl.  Converting to Catholicism around thirty years of age, she joined a Carmel in Germany about the time when the Nazis started their systematic persecution of Jews.  Sr. Teresa Benedicta transferred to a Carmel in Holland where the Nazi regime was more tolerant of Jewish-Catholic converts. But when the Dutch bishops spoke out against the Nazis, the authorities rounded up known Jewish-Catholics there and sent them to Auschwitz.  Sr. Teresa Benedicta died in a gas chamber in 1942.

St. Teresa Benedicta’s life and death illustrate that following Jesus can be costly.  Many today think of being Catholic as belonging to a distinguishable social group that goes to mass on Sundays and says the rosary at wakes.  St. Teresa Benedicta testifies that to live the implications of our faith, we must be ready not only to make the daily sacrifices that faith requires but also to suffer humiliation and even death if systematic persecution should begin again.