My Friend Edith

I want to introduce to my friend Edith.  She in known by a number of names.  Born Edith Stein, of Jewish parents in Germany in 1891, she was a revered philosopher.  As a teenager, she no longer practiced her Jewish faith, in spite of admiring her mother's dedication to it.  She considered herself an atheist.  Throughout her studies, she was always searching for the truth.

She was visiting friends and one evening picked up an autobiography of St. Teresa of Avalia.  She read it through the night.  She had found the truth in the Catholic church.  She was baptised in January 1922 and eventually became a leading Catholic speaker and writer in Germany.  As a leader in the Catholic Women Movement, she was well known as Hitler rose to power.

She had wished to enter religious life, and did so in her forty third year.  Entering the Carmel of Cologne,she became Teresa Benedicta of the Cross.  For five years, she joyfully participated in community life while she continued her studies.  For her safety, she was moved to a convent in Holland.  Eventually, she was arrested by the Nazi's, along with her sister.  She was executed at age 50. 

Blessed John Paul II  canonized her in 1997.  It must have given him great joy, since is was a pupil of this saint.

 I am reading her essay titled, ""Spiritually of the Christian Woman" and want to share a little of it with you.  "Woman's destiny stems from eternity. She must be mindful of eternity to define her vocation in this world.  If she complies with her vocation, she achieves her destiny in eternal life."  These are compelling and sobering words from a true disciple of Christ.

In a world that has no view to eternity and a woman is most interested in the next pleasure, or how much she is worth, or what she owns, it is not a wonder why women are so lost today.  But looking at life in the context of eternity, all of those worldly things seem as not.

Thanks for letting me introduce you to Edith.  I hope you take time to read her works.  She is a great friend to have for now and eternity.  I want to leave you with more of her wisdom:
 
"God is there in these moments of rest and can give us in a single instant exactly what we need. Then the rest of the day can take its course, under the same effort and strain, perhaps, but in peace. And when night comes, and you look back over the day and see how fragmentary everything has been, and how much you planned that has gone undone, and all the reasons you have to be embarrassed and ashamed: just take everything exactly as it is, put it in God’s hands and leave it with Him. Then you will be able to rest in Him -- really rest -- and start the next day as a new life."