Homily: Feast of St. Theresa Benedicta of the Cross
Feast of St. Theresa Benedicta of the Cross (Mt. 18ff) “Woman of Principle”
Edith Stein was born into a Jewish family in 1891. She is the co-patron saint of all of Europe alone with two other women, Catherine of Sienna and Bridgit of Sweden. Born in Wroclaw, Poland, as a young woman she was a self-proclaimed atheist. She went to university and studied at the University of Freiburg. Her emphasis was in philosophy. Several of the professors she had were Christian and they influenced her thought. She also was greatly touched by the autobiography of Teresa of Avilla. She was baptized a Catholic in 1922.
For years she was not able to secure a teaching position at a university because she was a woman. She had to teach at the high school level as she continued to write. She studied Thomas Aquinas extensively.
Ten years after her conversion and with Hitler in power in Germany she joined the Carmelite convent in Cologne. She took the name Teresa Benedicta of the Cross. She was convinced that the Jewish people were in great danger, and she knew she was as well. Her conversion to Christianity would not save her. She fled to the Netherlands where she completed her major work entitled The Knowledge for the Cross.
In 1942 the Nazis decided that all Jewish people including those who had converted to Christianity would be rounded up and sent to the concentration camp. Theresa was arrested and sent to Auschwitz with her sister Rosa, and they were executed shortly after they arrived.
Theresa Benedicta suffered a lot of discrimination in her life. She was a source of controversy after her death. The Jewish community was not completely comfortable embracing her as a martyr because she was a Christian. The Christian community was not completely comfortable with her story because she was a Jew. The tensions between Jews and Christians were high after the war because it was thought that Christians did not do enough to save Jews from the Nazis.
If we have followed the latest news, we know that the Vatican archives have just been completely opened so that scholars can study how much the Catholic Church did to help the Jews during WWII. Hopefully, St. Teresa will become a figure that will remind us how much that Jews and Christians have a common heritage that should bring us together and not drive us apart.
Reflection Questions:
1. Have I heard of Teresa Benedicta? What are my impressions of her life?
2. How knowledgeable am I of the Jewish faith? Should I know more?
Dear Parishioners,
This week 17th Avenue will be closed to traffic as the storm sewer is rebuilt because of our building project. If anyone has tried to navigate the street in front of the church during a heavy rain or when there has been a major snowstorm you know that there is a terrible drainage problem. Water off another building flowing into the street would compound the difficulties we have. For that reason, we are adding drains in front of the Junior high and routing a lot of the water underground and away from the church.
The city of Moline is helping us with this project, but we will pay most of the cost. We hope this will stop any flooding and allow parishioners and school children to have a dry path between buildings.
At this point we hope that the work will be done by the end of the week. This will all depend on the weather. Parking will still be available in the Junior High lot.
May Our Lady and all the Saints pray for our troubled world today.
Fr. Mark