Stein, Edith (1891-1942), born at Breslau, Germany, of
Jewish parentage, studied at Gottingen and at Freiburg/Breisgau under Husserl,
the leading phenomenologist. She was received into the Catholic Church in 1922,
and in the following year entered the Carmelite convent in Cologne where she
received the name Sister Teresa Benedicta
of the Cross. At the end of 1938 she moved to the convent at Echt on account
of the Nazi persecution of the Jews, but during the German occupation of
Holland she was arrested, transported to Poland, and killed at Auschwitz. She
was beatified by Pope John Paul II in 1987 and canonized by him in 2000.
Friday after Epiphany Year II
Friday, 10 January 2014
First Reading Baruch 4:5-29.
Responsoru Bar 4:27.29; Ps 96:3
Take courage, my children, and cry out
to the Lord; he who has brought this upon you will remember you. + He will give you everlasting joy and salvation.
V. Proclaim to the nations the glory of the
Lord and to all peoples his marvellous deeds. t He will give ...
Second Reading
From the writings of Saint
Edith Stein (Le Mystere
de Noel, 51-60). A Word In Season, 2001edition.
Christ has not left us orphans
God has come to redeem us, to unite us to himself and to each
other, to conform our will to his. He knows our nature. He reckons with it, and
has therefore given us every help necessary to reach our goal.
The divine child has become a teacher and has told us what to do.
In order to penetrate a whole human life with the divine life it is not enough
to kneel once a year before the crib and let ourselves be captivated by the charm
of the holy night. To achieve this, we must be in daily contact with God, listening
to the words he has spoken and which have been transmitted to us, and obeying
them. We must, above all, pray as the saviour himself has taught us so
insistently. Ask and it shall be given to you. This is the certain
promise of being heard. And if we pray every day with all our heart:
"Lord, your will be done" we may well trust that we shall not fail to
do God's will even when we no longer have subjective certainty.
Christ has not left us orphans. He has sent his Spirit, who
teaches us all truth. He has founded his Church which is guided by his Spirit,
and has ordained in it his representatives by whose mouth his Spirit speaks to
us in human words. In his Church he has united the faithful into one community
and wants them to support each other. Thus we are not alone, and if confidence
in our own understanding and even in our own prayer fails us, the power of
obedience and intercession will assist us.
And the word was made flesh. This became reality in the stable of Bethlehem. But it has
also been fulfilled in another form. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my
blood has eternal life. The Saviour, knowing that we are and remain people
who daily have to struggle with our weaknesses, aids our humanity in a manner
truly divine. Just as our earthly body needs its daily bread, so the divine life
in us must be constantly fed. This is the living bread that came down from heaven.
If we make it truly our daily bread, the mystery of Christmas, the incarnation
of the Word, will daily be re-enacted in us. And this, it seems, is the surest
way to remain in constant union with God, and to grow every day more securely and
more deeply into the mystical body of Christ.
If we take part in the daily sacrifice, we shall be drawn quite without
effort into the liturgical life. Within the cycle of the Church's year, the prayers
and rites of the services present to us the story of our salvation again and
again and cause us to penetrate ever more deeply into their meaning. The
sacrifice of the Mass impresses on us time and again the central mystery of our
faith, the pivot of the world's history, the mystery of the incarnation and redemption.
The Christian mysteries are an indivisible whole. If we become
immersed in one, we are led to all the others. Thus the way from Bethlehem leads
inevitably to Golgotha, from the crib to the cross. The way of the incarnate Son
of God leads through the cross and passion to the glory of the resurrection. In
his company the way of everyone of us, indeed of all the human race, leads
through suffering and death to this same glorious goal.
Responsorq Ti 2:11-12
Begotten before the daystar and before all ages, + our Lord and Saviour
has appeared in the world today.
V. The grace of God has appeared for the salvation of all, schooling
us to reject all impiety and worldly desires, and to live sober, upright,
and godly lives in this world.+ Our Lord and ...
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