Spirit Singing

Byzantine Cultural Center-Cleveland, Ohio

He stretched out his hand for our gifts. He wanted the pure GOLD of a heart detached from all earthly goods; the MYRRH of a renunciation of all the happiness of this world in exchange for participation in the life and suffering of Jesus; the FRANKINCENSE of a will that surrenders itself and strains upward to lose itself in the divine will. In return for these gifts, the divine child gave us himself.”
From the Hidden Life and Epiphany-From the Collected Works of Edith Stein


From the life of St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross 
(Edith Stein)

On New Year's Day 1922, Edith Stein was received into the Catholic Church and was baptized with the name of Teresia because it was the study of the life of this seraphic saint of Avila which led to her conversion. The details surrounding this event, particularly the reception of her first Holy Communion, filled her with intense joy. However, the subsequent disclosure to her beloved mother and family resulted in pain and alienation. Yet as a dutiful daughter, Edith remained some months at home and continued to accompany her mother to the synagogue as usual. The urge to pursue her desire to devote herself completely to God in a monastery was only partially fulfilled by a teaching position with the Dominicans in Speyer. During this quiet time she devoted herself to her work, to prayer and research. She translated John Henry Newman's Letters and Diaries up to his Entrance into the Church which was published in Munich as Volume I of his collected works. Her name spread far and wide beyond Germany with the publication in 1930 of  Thomas of Aquinas' Question of Truth.

Neither reputation nor honor could affect her modesty. The celebrated philosopher longed for the solitude of the monastery... 




Peace be with you!
Rosemarie, ocds