I have Edith Stein on my mind and heart this Sunday. She was a German philosopher in the 20th Century who was Jewisdh and ended up eventually converting and becoming a Catholic nun, taking the religious name of Sr. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross. Her conversion was a bit of a long road with many stops along the way. I want to tell you about one of those stops. One day Edith and a friend were strolling through the city of Frankfurt when they decided to enter the Cathedral to take in the architecture there. Mind you, at this time Edith was a thoroughly secular professional. She was a philosopher and good friend of the world-renowned philosopher, Edmund Husserl. Though she had been raised as a Jew, she ended up considering herself an atheist.
That day in the cathedral, as she and her friend wandered in, Edith happened to spy a woman at prayer in the Cathedral. Now, obviously she had seen people at prayer before, but not like this. The woman had come in from the market and was kneeling in intense prayer. This stopped Edith in her tracks. Never had she seen someone so consumed in prayer. It made a profound impression on her. She recognized that this woman wasn’t just going through the motions, but truly wrapped up in an intimate personal encounter with One who was unseen.
This encounter was one of many along the way to Edith’s eventual conversion. When she did enter the church, she became a Carmelite nun, taking the name Sr. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross. When the Nazis rose to power during the second World War, Sr. Teresa became threatened because of her Jewish ancestry. Her Carmelite superiors moved her out of Germany to a convent in Holland, but eventually the Nazi’s arrived at her door. Sr. Teresa’s biological sister had come to join her there and both were deported to a concentration camp. As they were being led away, Edith calmly said to her sister, “Come, Rosa, we’re going for our people.” She was martyred at the Auschwitz death camp and is now recognized as St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross. Let’s ask for her intercession this morning: St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross, pray for us!
I have to think that the example of that woman coming in from the market and being lost in prayer impressed itself on Edith Stein to such an extent that she eventually allowed herself to become consumed by Christ’s love. It was the love of Christ poured out on her as a religious sister that gave her the unshakable courage to face death for the sake of her ancestral people. The love of God does powerful things when it consumes our hearts!
Another moment of consuming love is on my mind and heart as we gather this Sunday. I saw it when I was on pilgrimage with Dcn. Doug and the rest of the group that went to Europe this past summer. In Fatima, where Mary appeared to three shepherd children over the course of months in 1917, there is an enormous square now. Pilgrims come from all over the world to pray there and allow themselves to be drawn in by the love of the Blessed Mother for all of us in our sin. On July 13th, 1917, as she appeared to the children, Mary told them, “Make sacrifices for sinners, and say often, especially while making a sacrifice: ‘O Jesus, this is for love of thee, for the conversion of sinners, and in reparation for offenses committed against the Immaculate Heart of Mary.’”
The children followed the Blessed Mother’s advice and took every opportunity to lift up their sufferings for the conversion of sinners. Today in Fatima there are opportunities for pilgrims to voluntarily take on sufferings as an act of penance for the sake of sinners everywhere. Stretching through the large square in Fatima is a pathway marked out by different colored stone than the stone of the square. This narrow path stretches from one end of the square for probably 100 yards until it reaches the chapel that was built over the site of Mary’s apparitions to the children. Along this path, people scoot on their knees in prayer down the slope of the square and towards that little chapel.
One time when I was in the square this Summer, I observed a mother with her infant in her arms making her way on her knees along that path. It is a sight I’ll never forget. In her I saw a woman so consumed with the love of God that she wouldn’t even let the normal duties of motherhood keep her from making this way of penance. A relative followed along beside the mother walking normally, ready to take the child for her, but I never saw her give the baby up. What an example of love! She brought her baby along with her, entrusting that child to the Lord as she joined her sufferings to His in this humble act of penance.
So this Sunday let’s pause to consider the beautiful example of that mother walking on her knees with her child and the woman in the Cathedral lost in silent prayer. Both of these women show us the power that is released in us when we allow ourselves to be consumed by the love of God almighty. So often, our lives get consumed with other things. But God invites us every day to let His love draw us in. God, the Father calls to us through His Son to be captivated and consumed, to allow ourselves to be overwhelmed by the Holy Spirit. When we do this, we truly find ourselves in Him.
This was the reality for both the widow in Zarephath in the Old Testament reading and the poor widow at the Treasury in the New Testament reading. The widow in Zarephath entrusted herself to God through the prophet Elijah, giving her last bit of food to serve him. Her heart was consumed by the love of God, who spoke words of comfort to her through Elijah and promised her that he would take care of her and her son. And He did! As we hear: “the jar of flour did not go empty, nor the jug of oil run dry, as the LORD had foretold through Elijah.” And then again we see this trustful surrender in the poor widow that Jesus points out in the temple. I imagine that within that widow’s heart must have burned that all consuming love of God. Because of that all consuming love, she was confident to give the last two coins she owned. The consuming love of the Father lead her yo trustful surrender, and Jesus made her an example for all of us by pointing her out:
“Amen, I say to you, this poor widow put in more
than all the other contributors to the treasury.
For they have all contributed from their surplus wealth,
but she, from her poverty, has contributed all she had,
her whole livelihood.”
The challenge for each of us is to consider whether we are giving our whole livelihood to the Father? Are we taking the opportunity to let our hearts be so consumed by God so that we have the strength for trustful surrender? I pray that we allow Him this Sunday and every day, to impress His love upon our hearts in a fresh way, so that we can be consumed by Him, surrender ourselves to Him, and show that all consuming love to others through the actions of our own lives.
+ Heavenly Father, thank you for loving us so intensely. Help us to experience your love today. Jesus, show us the love of the Father in a new way as we encounter you in the Eucharist today. Holy Spirit, open our hearts to Your love and give us the courage to surrender ourselves to it today and every day. We ask this through Christ, our Lord. Amen. +