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9th August >> Fr. Martin's Reflections/Homilies on Today's Mass Readings for

the Feast of Saint Teresa Benedicta of the Cross (Edith Stein) Virgin, Martyr (Matthew 25:1-13)

And for

Friday, Eighteenth Week in Ordinary Time (Matthew 16:24-28).

Feast of Saint Teresa Benedicta of the Cross (Edith Stein) Virgin, Martyr

Gospel (Except USA) Matthew 25:1-13 The wise and foolish virgins.

Jesus told this parable to his disciples: ‘The kingdom of heaven will be like this: Ten bridesmaids took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were foolish and five were sensible: the foolish ones did take their lamps, but they brought no oil, whereas the sensible ones took flasks of oil as well as their lamps. The bridegroom was late, and they all grew drowsy and fell asleep. But at midnight there was a cry, “The bridegroom is here! Go out and meet him.” At this, all those bridesmaids woke up and trimmed their lamps, and the foolish ones said to the sensible ones, “Give us some of your oil: our lamps are going out.” But they replied, “There may not be enough for us and for you; you had better go to those who sell it and buy some for yourselves.” They had gone off to buy it when the bridegroom arrived. Those who were ready went in with him to the wedding hall and the door was closed. The other bridesmaids arrived later. “Lord, Lord,” they said “open the door for us.” But he replied, “I tell you solemnly, I do not know you.” So stay awake, because you do not know either the day or the hour.’

Gospel (USA) Matthew 25:1-13 Behold, the bridegroom! Come out to meet him!

Jesus told his disciples this parable: “The Kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were foolish and five were wise. The foolish ones, when taking their lamps, brought no oil with them, but the wise brought flasks of oil with their lamps. Since the bridegroom was long delayed, they all became drowsy and fell asleep. At midnight, there was a cry, ‘Behold, the bridegroom! Come out to meet him!’ Then all those virgins got up and trimmed their lamps. The foolish ones said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.’ But the wise ones replied, ‘No, for there may not be enough for us and you. Go instead to the merchants and buy some for yourselves.’ While they went off to buy it, the bridegroom came and those who were ready went into the wedding feast with him. Then the door was locked. Afterwards the other virgins came and said, ‘Lord, Lord, open the door for us!’ But he said in reply, ‘Amen, I say to you, I do not know you.’ Therefore, stay awake, for you know neither the day nor the hour.”

Reflections (7)

(i) Saint Teresa Benedicta of the Cross

Edith Stein was born on the 12th October, 1891 to a Jewish family in Breslau, Germany. Though she became agnostic in her teen years, through her passionate study of philosophy as an adult she searched after truth and found it in reading the autobiography of St. Teresa of Avila. In 1922, she was baptized a Catholic, and in 1933 entered the Discalaced Carmel of Cologne where she took the name of Teresa Benedicta of the Cross. During the Nazi occupation she was sent to the Carmel in Echt, Netherlands. When the Nazis occupied the Netherlands all Jews and Jewish converts were arrested. Sr. Teresa Benedicta and her sister Rosa were arrested at this time. She was gassed and cremated at Auschwitz on 9th August, 1942. A woman of great intelligence and learning, she left behind a body of writing notable for its doctrinal richness and profound spirituality. She was beatified by Pope John Paul II at Cologne, Germany on May 1, 1987 and canonized on October 11, 1998. The gospel reading chosen for her feast day is the parable of the ten bridesmaids from Matthew’s gospel. The lamp of Teresa’s faith burnt brightly from the moment she gave her life over to the Lord, having read the autobiography of Saint Teresa of Avila. Her faith in the Lord was a light in the awful darkness of Auschwitz. When the Lord came to her at the hour of her death in that inhuman place, she was there ready to meet him with the lamp of her faith burning brightly. That same light was lit in our own lives at our baptism. Our calling is to keep that light of our faith, the light of the Lord, alive in our hearts, no matter how great the darkness that bears down upon us. If we are to be faithful to that calling we need to keep turning in prayer towards the one who spoke of himself as the light of the world and promised that whoever follows him will never walk in darkness.

And/Or

(ii) Feast of Saint Teresa Benedicta of the Cross

Saint Teresa Benedict of the Cross, also known as Edith Stein, was born a Jew in 1891 in Poland. She had abandoned her Jewish faith by the time that she was thirteen and declared herself an atheist. A brilliant student, she gained her doctorate in philosophy at the age of twenty three. In the wake of the awful slaughter of World War 1 Edith began to feel a growing interest in religion. This culminated one night in 1921 when she happened upon the autobiography of Saint Teresa of Avila, the sixteenth century Carmelite nun. With fascination, she read through the night and by morning concluded, ‘This is the truth’. She was baptized a Catholic on the following New Years Day in 1922. Edith felt that by accepting Christ she had been reunited, by a mysterious path, with her Jewish roots. She went on to obtain an academic post in the University of Munster in Germany in 1932. However, with the rise of Nazism she was dismissed from her post because she was considered a Jew. The loss of her job enabled her to pursue her growing attraction to the religious life. She applied to enter the Carmelite convent in Cologne and was formally clothed with the Carmelite habit on April 15, 1934. She took as her religious name, Sister Teresa Benedicta of the Cross. Believing that her presence in the convent endangered the sisters, she allowed herself to be smuggled out of the country to a Carmelite convent in Holland. In 1940 the Nazis occupied Holland. She was captured and sent to Auschwitz where she died in the gas chamber on August 9, 1942. In the words of this morning’s gospel reading, she was ready when the bridegroom came, and went with him into the wedding banquet of eternal life. In 1998 she was canonized as a confessor and martyr of the church by Pope John Paul II. She sensed her forthcoming death and came to understand it as an act of solidarity with her Jewish people, an act of atonement for the evil of her time, and a conscious identification with the cross of Christ. She is an inspiration to all who are seeking the truth today. Her life inspires us not just to seek the truth but to live the truth of Christ, even if it means the loss of everything else. She calls out to us to keep our lamps burning, to keep the flame of faith alive in our hearts, even in the darkest night. She invites us to share her gospel conviction that the light of Christ shines in the darkness and the darkness will not overcome it.

And/Or

(iii) Feast of Saint Teresa Benedicta of the Cross

The gospel reading for the feast of St Teresa Benedicta of the Cross (Edith Stein) is the parable of the wise and foolish virgins from Matthew’s gospel. Of the ten virgins, only five of them had their lamps burning to greet the arrival of the bridegroom at the house of the bride. They were wise enough to have sufficient oil to keep their lamps burning for the long haul, so that, when the bridegroom was unexpectedly delayed, they were not caught out, unlike the five whose oil had run out by then. The image of the wise women calls out to us to keep faithful watch until the end so that our light continues to shine and never dims. A earlier verse in Matthew’s gospel at the beginning of the Sermon on the Mount suggests what this involves, ‘let you light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven’ (5:16). When we are faithful to the good works called for by the Sermon on the Mount the light of our faith and love will shine for all to see. The challenge is to be faithful in our good works so that, even though our light may grow dim from time to time, it never goes out, and, when the Lord comes to meet us at the end our lives, we are there to greet him with his light shining through us. Such as person was Edith Stein. She was born a Jew in 1891 in Poland. She had abandoned her Jewish faith by the time that she was thirteen and declared herself an atheist. A brilliant student, she gained her doctorate in philosophy at the age of twenty three. In the wake of World War 1 Edith began to feel a growing interest in religion. This culminated one night in 1921 when she happened upon the autobiography of Saint Teresa of Avila, the sixteenth century Carmelite nun. With fascination, she read through the night and by morning concluded, ‘This is the truth’. She was baptized a Catholic on the following New Years Day in 1922. She obtained an academic post in the University of Munster in Germany in 1932. However, with the rise of Nazism she was dismissed from her post because she was considered a Jew. The loss of her job enabled her to pursue her growing attraction to the religious life. She applied to enter the Carmelite convent in Cologne and was formally clothed with the Carmelite habit on April 15, 1934. She took as her religious name, Sister Teresa Benedicta of the Cross. Believing that her presence in the convent endangered the sisters, she allowed herself to be smuggled out of the country to a Carmelite convent in Holland. In 1940 the Nazis occupied Holland. She was captured and sent to Auschwitz where she died in the gas chamber on August 9, 1942. The light of her faith and love continues to shine for us today.

And/Or

(iv) Feast of Saint Teresa Benedicta of the Cross

Saint Teresa Benedict of the Cross, also known as Edith Stein, was born a Jew in 1891 in Poland. She had abandoned her Jewish faith by the time that she was thirteen and declared herself an atheist. A brilliant student, she gained her doctorate in philosophy at the age of twenty-three, in 1914. In the wake of the awful slaughter of World War 1 Edith began to feel a growing interest in religion. In 1921 when she happened upon the autobiography of Saint Teresa of Avila, the sixteenth century Carmelite nun. With fascination, she read through the night and by morning concluded, ‘This is the truth’. She was baptized a Catholic the following New Year’s Day in 1922. Edith felt that by accepting Christ she had been reunited with her Jewish roots. She went on to obtain an academic post in the University of Munster in Germany in 1932. However, with the rise of Nazism she was dismissed from her post because she was considered a Jew by the Nazis. The loss of her job enabled her to pursue her growing attraction to the religious life. She applied to enter the Carmelite convent in Cologne and was formally clothed with the Carmelite habit on April 15, 1934. She took as her religious name, Sister Teresa Benedicta of the Cross. Believing that her presence in the convent endangered the sisters, she allowed herself to be smuggled out of the country to a Carmelite convent in Holland. In 1940 the Nazis occupied Holland. She was captured and sent to Auschwitz where she died in the gas chamber on August 9, 1942. In 1998 she was canonized as a confessor and martyr of the church by Pope John Paul II. In the parable Jesus tells in today’s gospel reading, only some of the bridesmaids had their lamps lighting when the bridegroom arrived. When a child is baptized, the priest says to the parents, ‘keep the flame of faith alive in his/her heart’. The parable calls on us to keep that flame of faith alive in our hearts, in good times and in bad. The dark experiences of life can sometimes cause the flame of our faith to flicker or even go out. Saint Teresa Benedicta kept the flame of her faith burning brightly in the most difficult of human situations, and she is an inspiration for us to do the same. There was a time in her life, in her youth, when the flame of her faith did go out. It was the reading of a saint’s life which fanned her faith into a living flame again. Her experience reminds us that when the flame of our own faith grows weak or is even extinguished, it can always be relit. The Lord can relight that flame once more. He can touch our hearts through some human experience, such as the reading of a saint’s life, as in the case of Saint Teresa Benedicta. The Lord is always working to find a way through to us.

And/Or

(v) Feast of Saint Teresa Benedicta of the Cross

Saint Teresa Benedict of the Cross, also known as Edith Stein, was born a Jew in 1891 in Poland. She had abandoned her Jewish faith by the time that she was thirteen and declared herself an atheist. A brilliant student, she gained her doctorate in philosophy at the age of twenty-three, in 1914. In the wake of the awful slaughter of World War 1 Edith began to feel a growing interest in religion. In 1921 she happened upon the autobiography of Saint Teresa of Avila, the sixteenth century Carmelite nun. With fascination, she read through the night and by morning concluded, ‘This is the truth’. She was baptized a Catholic the following New Year’s Day in 1922. Edith felt that by accepting Christ she had been reunited with her Jewish roots. She went on to obtain an academic post in the University of Munster in Germany in 1932. However, with the rise of Nazism she was dismissed from her post because she was considered a Jew by the Nazis. The loss of her job enabled her to pursue her growing attraction to the religious life. She applied to enter the Carmelite convent in Cologne and was formally clothed with the Carmelite habit on April 15, 1934. She took as her religious name, Sister Teresa Benedicta of the Cross. Believing that her presence in the convent endangered the sisters, she allowed herself to be smuggled out of Germany to a Carmelite convent in Holland. In 1940 the Nazis occupied Holland. She was captured and sent to Auschwitz where she died in the gas chamber on August 9, 1942. In 1998 she was canonized as a confessor and martyr of the church by Pope John Paul II. Edith Stein responded to the Lord’s call. In the end it brought her into a wilderness, the awful wilderness of Auschwitz. When Jesus responded to the call of God the Father, it led him to the wilderness of Calvary. We can all find ourselves in something of a wilderness because of our commitment to the Lord and his way. Yet, in today’s first reading, God promises his people that he will speak to their heart in the wilderness. The Lord does not abandon us in our wilderness; he speaks to our heart when we are at our most vulnerable. God spoke a word of love to Jesus on the cross which brought him through death into risen life and he did the same for Edith Stein in her wilderness. The Lord will speak a word of love to our heart in our own wilderness moments. The Lord remains faithful to us, especially when we walk through fire. The life and death of Edith Stein encourages to remain faithful to the Lord in bad times as well as good. In the language of the parable in today’s gospel reading, she inspires us to keep the lamp of our faith burning brightly when all seems dark.

And/Or

(vi) Saint Teresa Benedicta of the Cross

Edith Stein was born in 1891 in Poland, the youngest of seven children of a Jewish family. She was a brilliant student and gained a doctorate in philosophy at the age of 25. She lost her Jewish faith as a teenager. At the age of thirty she came upon the autobiography of Saint Teresa of Avila. It captivated her and she became a Catholic a year later. In her forties, she felt a call to the religious life and she became a Carmelite in 1932 in the convent in Cologne. Both Jewish and Catholic, she fled to Holland when the Nazis came to power. When the Nazis invaded Holland, she was captured and sent to Auschwitz where she died in the gas chamber on 9th August 1942. There were key moments in her life when, in the words of today’s gospel reading, she heard the call, ‘The bridegroom is her! Go out and meet him’, and, having heard that call, she was ready with her lamp lit to go and meet him. Her reading of the life of Saint Teresa of Avila was one such moment, her becoming a Catholic was another, as was her decision to become a Carmelite nun. At different moments in her life, she heard the call of the bridegroom and responded generously. Gradually, over time, she came to see where the Lord was calling her. From a declaration of atheism in her teens she became a martyr of the church, a woman who lived and died for the heavenly bridegroom. Her life reminds us that if we keep seeking after truth, the Lord will respond to our search and will draw us to himself. Our journey to the Lord may have many twists and turns, as it did for Edith Stein, but if we are faithful to the deepest desires in our heart, we too will hear the call, ‘The bridegroom is here! Go out and meet him’, and we will be ready to respond.

And/Or

(vii) Saint Teresa Benedicta of the Cross

Saint Teresa Benedict of the Cross, also known as Edith Stein, was born a Jew in 1891 in Wroclaw, present day Poland. She had abandoned her Jewish faith by the time that she was thirteen and declared herself an atheist. She showed great ability in her philosophical studies and gained her doctorate in philosophy at the age of twenty three. She became a popular lecturer and writer. In the wake of the awful slaughter of the First World War, Edith began to feel a growing interest in religion. This culminated one night in 1921 when she read the autobiography of Saint Teresa of Avila, the sixteenth century Carmelite nun. With fascination, she read through the night and by morning concluded, ‘This is the truth’. She was baptized a Catholic on the following New Year’s Day in 1922. Eleven years later she joined the Carmelites at Cologne. She took as her religious name, Sister Teresa Benedicta of the Cross. She was moved to the Carmel of Echt in the Netherlands, to avoid the growing Nazi threat. However, in 1940 the Nazis occupied Holland. She was captured and sent to Auschwitz where she died in the gas chamber on August 9, 1942. The bridesmaids in today’s gospel reading kept their lambs burning through the hours of darkness as they waited for the bridegroom to arrive to celebrate the wedding banquet with his bride. Saint Teresa Benedicta kept the light of her faith burning brightly through the dark times of the rise of the Nazis. There could be no darker place that Auschwitz and yet there were various lights in that awful darkness, the light of faith, the light of hope, the light of loving kindness. Saint Teresa’s light of faith, hope and love burned brightly in that darkest of places. She inspires us to keep the light of our faith burning brightly when the times are dark. Her prayerful communion with the Lord kept her faith burning brightly. When the darkness of evil puts our own faith to the test, it is our prayerful communion with the Lord that will keep the flame of our faith burning brightly, until that final day of our earthly life when the Bridegroom comes to meet us and invites us to the wedding feast of the Lamb.

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Friday, Eighteenth Week in Ordinary Time

Gospel (Except USA) Matthew 16:24-28 Anyone who loses his life for my sake will find it.

Jesus said to his disciples: ‘If anyone wants to be a follower of mine, let him renounce himself and take up his cross and follow me. For anyone who wants to save his life will lose it; but anyone who loses his life for my sake will find it. What, then, will a man gain if he wins the whole world and ruins his life? Or what has a man to offer in exchange for his life? ‘For the Son of Man is going to come in the glory of his Father with his angels, and, when he does, he will reward each one according to his behaviour. I tell you solemnly, there are some of these standing here who will not taste death before they see the Son of Man coming with his kingdom.’

Gospel (USA) Matthew 16:24-28 What can one give in exchange for one’s life?

Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. What profit would there be for one to gain the whole world and forfeit his life? Or what can one give in exchange for his life? For the Son of Man will come with his angels in his Father’s glory, and then he will repay each according to his conduct. Amen, I say to you, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the Son of Man coming in his Kingdom.”

Reflections (5)

(i) Friday, Eighteenth Week in Ordinary Time

In the gospels Jesus often speaks in the language of paradox. One of the most striking instances of that is to be found in this morning’s gospel reading, when Jesus says, ‘anyone who wants to save his life will lose it; but anyone who loses his life for my sake will find it’. Another way of expressing that is to say, ‘if we seek ourselves only, we will lose ourselves, whereas if we reach beyond ourselves towards God and towards his Son Jesus we will find our true selves’. If we look to ourselves alone and our own needs and preferences, we risk losing ourselves, whereas if we look towards the Lord, which will always mean looking towards others, we will find life in this world and eternal life in the next. Jesus expressed this fundamental paradox of his teaching in another way when he said, ‘give and it will be given to you’. In other words, it is in giving that we receive. Our own experience of life teaches us the truth contained in this paradox. It is when we look beyond ourselves to others, to the Lord present in others, that we experience the Lord’s own joy, the Lord’s own life, which is a foretaste of the joy and life of the kingdom of heaven.

And/Or

(ii) Friday, Eighteenth Week in Ordinary Time

In this morning’s gospel reading, Jesus declares that if anyone wants to become his followers they must be willing to deny themselves and take up their cross. Self-denial is not greatly in vogue at the present time. You are more likely to hear talk of self-fulfilment. In calling for self-denial Jesus is not trying to extinguish all joy or fulfilment in life. The self we are to deny is what we might call the false self, a way of life that is self-centred and self-absorbed, in which everything revolves around myself. This is the self that wants to be at the centre of everything and is constantly seeking its own satisfaction and gratification. Jesus declares that if we are to follow him, we must lose this false self. The loss of this false self will be painful; denying our self in this sense will entail a way of the cross. Yet, Jesus declares that this saying ‘no’ to our false self is the way to true life, to discovering our true self, ‘if anyone loses his life for my sake, he will find it’. Our true self, our best self, is the self that is open to the Lord’s love, that allows itself to be constantly transformed by that love and so, as a result, becomes a loving person, a self that puts the interests of others before one’s own. This is life in the true and full sense that Jesus promises to all who follow him and allow themselves to be led by him.

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(iii) Friday, Eighteenth Week in Ordinary Time

Jesus asks a thought provoking question in this morning’s gospel reading, ‘What will a man gain if he wins the whole world and ruins his life?’ Jesus is suggesting that we can gain a great deal of what the world has to offer and values, and, yet, lose out at some more fundamental level of our being. We can gain the whole world and, at the same time, lose our life, lose that which makes us truly alive with the life of God. Jesus declares that the opposite is also true. People can lose a great deal of what is highly valued in the world and yet preserve their life, be fully alive with the life of God. Jesus tells his disciples and all of us in this morning’s gospel reading that it is in following him that we will find this fullness of life. Following the Lord will often mean often mean having to renounce ourselves; in that sense it will mean losing out in the eyes of many. Yet when this is done for the Lord’s sake, out of love for him, out of our desire to be faithful to his values, we will grow into our true selves, the self that is made in the image and likeness of our Creator. The call to renounce ourselves can sound very negative to modern ears. Yet, the Lord’s call is a call to fullness of life. Our self-denial is in the service of that fullness of life which he desires for us all.

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(iv) Friday, Eighteenth Week in Ordinary Time

Jesus often speaks in ways that strike us as strange, such as in today’s gospel reading when he declares, ‘anyone who wants to save his life will lose it’. We might find ourselves wondering, ‘How could this be true?’ ‘What does Jesus mean by this?’ It is one of those sayings that requires a certain amount of teasing out. When Jesus speaks about the ‘one who wants to save his life’, he is probably referring to the person who selfishly seeks self-fulfilment, who grasps at life in a very self-centred and self-regarding way. Jesus is declaring that such a person will not live a truly fulfilled life; at the end of the day, they will lose their life. In contrast, those who lose their life for the sake of Jesus will find it; those who are prepared to give their lives away in love, because this is what Jesus did for us and asks of us, will receive the fullness of life as a gift of God. They will receive this fullness of life in eternity, but they will begin to experience it already here and now in this earthly life. Jesus is saying that we don’t find ourselves, our true selves, by focusing on ourselves. Rather, we find ourselves by focusing beyond ourselves, by focusing on others in love, by focusing on the Lord present in others and calling out to us through others. Jesus declares that it is possible to gain the whole world and to lose our very self, our true self, the self that is made in God’s image. The reverse is also true. We can lose everything, out of love for God and others, and, yet, find life to the full. It is above all the life and death of Jesus that reveals this to be so.

And/Or

(v) Friday, Eighteenth Week in Ordinary Time

Jesus declares in today’s gospel reading that becoming his follower will not always be easy. What does it mean to follow the Lord today, to walk in his way? The Lord’s way is the way of self-giving love. It is the way of generous service of others. I celebrated a funeral during the week and the woman’s family summed up her life by stating that she was a giver not a taker. I thought it was a wonderful tribute to their mother. To be a giver rather than a taker is what becoming a follower of the Lord means today. He was the supreme giver. In the end, he gave everything, his very life, out of love for us. In the words of today’s gospel reading, he lost his life. However, in losing his earthly life, he found eternal life, not just for himself but for all of us. His love which led him to give his earthly life for us all was life-giving for us all. Whenever we give of ourselves in love for others, we become more alive ourselves, as human beings, and we bring life to others, we help them to become more alive as human beings. Becoming a follower of the Lord will often mean renouncing ourselves in some way for the sake of others, in service of the well-being of others. Yet, Jesus assures us in the gospel reading that such renouncing of ourselves in service of others is not something negative. Rather, it is the path to true life for us and for all whom we serve.

Fr. Martin Hogan.

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