From Today's Office of Readings and Remorse

The ancients understood remorse. They understood the pain of remembering past opportunities for love, for generosity of spirit, passed up and then paid for by guilt.

 Erinyes, Furies or the "infernal goddesses" pursued those who sinned with justice and vengeance, unless the other gods of the Greek cosmos had pity on the person who experienced such. Charity to the Greeks did include alms, but also the avoidance of the capital sins, especially vengeful murder.

But, we have a higher call to charity, one which is embedded in our Faith.

1 John 3:17-19 Douay-Rheims 

17 He that hath the substance of this world, and shall see his brother in need, and shall shut up his bowels from him: how doth the charity of God abide in him?

18 My little children, let us not love in word, nor in tongue, but in deed, and in truth.

God has encouraged me, even in my simple lifestyle, to be generous, as the days of generosity will be stopped by God's justice.

We have been living in the time of mercy, which I predicted over a year ago, will end soon.

One reason why I am asking for help for the house of prayer now is that the time is coming when those who want to give will not be able to do so. The governments of the world are changing banking and financial rules even as I write.

If you are thinking of being generous, of creating a safe-haven, a hidden heart of prayer in the Church, now is the time.

Can you imagine, those who are able to give, how you will feel on that day when you go to your account and will not be able to take money out as you so desire? One of my friends learned the hard way, in a place relatively far away, what remorse comes from thinking one can be charitable "tomorrow". She lived in regret for past opportunities for giving out of her surplus, and now, she is no longer able to do this, not because she is poor, but because of outside influences on her income.

Pray, think, reflect. 

Those who give will be remember in prayer daily.

Framing Prayer 7 Continuing with The Carmelites

I shall return to St. Teresa Benedicta when the book I am borrowing comes in. If any readers want to help me with the purchase of some of those at the bottom of the last post, let me know.

One thing all these saints have in common, from the humble Brother Lawrence, to the great Ignatius, and all here to be covered, is the awareness that there is no holiness without first expiating for one's sins and the complete absence of vices earned through the Dark Night of purgation. The illuminative states of prayer cannot happen without this purification, a theme I have stressed over and over in the perfection series.

Life events can purged one of sin, such as hardships, failures, the loss of status. Some have told me that a brush with death saved them and brought them on the road of prayer which leads to purgation.

Not one saint skipped this step, and here, in the life of Blessed Titus Brandsma, we see a great purging brought on, through the Will of God, by suffering and martyrdom.

But, what of the prayers connected to this type of suffering and how can one incorporate such suffering into the daily life of the prayer of the laity?

Are you suffering with a long illness? Are you suffering grief, from the loss of a loved one? Is your family torn apart by sin?

How does such a creative man as Titus Brandsma speak to us in our routines of busyness and even, sadness?

First of all, Blessed Titus was a busy man, and in his writings, he was not afraid. His prayer life, that of a mystic Carmelite, trained in silence and discipline, led him to stand up against the marginalization and finally, planned destruction of the Jews early on in his career. His career as both an educator, where he refused to hand in the names of Jewish children to the authorities, and his career as a publisher, wherein he refused to print the propaganda of the Nazis, led directly to his arrest and death.

A man of action whose life was underpinned by prayer, in the midst of the obvious stages of persecution of Jews, and Catholics who continued to believe and protect the dignity of all--this was Blessed Titus Brandsma.

How does the peaceful retreat-like setting of Carmel feed such a courageous soul? 

Prayer which makes one face one's sin makes one totally dependent on God. St. John of the Cross described the terrors of the Dark Night. Titus Brandsma met these in Dachau, but he was ready for such suffering before his arrest.

The desolation of the desert of the spirit-the Dark Night of the senses and spirit, in which one is called to pursue God through faith alone would have prepared Titus for his ordeal.

What has this type of holiness got to do with a busy lay person, a dad, a mum, a student?

Several bullet points:

• No experience should be wasted by non-reflection. Reflect on everything which happens. God speaks daily to us in events, through people, even in nature around us. Waste nothing.
• Remember that love is in the will. One wills to love others, God...Titus would have loved the Jewish people even under threat, not only in his heart but in acts of the will, as times became dangerous for him.
• Being faithful to moral teachings of the Church, as we are witnessing today, means suffering. Titus has to accept this reality by focussing on Christ and not himself.
• Testing in God, like the loss of a job, a spouse, friends, is only as valuable as prayer and reflection make these. Take time to respond to events by examining where, how, when God is involved in your life. Titus grew, most likely, through testing--first in the warnings given to him by the Nazis, then through the warnings he received from his superiors, and finally in the solitude of his prison cell.
• Blessed Solitude. I already feel completely at home in this little cell. I haven’t been bored at all, in fact just the opposite. I am here alone, but never was our Lord so close to me. I could shout for joy that He has again let himself be found by me without me being able to be among people or people with me. He is now my only refuge and I feel safe and happy. I would like to stay here always, If He wills that. I have seldom been so happy and so content.
• How could he be so content, in such horrible conditions? Practice, practice of self-denial. One does not become a saint overnight......
• Now you are asking me what all these has to do with prayer in the home? That Titus Brandsma "held down" full-time jobs and manage to give time to God in order to face martyrdom.  We make choices daily for truth and these choices come out of our life of prayer. Of course, Mary, Our Lady of Mt. Carmel is the patron of the order and much loved by all the Carmelites.
• So, what type of prayer is Carmelite prayer? Like the Benedictines, Carmelites study, read holy books, and meditate on a psalm or an episode from the Life of Christ. Devotion to Our Lady of Mt. Carmel is also part of Carmelite prayer. The emphasis is not on saying the Divine Office together, but in one's cell, or on one's own, which is a something the lay person can do daily, without a community. The Tertiaries base their prayer on the prayer guidelines from the various constitutions of their groups. By the way, in America, the Tertiaries are now called "Seculars".  These Seculars say at least three hours of the Divine Office, on their own daily, plus a half-hour of mental prayer. Titus Brandsma's life would be a great example for all those aspiring to follow the Carmelite.

St. Teresa's guidelines to prayer may be found in her books, already highlighted on this blog. 

to be continued....

Framing Prayer 6 Carmelites Continued-Edith Stein

St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross brought one of the greatest minds of her generation into the convent. She was Edmund Husserl's greatest student, but a student who grew out of the strictures of atheistic phenomenology, into a Catholic version, and finally, embracing Thomism for her studies and prayer.

For the lay person, Teresa Benedicta, or Edith Stein, as she is known in the world still, allows one to apply prayer to the daily anxieties of living in extremely difficult times. Being a Jewish-Catholic, Edith was protected for a time by her order, which moved her to what was thought to be a safe place. However, as we know from her biography, both Sister Teresa and her sister, a lay sister, were arrested and murdered at Auschwitz in 1942. St. Teresa Benedicta was fifty at the time of her death.

What intrigues me about this Carmelite are three points for us to consider when looking at her life and prayer. The first point is that she was converted to Catholicism by reading books-by St. Teresa of Avila. This fact alone points to the importance of daily spiritual reading for the lay person. Edith Stein was a lay person when she was drawn to the important books by this Doctor of the Church. Although we must admit that Edith Stein is one of the philosophical stars in the firmament, her example of being converted through reading should be a habit we can easily emulate, even in this day of anti-intellectualism. 

The busy mom and dad can take time to stop and read something daily. Turn off the radio, the baseball game, go into a quiet corner and read. God blesses us when we take time to read the lives of the saints and their suggestions for a life of holiness.

The second point refers to keeping a schedule even in times of chaos. What could be more chaotic for a Jewish-Catholic than the evil of Nazism? St. Teresa Benedicta's prayer and study were not set aside because of  "troubles". Indeed, some of her most beautiful writings on the Cross and the suffering of Christ were created by her under the anxiety of arrest and death. A habit of prayer transcends time, circumstances, emotional upheaval. In fact, prayer grounds one in God. Her example shows us that one can even face death with peace and courage, if one had learned patience and the death of self through intense prayer. Let me share part of the canonization homily from St. John Paul II, as the Cross was the center of St. Teresa Benedicta's prayer. The Cross must be the center of our prayer as well. This love of the Cross involves each one of us embracing suffering as well as letting Christ take us up into His own Passion and Death.

The third point I want to stress is that if one looks for truth in prayer, one will find God. Or, rather, as St. John Paul II noted below, in these excerpts, the Truth, who is a person, seizes one. If we set aside time for prayer, Truth, Who is a Person, will answer us with love. When we pray daily, we place ourselves into a path towards truth, which includes self-knowledge.

Carmelites value the cell, the solitude, the silence which takes us into the Truth more closely than we can ever imagine. The method of meditating on the Cross, Passion, and Death of Christ form the beginning of real prayer---meditation comes before contemplation. Have the courage, states St. John Paul II, to decide to follow Christ, give Him time in prayer, suffer in and with Him.

Read these bits from the longer Homily of St. John Paul II For the Canonization of Edith Stein, given on Sunday, 11 October 1998


1. “Far be it from me to glory except in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Gal 6:14).

St Paul’s words to the Galatians, which we have just heard, are well suited to the human and spiritual experience of Teresa Benedicta of the Cross, who has been solemnly enrolled among the saints today. She too can repeat with the Apostle: Far be it from me to glory except in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.

The Cross of Christ! Ever blossoming, the tree the Cross continues to bear new fruits of salvation. This is why believers look with confidence to the Cross, drawing from its mystery of love the courage and strength to walk faithfully in the footsteps of the crucified and risen Christ. Thus the message of the Cross has entered the hearts of so many men and women and changed their lives.

The spiritual experience of Edith Stein is an eloquent example of this extraordinary interior renewal. A young woman in search of the truth has become a saint and martyr through the silent workings of divine grace: Teresa Benedicta of the Cross, who from heaven repeats to us today all the words that marked her life: “Far be it from me to glory except in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ”.
2. On 1 May 1987, during my Pastoral Visit to Germany, I had the joy of beatifying this generous witness to the faith in the city of Cologne. Today, 11 years later, here in Rome, in St Peter's Square, I am able solemnly to present this eminent daughter of Israel and faithful daughter of the Church as a saint to the whole world.

Today, as then, we bow to the memory of Edith Stein, proclaiming the indomitable witness she bore during her life and especially by her death. Now alongside Teresa of Avila and Thérèse of Lisieux, another Teresa takes her place among the host of saints who do honour to the Carmelite Order.

Dear brothers and sisters who have gathered for this solemn celebration, let us give glory to God for what he has accomplished in Edith Stein.

.....

4. Dear brothers and sisters! Because she was Jewish, Edith Stein was taken with her sister Rosa and many other Catholic Jews from the Netherlands to the concentration camp in Auschwitz, where she died with them in the gas chambers. Today we remember them all with deep respect. A few days before her deportation, the woman religious had dismissed the question about a possible rescue: “Do not do it! Why should I be spared? Is it not right that I should gain no advantage from my Baptism? If I cannot share the lot of my brothers and sisters, my life, in a certain sense, is destroyed”.

From now on, as we celebrate the memory of this new saint from year to year, we must also remember the Shoah, that cruel plan to exterminate a people — a plan to which millions of our Jewish brothers and sisters fell victim. May the Lord let his face shine upon them and grant them peace (cf. Nm 6:25f.).

For the love of God and man, once again I raise an anguished cry: May such criminal deeds never be repeated against any ethnic group, against any race, in any corner of this world! It is a cry to everyone: to all people of goodwill; to all who believe in the Just and Eternal God; to all who know they are joined to Christ, the Word of God made man. We must all stand together: human dignity is at stake. There is only one human family. The new saint also insisted on this: “Our love of neighbour is the measure of our love of God. For Christians — and not only for them — no one is a ‘stranger’. The love of Christ knows no borders”.

5. Dear brothers and sisters! The love of Christ was the fire that inflamed the life of St Teresa Benedicta of the Cross. Long before she realized it, she was caught by this fire. At the beginning she devoted herself to freedom. For a long time Edith Stein was a seeker. Her mind never tired of searching and her heart always yearned for hope. She traveled the arduous path of philosophy with passionate enthusiasm. Eventually she was rewarded: she seized the truth. Or better: she was seized by it. Then she discovered that truth had a name: Jesus Christ. From that moment on, the incarnate Word was her One and All. Looking back as a Carmelite on this period of her life, she wrote to a Benedictine nun: “Whoever seeks the truth is seeking God, whether consciously or unconsciously”.
Although Edith Stein had been brought up religiously by her Jewish mother, at the age of 14 she “had consciously and deliberately stopped praying”. She wanted to rely exclusively on herself and was concerned to assert her freedom in making decisions about her life. At the end of a long journey, she came to the surprising realization: only those who commit themselves to the love of Christ become truly free.

This woman had to face the challenges of such a radically changing century as our own. Her experience is an example to us. The modern world boasts of the enticing door which says: everything is permitted. It ignores the narrow gate of discernment and renunciation. I am speaking especially to you, young Christians, particularly to the many altar servers who have come to Rome these days on pilgrimage: Pay attention! Your life is not an endless series of open doors! Listen to your heart! Do not stay on the surface, but go to the heart of things! And when the time is right, have the courage to decide! The Lord is waiting for you to put your freedom in his good hands.

6. St Teresa Benedicta of the Cross was able to understand that the love of Christ and human freedom are intertwined, because love and truth have an intrinsic relationship. The quest for truth and its expression in love did not seem at odds to her; on the contrary she realized that they call for one another.

And, can we not identify today with what St. John Paul II said here? Also, her words quoted by the saint-pope echo the words of Fr. Chautard examined here last week.

In our time, truth is often mistaken for the opinion of the majority. In addition, there is a widespread belief that one should use the truth even against love or vice versa. But truth and love need each other. St Teresa Benedicta is a witness to this. The “martyr for love”, who gave her life for her friends, let no one surpass her in love. At the same time, with her whole being she sought the truth, of which she wrote: “No spiritual work comes into the world without great suffering. It always challenges the whole person”.

St Teresa Benedicta of the Cross says to us all: Do not accept anything as the truth if it lacks love. 

These next line can become our battle cry in these days of losing religious freedom and freedom of speech......how prophetic were these sentences at the time St. John Paul II shared them with the Church.

And do not accept anything as love which lacks truth! One without the other becomes a destructive lie.

If we learn to suffer in prayer, and prayer does bring suffering, we can face physical suffering. But, as St. Teresa Benedicta states below, suffering is a mystery for the Bride of Christ, for each one of us.

7. Finally, the new saint teaches us that love for Christ undergoes suffering. Whoever truly loves does not stop at the prospect of suffering: he accepts communion in suffering with the one he loves.

Aware of what her Jewish origins implied, Edith Stein spoke eloquently about them: “Beneath the Cross I understood the destiny of God’s People.... Indeed, today I know far better what it means to be the Lord’s bride under the sign of the Cross. But since it is a mystery, it can never be understood by reason alone”.

How timely are these words. These could be emblazoned today, especially this line--"But nothing is more eloquent than the Cross when silenced." Such is the life of the contemplative, or the martyr.

The mystery of the Cross gradually enveloped her whole life, spurring her to the point of making the supreme sacrifice. As a bride on the Cross, Sr Teresa Benedicta did not only write profound pages about the “science of the Cross”, but was thoroughly trained in the school of the Cross. Many of our contemporaries would like to silence the Cross. But nothing is more eloquent than the Cross when silenced! The true message of suffering is a lesson of love. Love makes suffering fruitful and suffering deepens love.

Through the experience of the Cross, Edith Stein was able to open the way to a new encounter with the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Faith and the Cross proved inseparable to her. Having matured in the school of the Cross, she found the roots to which the tree of her own life was attached. She understood that it was very important for her “to be a daughter of the chosen people and to belong to Christ not only spiritually, but also through blood”.

8. “God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth” (Jn 4:24).

Years ago, I discovered this saintly nun through my studies of phemenology. I knew her first as Edith Stein, then as a great writer of meditations on the Cross. Now, I see her as calling me deeper into contemplation, a model of suffering and prayer. But, she speaks to all lay people, of the need to keep moving towards silence, towards total conversion, towards self-denial. We are all called to do this in prayer, even in our tense lives.

Dear brothers and sisters, the divine Teacher spoke these words to the Samaritan woman at Jacob’s well. What he gave his chance but attentive listener we also find in the life of Edith Stein, in her “ascent of Mount Carmel”. The depth of the divine mystery became perceptible to her in the silence of contemplation. Gradually, throughout her life, as she grew in the knowledge of God, worshiping him in spirit and truth, she experienced ever more clearly her specific vocation to ascend the Cross with Christ, to embrace it with serenity and trust, to love it by following in the footsteps of her beloved Spouse: St Teresa Benedicta of the Cross is offered to us today as a model to inspire us and a protectress to call upon.

We give thanks to God for this gift. May the new saint be an example to us in our commitment to serve freedom, in our search for the truth. May her witness constantly strengthen the bridge of mutual understanding between Jews and Christians.

St Teresa Benedicta of the Cross, pray for us! Amen.

I am book begging here today--right now, ICS Publications has the  Letters to Roman Ingarden by St. Teresa Benedicta. If someone would like to get this volume for me, I would appreciate it. I would also like to have the other volumes 1-11, but that is a lot to ask. God bless you all.

I shall be returning to St. Teresa Benedicta, as I asked a friend to borrow a book on her Meditations to share with you, but the book will not get here for several days. But, I am sure your can pick up where I left off here today.