Be PreparedHear the words of St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross (Edith Stein), Jewish philosopher and convert to Catholicism and Carmelite nun, martyred at Auschwitz in 1942. Her feast day is this Monday, August 9th: “The Savior hangs before you with a pierced heart. He has spilled his heart’s blood to win your heart. If you want to follow him in holy purity, your heart must be free of every earthly desire. Jesus, the Crucified, is to be the only object of your longings, your wishes, your thoughts… It is the loving heart of your Savior that invites you to follow. It demands your obedience because the human will is blind and weak. It cannot find the way until it surrenders itself entirely to the divine will… The arms of the Crucified are spread out to draw you to his heart. He wants your life in order to give you his. The world is in flames. The conflagration can also reach our house. But high above all flames towers the cross. They cannot consume it. It is the path from earth to heaven. It will lift one who embraces it in faith, love and hope into the bosom of the Trinity. The world is in flames. Are you impelled to put them out? Look at the cross. From the open heart gushes the blood of the Savior. This extinguishes the flames of hell… Your compassionate love takes you everywhere, this love from the divine heart. Its precious blood is poured everywhere—soothing, healing, saving. The eyes of the Crucified look down on you—asking, probing. Will you make your covenant with the Crucified anew in all seriousness? What will you answer him? ‘Lord, where shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.” (From the August 2004 Magnificat magazine) |