St Edith Stein, Pray for Us

On August 26th, Discalced Carmelites and the community of Apostoli Viae celebrate the feast of the Transverberation (or Transpierecing of the Heart) of St. Teresa of Avila, Virgin, Doctor, and Reformer of the Carmelite Order. The transverberation is a mystical grace wherein the Saint’s heart was pierced with a “dart of love” by an angel. St Teresa describes this experience in the Book of her Life: “Our Lord was pleased that I should have at times a vision of this kind: I saw an angel close by me, on my left side, in bodily form. This I am not accustomed to see, unless very rarely. Though I have visions of angels frequently, yet I see them only by an intellectual vision, such as I have spoken of before. It was our Lord’s will that in this vision I should see the angel in this wise. He was not large, but small of stature, and most beautiful—his face burning, as if he were one of the highest angels, who seem to be all of fire: they must be those whom we call cherubim. Their names they never tell me; but I see very well that there is in heaven so great a difference between one angel and another, and between these and the others, that I cannot explain it. “I saw in his hand a long spear of gold, and at the iron’s point there seemed to be a little fire. He appeared to me to be thrusting it at times into my heart and to pierce my very entrails; when he drew it out, he seemed to draw them out also, and to leave me all on fire with a great love of God. The pain was so great, that it made me moan; and yet so surpassing was the sweetness of this excessive pain, that I could not wish to be rid of it. The soul is satisfied now with nothing less than God. The pain is not bodily, but spiritual; though the body has its share in it, even a large one. It is a caressing of love so sweet which now takes place between the soul and God, that I pray God of His goodness to make him experience it who may think that I am lying. “During the days that this lasted, I went about as if beside myself. I wished to see, or speak with, no one, but only to cherish my pain, which was to me a greater bliss than all created things could give me. “I was in this state from time to time, whenever it was our Lord’s pleasure to throw me into those deep trances, which I could not prevent even when I was in the company of others, and which, to my deep vexation, came to be publicly known. Since then, I do not feel that pain so much, but only that which I spoke of before—I do not remember the chapter —which is in many ways very different from it, and of greater worth. On the other hand, when this pain, of which I am now speaking, begins, our Lord seems to lay hold of the soul, and to throw it into a trance, so that there is no time for me to have any sense of pain or suffering, because fruition ensues at once. May He be blessed for ever, who hath bestowed such great graces on one who has responded so ill to blessings so great!” (ST. TERESA OF AVILA, THE BOOK OF HER LIFE, CHAPTER XXIX.) St. John of the Cross explains that this kind of experience happens “while the soul is inflamed with the Love of God, it will feel that a seraph is assailing it by means of an arrow or dart which is all afire with love. And the seraph pierces and in an instant cauterizes this soul, which, like a red-hot coal, or better a flame, is already enkindled. The soul is converted into an immense fire of Love. Few persons have reached these heights.” As God is good, this one act that literally touched the heart of St Teresa of Avila has gone on to spiritually touch the hearts of millions of people since. One person, also named Teresa, today, also, a Carmelite saint, is St Teresa Benedicta of the Cross (aka Edith Stein). In 1940, she wrote this sonnet on the occasion of this feast day: From Heaven’s heights a beam of light here flashes, He came into the dark depths of my heart, The soul was wounded by Love’s flaming dart, Which penetrated all my limbs like lashes. Transformed since then is my entire being. Am I no more the same one that I was? That light has cleared away the dark, because I am like one who was once blind now seeing. Deep under me in unsubstantial distance, I see the world and all the rage of its states, Its buzzing noise does not reach me in this place. Eternal stars glow over my existence, And wondrously a bow of peace radiates, A gentle sign of God’s great mercy and grace.                              * * * The ray of heaven’s light allows me rest not, Thus what is lighted must become a light. The Light eternal sends me to earth’s plight: And so I turn to bear the world now so fraught. The love of God within my heart burns so deep, It gladly set the world in whole aflame. That love is homeless and attracts no fame, This causes pain and makes the faithful soul weep. It loves to let the golden stars shine brightly Into the deepest depths of earth’s darkest vale, With gentle light to penetrate the dark night. It wants to join both Heav’n and earth so tightly, And carry by the Holy Spirit’s strong gale The world aloft upon His wings into light. After St Teresa of Avila died in 1582, her body was exhumed and found to be incorrupt. Later, when it was decided that her heart should be removed from her body and placed in a jeweled silver reliquary, it was revealed that her heart had a visible wound from the angel's dart. This heart, wounded by Christ's love, can be seen today at the Carmelite Monastery of Alba de Tormes in Spain.  Members of Apostoli Viae and Carmelites around the world are clothed in the Holy Scapular of Our Lady of Mount Carmel. May God cover us in the mantle of Our Lady and guide us all along the way that is everlasting, the way tread by our holy sisters in Christ--Saints Teresa of Avila, Teresa Benedicta of the Cross, and so many others.  May our hearts never rest until they rest in Him. May our hearts be a light to others. May they burn with His flame, and set the world on fire with His love.   Images: Ecstasy of Saint Teresa by Gerard Seghers; La Transverbération de sainte Thérèse by Christian Wilhelm Ernst Dietrich; The Ecstasy of St Teresa, by Francesco Fontebasso.

- To be prayed from August 1st to the 9th -  Dear Friends, Please join with us in this novena to Saint Theresa Benedicta of the Cross. We ask that you join your personal intentions with that of our community and that you repeat these listed below aloud before your prayers on each day of the novena: The hearts of each member of the Apostoli Viae community, especially those who recently made new and renewed promises, would be set afire for God and for the mission of advancing His Kingdom in their own hearts and in the hearts of those God has placed in their care. Each member of Apostoli Viae would be a bright light for all who wander in the darkness, seeking the One who made them and calls them into an eternal relationship of love. We will experience an abundance of provision for our new retreat center for spiritual formation, and that it would become a haven of rest and refreshment from the heart of God for those who serve Him and those who are in need of healing. That we will enjoy exemplary relationships with our current and future Archbishop and that he would be eager to support us as we seek to serve the Archdiocese of Mobile and the world. That we would all seek to emulate St. Teresa Benedicta's total self-giving to a world in profound need of our prayer and our spiritual care. That the Lord would use the Apostoli Viae community to help heal the deep wounds in the Church and the world through the power of authentic encounter with Jesus and the life changing grace and provision of the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church. Opening Prayer  (to be said each day, followed by that day’s prayer) Dearest Sister in Christ, St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross, I come to you today to ask for your help.  You were blessed by so many graces during your short life—conversion of heart, peace in the midst of an unthinkable storm, unwavering trust in Divine Providence, inconceivable courage, embracing the Cross, compassionate sacrifice, total surrender, a deep longing for the Kingdom of God, and a selfless love for your neighbor. Although it took you some time to find and give yourself to Jesus, once you did, you said that if anyone came to you, you would lead them to Him. I beg of your prayers this day and every day for the rest of my life.  Please walk with me during this novena, as I ask Your Spouse to bless me with the Heavenly Graces He showered upon you during your lifetime. From your happy place in Heaven, lead me to Him so that He might bless me and make me more like Him, so that one day, I can love Him completely, with you, in Heaven.  Dear St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross, child of the Day of Atonement — Yom Kippur, daughter of Abraham, bride of Christ, seeker of truth, scholar of the Church, handmaid of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, servant of the Suffering Servant, presence of mercy, victim of victimizer, embracer of the Cross of Christ-like love, Martyr of Auschwitz, imitator of Jesus, conqueror of evil, friend of God, Edith, please pray for me and intercede for my petitions: Mention your petitions… Lord God, Heavenly Father, You blessed St Teresa Benedicta abundantly throughout her life and brought her to fully embrace the Cross at the hour of her martyrdom.  Through her intercession, grant us these same graces, so that we might imitate Your Son and grow closer to You every day of the rest of our lives.  We ask this through Christ our Lord.  Amen. Day One: Conversion of Heart (August 01) Opening Prayer “God, hear me, I implore You, and listen to my prayer. You saw me stand before You in darkness and despair. O lift me, gracious Ruler, upon a rocky peak. With hope I look to see You, God, Your guiding Hand I seek.”  —St. Teresa Benedicta St. Teresa Benedicta, you were born to a Jewish family and, in the course of your young life, you fell away from the Jewish faith. Living a life without any belief in God, you met with friends who had converted after suffering loss, and you wrote: “This was my first encounter with the Cross and the divine power it imparts to those who bear it ... it was the moment when my unbelief collapsed and Christ began to shine his light on me — Christ in the mystery of the Cross.” Later, after spending an evening reading the autobiography of St. Teresa of Avila, you wrote, “When I had finished the book, I said to myself: This is the truth.” As you looked back on this experience, you wrote: “My longing for truth was a single prayer.” St. Teresa, please ask Our Heavenly Father to shine His light on me as He did on you—to teach me the ways of everlasting life and to help me understand and imitate the mystery of His Cross. Ask Him for me, sister, that He might purify my intentions so that everything I do, everything I say, and everything I think is only done to satisfy His will. Ask Him to make my life a single prayer, just as yours once was. Saint Teresa Benedicta, please pray for me and all my intentions. Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory Be Day Two: Peace in the Midst of the Storm (August 02) Opening Prayer “You are a sturdy tower Resisting every foe. I fear no stormy weather, With You I have no woe. You’ll offer me safekeeping Within Your tent of love, From danger I’m protected By sheltering wings above.”  —St. Teresa Benedicta St Teresa, after saying goodbye to your family before entering the convent, you wrote, “I did not feel any passionate joy. What I had just experienced was too terrible. But I felt a profound peace — in the safe haven of God’s will.” But leaving your family for Carmel was hardly the hardest thing you experienced in life. Even in the shadows of Auschwitz, you were noticed as being a beacon of calm in the midst of the storm. I hope to never experience anything as horrific as the Holocaust, dearest sister, but please ask God to give me the strength to remain peaceful in Him, no matter what He has in store for me. This life is a mere preparation for the next. Help me to keep my eyes on Him, come what may. Saint Teresa Benedicta, please pray for me and all my intentions. Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory Be Day Three: Unwavering Trust in Divine Providence (August 03) Opening Prayer “O Prince of Peace, to all who receive You, You bring light and peace. Help me to live in daily contact with You, listening to the words You have spoken and obeying them. O Divine Child, I place my hands in Yours; I shall follow You. Oh, let Your divine life flow into me.”  —St. Teresa Benedicta St Teresa Benedicta of the Cross, you once wrote: “Things were in God’s plan which I had not planned at all. I am coming to the living faith and conviction that — from God’s point of view — there is no chance and that the whole of my life, down to every detail, has been mapped out in God’s divine providence and makes complete and perfect sense in God’s all-seeing eyes.” What trust! And how freeing this realization must have been. Dearest sister in Jesus, please ask your Heavenly Spouse to give me this grace to trust in Him completely and to know that, no matter what, His will is best. While I can only see a few feet in front of me, He has my whole life planned out. All I need to do is say “yes”, and He will take me to the highest heights. Yes, Lord. Thy will be done in all things. Saint Teresa Benedicta, please pray for me and all my intentions. Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory Be Day Four: Courage (August 04) Opening Prayer “O my God, fill my soul with holy joy, courage and strength to serve You. Enkindle Your love in me and then walk with me along the next stretch of road before me. I do not see very far ahead, but when I have arrived where the horizon now closes down, a new prospect will open before me and I shall meet with peace.” —St. Teresa Benedicta   St Teresa, shortly before your death, you said, “I never knew that people could be like this, neither did I know that my brothers and sisters would have to suffer like this. ... I pray for them every hour. Will God hear my prayers? He will certainly hear them in their distress.” What courage! And yet I know that this courage was a gift from God, a grace He gave you to do His will.  Ask Him for me, sister, to grant me the same grace. While my future may not be similar to yours, I know that my path will be its own Calvary, and I must carry the Cross that Our Lord created just for me. Please ask Him to help me carry my cross with courage and love, so that all who see me walking will be edified and will see Him strengthening me along the way. Saint Teresa Benedicta, please pray for me and all my intentions. Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory Be Day Five: Fearless Embrace of the Cross (August 05) Opening Prayer “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.”  —St. Teresa Benedicta St Teresa, as your martyrdom neared, you wrote, “I understood the Cross as the destiny of God’s people, which was beginning to be apparent at the time. I felt that those who understood the Cross of Christ should take it upon themselves on everybody’s behalf.”  Carrying my cross seems so difficult, St. Teresa Benedicta, but if I were to fearlessly embrace it for the benefit of others as you, yourself did... I know He would give me the strength I need. Please ask Jesus to help me embrace my cross as you did, in atonement for my sins and in reparation for the sins of others. God made this cross just for me, I know. Ask Him to give me the graces I need to carry it with love, until I can lay it down at the gates of Heaven. Saint Teresa Benedicta, please pray for me and all my intentions. Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory Be Day Six: Sacrifice (August 06) Opening Prayer “I will go unto the altar of God. It is not myself and my tiny little affairs that matter here, but the great sacrifice of atonement. I surrender myself entirely to Your divine will, O Lord. Make my heart grow greater and wider, out of itself into the Divine Life.”  —St. Teresa Benedicta St Teresa, you once wrote, “I ask the Lord to accept my life and my death … so that the Lord will be accepted by His people and that His Kingdom may come in glory, for the salvation of Germany and the peace of the world.” Instead of bemoaning your horrible fate or complaining about the dire circumstances of the end of your life, you willingly poured out your life for your people, for those who killed you, and for peace in the world. St Teresa Benedicta, please ask your Heavenly Spouse to grant me the grace to offer up all the sacrifices I can throughout my life for the atonement of sins and the conversion of sinners, especially for those who hurt me directly. Make my entire life one of sacrifice, so I can offer everything up to God, Who gives me everything out of love. Saint Teresa Benedicta, please pray for me and all my intentions. Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory Be Day Seven: Surrender (August 07) Opening Prayer “To be a child of God means to walk at the hand of God, to do God’s will, to put all worries and all hopes in God’s hands. . . . God in us, and we in Him, that is our portion in the divine realm for which the incarnation laid the foundation.”  —St. Teresa Benedicta St Teresa, as synagogues were burning and the Jewish people were being subjected to the most horrific of terrors, you wrote in your last Will and Testament, “Even now I accept the death that God has prepared for me in complete submission and with joy as being his most holy will for me.” As I think on the circumstances of your martyrdom, my mind reels. You accepted this death and offered it up with joyful trust and surrender. And I? I have a hard time dealing with even the smallest challenges in my life. Please pray for me that I would have the strength to look to my judgment and lift my mind and heart to heaven for the strength I need to walk through the darkness and lead others to do the same.  Saint Teresa Benedicta, please pray for me and all my intentions. Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory Be Day Eight: Longing for the Kingdom of God (August 08) Opening Prayer “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.’”  —St. Teresa Benedicta Dearest St. Teresa, since the day Christ laid claim on your heart, you never desired anything more than to be with Him. Your detachment from all things of this Earth is truly inspirational, and clearly, a grace from your Heavenly Spouse. I long for this detachment, St. Teresa. I long to spend eternity in the Kingdom of God. Please ask Jesus to give me the grace to be untiring in my efforts to join Him in Heaven. I want to never give up, never give in as I strive to join you, my Guardian Angel, and all the saints, in Heaven, where I can sing His praises for eternity. Saint Teresa Benedicta, please pray for me and all my intentions. Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory Be Day Nine: Selfless Love for Neighbor (August 09) Opening Prayer “Do you hear the groans of the wounded on the battlefields in the west and the east? You are not a physician and not a nurse and cannot bind up the wounds. You are enclosed in a cell and cannot get to them. Do you hear the anguish of the dying? You would like to be a priest and comfort them. Does the lament of the widows and orphans distress you? You would like to be an angel of mercy and help them. Look at the Crucified.”  —St. Teresa Benedicta Brave and selfless St Teresa, as you and your sister were arrested and taken from your beloved Carmel, you said to her, “Come, we are going for our people.” You gave so little thought to your own fate, but instead, thought of the valuable sacrifice you would be offering up for those who were about to kill you and millions more.  How can I love in the face of such hatred? How can I think so little of myself in such a time as this? I beg of you, dearest sister, to ask Jesus to give me the grace to be so giving, so selfless, so humble. The thought of it is inconceivable, but I know that nothing is impossible for God. Your life and conversion is proof of that.  Saint Teresa Benedicta, please pray for me and all my intentions. Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory Be