Matthew 25:1-13 Feast of St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross (Edith Stein)

The Edith Stein Chapel, Church of St. Michael the Archangel  (St. Michaelis Kirche in Breslau) © Christian Art

Gospel Reading

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.’

Reflection on the side chapel

Today, we celebrate the Feast of St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross, also known as Edith Stein (1891-1942). A Carmelite nun, martyr, and patron of Europe, she was born into a devout Jewish family. She had a distinguished academic career as a philosopher, including a doctorate from the University of Freiburg. After reading the autobiography of Saint Teresa of Ávila, she converted to Catholicism and was baptised just over 100 years ago, in 1922. She later became a lecturer at the Institute for Pedagogy in Münster, but was dismissed in 1933 because of the Nazi regime’s anti-Semitic laws. She then entered a Carmelite monastery in Cologne, adopting the name Teresa Benedicta of the Cross. To protect her from the escalating Nazi threat, her order moved her to the Netherlands. Following a public condemnation of Nazi racism by the Dutch Bishops’ Conference on 20 July 1942, however, the authorities ordered the arrest of all Jewish converts to Christianity. Teresa Benedicta was taken to Auschwitz and killed on 9 August 1942. She was canonised by John Paul II in 1998 and declared a co-patroness of Europe the following year. The photo I share is of the altar in the Edith Stein Chapel at the Church of St. Michael the Archangel (St. Michaelis Kirche) in Breslau. This church was her preferred place of worship during her visits to Breslau, from her baptism in 1922 until her last visit in 1933 before entering the Carmelite monastery. At the centre of the chapel is a marble altar inscribed with the date of her death and the words “Ave crux, spes unica” (Latin for “Hail to the Cross, our only hope”, a quotation from the Latin hymn, Vexilla Regis). The altar also houses an urn containing earth and ashes from Auschwitz-Birkenau, along with other relics, including a fragment of her habit.

by Father Patrick van der Vorst

Whoever seeks the truth is seeking God, whether consciously or unconsciously” Saint Teresa Benedicta of the Cross One night in 1921, the 28-year-old Edith Stein stayed up all night reading a book that she had recently discovered. This book was the autobiography of Saint Teresa of Avila, a renowned Carmelite saint. Edith was profoundly moved by Teresa's mystical description of the soul's connection with the absolute God. The next morning, she declared, "This is the truth," and was baptized the following year. Soon after, she joined the Carmelite order, taking the name Teresa Benedicta of the Cross. In making her a patron of Europe in 1999 Pope John Paul II highlighted how her philosophical background in phenomenology, a 20th-century school of thought focused on the conscious human experience, had prepared her for “coming face to face … with the testimony of Christian spiritual experience given by Teresa of Avila". Phenomenology insists on beginning philosophy by considering the meaningful and moral impact of the present-moment world upon the conscious human subject, which aligned with what Stein read in St. Teresa's reflections on the soul's journey to God. In 1916, Stein became the personal assistant to Edmund Husserl, the founder of phenomenology. While Husserl's work focused on the individual's interaction with their environment, Edith's own studies, beginning with her 1917 PhD thesis on "Empathy," emphasized the importance of relationships between people.  Both she and Pope John Paul II were influenced by the phenomenologist Max Scheler, who wrote about how the objective realm offers possibilities for actively building community. Scheler stressed moral values in human experience, while Edith focused on empathy and emotions towards others in that experience, leading to intentional actions. This insight made her particularly excited to discover the works of Saint Thomas Aquinas, who emphasized the concept of "being" as something that transcends yet engages the human seeker. Much of Edith's later work aimed to synthesize the ideas of Husserl and Aquinas. Pope John Paul II, in his 1999 Motu Proprio, explained how Edith's philosophical training led her to be, “sensitive to an objective reality which, far from ultimately dissolving in the subject, … must be heeded and grasped above all in the human being, by virtue of that capacity for “empathy” - a word dear to her - which enables one in some way to appropriate the lived experience of the other.” In a European culture that increasingly prioritizes individual experience and rights, Edith Stein's recognition of Husserl as "the philosopher of today" was prophetic. Even more appropriate was Pope John Paul II's decision to make her a patron saint of such a continent.  Her overnight discovery of the truth about the human person in 1922, informed by her phenomenological studies, led her to become a devoted Catholic, Carmelite nun, and ultimately a martyr, murdered in Auschwitz on August 9, 1942, for being both Jewish and Catholic after the Dutch Bishops condemned the Nazis. May her witness, which affirms that the human soul is destined for a mystical union with God, help counter the individualism of our time.