Latest Discovery for the iPod: The Music of Audrey Assad

I fell upon this talented Catholic singer courtesy of Modestia blog. She's a twenty-seven year old convert from Protestantism and she has a gorgeous voice! Read her conversion story here and a great interview here. Also, check out her latest album The House You're Building and this youtube video where she explains her inspiration of the title track. I'm hooked.

An Eat Pray Love Kind of Day

I'll admit, I've never read the book Eat, Pray, Love, nor am I sure I can really endorse it at all. I have no real desire to see the film, if it's anything like all the other fluffy, predictable "I-have-had-a-rough-go-at-it-so-I-need-to-go-somewhere-and-find-myself" kind of films. Yet, I have to admit I've had an Eat, Pray, Love kind of day today. I did not get the job I was desperately praying for (instinct, I want to eat, preferably some nice, smooth, extra dark chocolate and LOTS of it. Maybe add some nice smooth peanut butter to that. And oh! How about a few glasses of some expensive white wine. Oh, wait. I'm broke.) Next move, pray (seriously, God, seriously? What am I this year, a punching bag??? Be shocked, that is what I said.) After declaring to Him that I was getting quite sick of His will (mostly because it does not quite seem to be disclosed to me), I have to remind myself to love. To love Him, because really, He owes me nothing and gives me everything. To love my family because they still encourage me despite my manifold failings. To love myself (and have confidence too), because it is really easy to lose that and wallow in what seems like endless darkness and disappointment.

New Dress A Day Blog

Just imagine how much fun it would be to be able to wear (and afford to do so) a new dress every single day for whole year. And the kicker?? You'd only have to pay a dollar a day to so! Sound too good to be true? Not for this savvy young lady from California. I might be a little slow on the discovery of this, but you MUST check out what this young lady does with a sewing machine and a 1 dollar thrift store find on the New Dress A Day blog. This girl can turn any hopeless time piece into a wearable and more often than not, very cute look! She's got me inspired!

Edith the (Hopefully) Teacher

Dear Readers and Sisters,
Please keep praying for me!! I am still waiting to hear back from the teaching job I applied for - the one that I really want! The only word I received about it is that there is still no word about it...but school starts on August 30th!! I am going crazy and I am stressed - never a good combination :-) So, please keep me in your prayers!!

Photo Credit

How to Be Alone

Safe Travels Jules!

Julian is driving cross country right now (and I, for one, am SO jealous!). Here's a little tune to help her on the way. (It is my personal favorite driving song!)

Our lady of the highways, pray for us!

St. Maximilian Kolbe, Pray for Us!

I never realized the importance of where St. Maximilian's feast day falls...so close to the Assumption of the Blessed Mother, to whom He was consecrated and from whom he took the crown of martyrdom. What a gift our liturgical calendar is, to draw us evermore into the light of Christ.

“May the life of the Immaculate take possession of us ever more, day by day, hour by hour, moment by moment, and this without any limitation, growing, in the same way, in every soul that exists and will exist for all time: behold our beloved ideal.” (cf. SK #1210) -- St. Maximilian Kolbe

Road Trip Soundtrack

Next week I'll be driving west to Denver to help a friend move. I've already learned how to drive a stick shift car, so now I'm moving onto the less practical, but more fun, task of creating several soundtracks for various parts of our journey. I've divided the music into three categories: 1) "Fist pump" music/first leg; 2) "Mellow/the middle of the country is very flat"; and 3) "We're sleepy and need some R&B hits."

The first category is very easy for me. I have 7 hours worth of songs right now, ranging from CCR to Springsteen to The Killers to Regina Spektor. Safe to say, the first leg of our journey is going to be incredibly fun.

The second category is a little more difficult for me. I have some Rosie Thomas, Ingrid Michaelson, Nickel Creek, and some music from a dear colleague (which, by the way, you should all check out!), but I could use suggestions. Agatha has worn me down enough to accept bluegrass suggestions. Really Agatha, this is a triumph.

The third leg is proving to be even more difficult! Don't get me wrong; I do enjoy the beats of hip hop and R&B. But I also want songs with decent lyrics. Beyonce is proving to be about 75% helpful, but I'm still seriously lacking in selection. I think this is a serious problem though, since this genre of music is so influential on culture. Look, I know this isn't a new hypothesis or anything, but I really do think we could use some of these amazing beats paired with better lyrics. It's time, people. Anyway, suggestions are welcome.

Meeting People

Julian and I were recently talking about how we'd like to meet people other than the young single catholic crowd in our city (which is great, but can be stifling). The conversation went something like this:

A: I want to meet people.

J: so do I. how do we do that?

A: I don't know. join a class or something.

J: or go to bars.

A: yeah, but then comes the question "what do you do" and you answer, I teach theology. And then you end up talking about theology anyway.

Obviously this is a bit of a witness, but its not exactly what we're looking for. All the same, the conversation reminded me of a great Mary Tyler Moore episode where Rhoda hits on the brilliant idea to join a divorce group so she can meet single men...and possibly win a trip to Paris. Mary ends up being vice-president of the club. Watch it:

Thank You!

Thanks, readers, for your prayers. Our family friend did (miraculously!) make it out of surgery, but the doctors were unable to fix the entire problem...meaning, we think the worst is inevitable. I will keep you posted on her status, but thank you for your prayers. What a gift for her to see her children and husband another day!

Urgent Prayer Request

A family friend is having surgery tomorrow, but there is only a 15-20% chance of survival. She will pass if she doesn't have the surgery. Thank you for prayers, sweet readers.

-- Julian

You'll Never Believe It....

So, this morning I went to daily Mass at a parish about a mile from my home, and who did I see but the same man and his wife that I saw the previous day completely across the city...actually outside the city limits! I was stunned when I saw his wife going into Mass, and when I looked for the gentleman, he was up against the brick wall, one arm over his head and the other clutching his prayer book. He was praying at the Station of the Cross when Jesus fell for the first time. It was the most beautiful sight -- even more than the two that I saw the day before. He proceeded to walk the entire church periphery, clearly in agony, along with Christ. This man praying the stations. Took my breath away. Again.

Edith's Devotions of Choice

How can we narrow down our top 5 devotions? Part of what I love about being Catholic is that we have devotions, saints, liturgies for every season in our lives! But, I can, for the sake of Kim's challenge, narrow it down! So here goes -

5. The Divine Mercy Chaplet - I love this chaplet and the message of God's Divine Mercy. I still have not made my way through all of St. Faustina's diary (but I will!). This chaplet was made even more special for me when my old parish in Louisiana observed this novena from Mardi Gras every Tuesday until the Tuesday of Divine Mercy week. The choir director at the parish wrote the music and it is absolutely beautiful. I'll really miss that!

4. Spiritual Reading - I love doing all kind of spiritual reading, I am a reader and being intellectually stimulated is one way I relate to God. Whether it is Bible reading, prayer books, writings of saints and blesseds, I love it all.

3. Studying the Lives of the Saints/Novenas - I am obsessed with learning about the saints - (hmmm...can you tell, i.e. Edith Stein?) They remind me that human beings are not only entirely capable of holiness, but called to be holy. Learning about them gives us friends in heaven, and seriously, who can't use that??

2. Rosary - Sometimes I find the rosary difficult to pray - not in the sense that the prayers are hard, but to really focus and meditate upon them for me is difficult. So if I am having a really hard time, I try to focus on the fact that I am a child of God and a child of His Holy Mother and they love me. And then I also might picture a person's face that I really want to offer that decade for. It helps, and the rosary changes lives and hearts.

1. The Liturgy of the Easter Triduum - This is the most solemn and joyful time in the Church. The joy, fear, sorrow, and anticipation of Holy Thursday, the emptiness you literally feel on Good Friday, and the indescribable joy of the Easter Vigil Mass, especially as you watch new members become embraced into the arms of Holy Mother Church - words just cannot even express how much beauty....

Click for favorites of Julian and Agatha.

Julian's Devotions of Choice

1. Adoration
2. The Direction of Intention from St. Francis de Sales
3. Novena to the Archangel Raphael (he saved my father from paralysis!)
4. Chaplet of Divine Mercy
5. Contemplative Prayer

The last few weeks a meme of Catholic devotions has been spreading the papist blogsphere. The Magdalene Sisters were tagged by Kim Luisi, author of the blog Faith Fiction and Flannery, and a writer for Traces Magazine. Find Agatha's post here.

Agatha's Devotions of Choice

The last few weeks a meme of Catholic devotions has been spreading the papist blogsphere. The Magdalene Sisters were tagged by Kim Luisi, author of the blog Faith Fiction and Flannery, and a writer for Traces Magazine.

So today Julian, Edith and I will be sharing our favorite Catholic devotions. Can you guess, from the photo above, what's mine?

1. The Angelus: when I have a really crazy days, the bells peal out across Michigan Avenue, and I take a moment to say it, and the stress doesn't matter anymore.
2. Praying for the Souls in Purgatory: I always say: if you don't pray for them, you don't get to go. And that would be a shame, wouldn't it?
3. The St. Joseph Novena is perfect.
4. Celebrating Feast Days (ps. this week is feasting non-stop: Dominic, Edith Stein, Lawrence, Clare, Jane Frances de Chantal, Hippolytous, Maximillian Kolbe)
5. The Prayer of Saint Francis basically covers everything I want to want.

Can I Get a Witness

Today at Mass I sat next to an elderly couple. The gentleman had some sort of advanced state of Parkinson's, or so it appeared. The dear man could barely control his arms, shoulders, and neck. I was feeling so much for him, and I was struck by two images that won't leave me anytime soon. This man was gripped his Rosary with such fervor before Mass. It was clear that he had to hold on for dear life or they would fly out of his hands. I thought to myself, "Do I grip my Rosary with such intensity? Do I cling to Our Lady with the love that this man does?" The other image that has been staying with me is the image of this same man trying to beat his breast at the "Lord, have mercy." I give myself a little tap out of devotion to remind myself of my sinfulness, but the struggle this man had to endure to raise him arm and then to beat his chest just blew me away. He is already so humbled in his physical state, and yet he did everything in his power to raise his fist to his heart and lower himself before Christ.

It is true the the least (in the world's terms) will be the greatest. They already are.

Woman Warrior of the Month: Edith Stein

Dear Readers,
Happy feast of St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross! As you know this past week of August we celebrated with the Edith Stein Novena, which follows her last nine days in this world before the Nazis murdered her and many, many more Hebrew Catholics in retaliation of the Dutch Bishops denouncing the Nazis and the slaughter of the Jews. The novena, taken from the Association of Hebrew Catholic Website, and as the association's president David Moss explains, the novena is especially prayed during the time of August 1-9 - the time from her arrest to her death. David Moss writes,

The novena was composed by Elias Friedman, O.C.D., founder of the Association of Hebrew Catholics (AHC), who recommends it to all devotees of Saint Edith. The most suitable time to observe it would be from August 1 to August 9, in annual remembrance of the days spent by our saintly martyr in the death train, accompanied by her sister, Rosa, and many other Hebrew Catholics, on the way to the gas chambers of Auschwitz-Birkenau.

We present the Novena to the public, hoping thus to further devotion to our holy Carmelite and as a model for Hebrew Catholic’s to imitate. Edith Stein offered herself, like Jesus, our Lord and Messiah, as a victim of expiation for the redemption of her people and of mankind.

May our efforts hasten the day when all Israel shall proclaim:

Blessed is He who comes in the Name of the Lord

(Baruch haba beShem Adonai)

Also, a little more about what inspired this novena prayer from author Elias Friedman:

An attempt has been made to draw a parallel between the last week in the life of Saint Edith Stein and the last week in the life of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. There is more in the parallel than pure analogy; Jesus himself, repeated his passion in the soul and body of Saint Edith. It is what gives to her suffering its full redemptive value. Through Jesus, our Saint sanctified the Shoah, turning the Catastrophe into a true Holocaust unto the Lord. Tragic as the story is, it should be understood as the sine qua non for the ingrafting of the Jewish People into the Church, their own olive-tree.

Now, about our Saint. I have spending lots and lots of time reading everything I can about her and by her especially since my break with Peter. I felt that I wanted to reconnect with strong women to help me recover my own strength, and learn that feminine way to practice the virtue of fortitude. Let me tell you something about St. Edith, in case you have already seen, she is THE woman warrior.

Edith Stein was born in Breslau, Germany on October 12, 1891 to Siegfried and Auguste Stein. Before she reached the age of two, her father passed away, leaving her mother with 7 children and a lumber business to run. And her mother did run that business. In her unfinished autobiography, Life in a Jewish Family, Edith says that all who knew her described her mother as the most capable merchant in town. Edith wrote this book in the 1930's as an antidote to the rising anti-Semitism in her beloved Germany. This book, which I've not quite finished reading, chronicles her very normal, very real family life from her birth until 1916, which as far as she had written before the Nazis took her off to the death camps. She shows great affection for her family and reveals her own spiritual journey to the Church, which was a highly intellectual one.

Edith was known as an extremely intelligent and gifted child. She loved school and did quite well in school. She says that although her mother was quite religious and did observe the basic tenants of Judaism, Edith and her siblings were not very religious and often ridiculed their mother's piety. Frau Stein did not let that deter her. But as a young teenager, Edith self-consciously decided that she did not believe in God. It was not until she went on to receive her doctorate that Edith would find herself attracted to the Catholic faith.

Edith studied for her doctorate under the famed phenomenological Edmund Husserl. She became great friends with many very renowned scholars of phenomenology and several times had come into contact with Dietrich von Hildebrand (although they did not know one another well). It was also here that she began to be more open to the Christian faith, as most of her friends were Christians, both Protestant and Catholic. She was a brilliant student, and all her friends and family teased her for her great passion to study with Husserl. She writes that on one New Year's Eve before she left to study in Goettingen for her doctorate, her sisters and friends wrote a little verse about her: "Many a maiden dreams of 'busserl' [kisses in German], Edith, though, of naught but Husserl. In Goettingen she soon will see Husserl as real as real can be." (Life in a Jewish Family, p. 220). I admit, I had to laugh at this little anecdote. To me it not only shows her passion for the intellectual pursuit of truth, but it just shows her humanness.

It was while she was studying in Goettingen during 1913-1914 that Edith says she started to learn how "to respect questions of faith and people who had faith." (Life in a Jewish Family, p. 316). She said that she even attended some Protestant liturgies, but that the sermons, which mixed politics and religion, often turned her off to the faith. It would be about another 10 years before Edith found God in the Catholic faith.

Edith loved Goettingen and Husserl's classes. She was paving the way for women intellectuals, who, even in an intellectual powerhouse like Germany, were not common. She dearly loved Germany, loved its history, loved being a Germany citizen, but she was also keenly distressed at its tempestuous political situation in the during WWI and in the decades the followed. Edith even took a leave of absence from school during WWI and served as a nurse for wounded soldiers. To the end, she loved her German identity.

Edith finished her doctorate in 1917 and stayed on for several years helping her "Master" Husserl to edit his works. She finally began to consider seriously the possibility of becoming a Christian in 1918, and for two years discerned whether to be a Catholic or a Lutheran. She knew this would cost her many of her friendship among her Jewish acquaintance, and she especially knew that her mother would be heartbroken. And God works in funny ways. While she was visiting a Protestant friend in 1921, she randomly found a copy of Teresa of Avila's book The Book of Her Life. She felt that the saints words in the book fulfilled the desires of her heart, and on January 1. 1922, Edith Stein became a Catholic. She also felt at this time that to join the Carmelites was her calling, but she waited until 1935, so that she would not add insult to injury for her heartbroken mother.

Although her family was far from pleased by her decision, Edith remarks that they all respected her because they knew that Edith ardently sought truth with her whole being. Dr. Fraulein Stein, as she was called, longed to be a philosopher and also loved to teach. Josephine Koeppel says of her:

Edith earned the international reputation she had in Germany, Switzerland, and Austria by her careful attention to contemporary topics of her own day which were forerunners of our own vital issues. Her lectures on women's roles. . . incorporated all the facets of her remarkable erudition. . . . To enable others to lead and teach is an inestimable talent, and this was one Edith Stein's greatest gifts." (Life in a Jewish Family, Chronology, p. 419)

In 1933, Edith entered Carmel in Cologne, Germany. Her mother was sorrowful, but embraced her daughter for the last time. She made her final vows in 1938 and took the name Teresa Benedicta of the Cross, which means "Teresa Blessed of the Cross" (or by the Cross in some translations.) Her name reflects her beloved spiritual sister and fellow Carmelite, Teresa of Avila, and her fate of sharing in the Cross of Christ in a very tangible, visible way. After her mother's death, her sister Rosa followed Edith's example, became a Catholic and joined her as a Third Order Carmelite. As a Carmelite, she continued her work as a philosopher and a seeker of truth. Many great treatises and theological meditations were written in this period. But in 1938, the threat of the Nazis was so great that the nuns removed Edith and Rosa to their Carmel in Echt. It was here, as we know, that Edith and her sister were brutally taken in 1942 to their deaths in Auschwitz.

But on the journey to her death, Edith made an impression on her fellow Jewish Catholics. Lucie Bromberg-Rosenthal, who shared a barrack with Edith, remembers this time:

The great difference between Edith Stein and the other sisters lay in her silence. My personal impression is that she was grief-stricken. She was not afraid, but I cannot express it better except by saying that she seemed to carry such a heavy burden of suffering that even when she did smile every once and a while, it made one even sadder. . . . She had the thought of impending suffering; not her own, for she had long accepted it, but the suffering that was awaiting the others. Her whole appearance, as I see her in my mind's eye sitting in the barrack, still reminds me of a Pieta without Christ." (Taken from Edith Stein and Companions, p. 85-86)

What Edith has taught me is the great love it takes to embrace suffering. What I hope she teaches me is how to become a better woman in Christ and how to love and to suffer as she did. May this feast day be a blessing to all of you, and I hope you will let Edith Stein into your life today to show you the face of Christ.

Edith Stein's writings can be found in English through the Institute of Carmelite Studies.

Edith Stein Novena Day 9

Day 9 ­ Sunday, August 9th, 1942
The Auschwitz Extermination Camp

Auschwitz was at that time a small provincial Polish town, which was to give its name to the notorious concentration camp, opened nearby by order of Himmler for political prisoners on April 27, 1940. The first camp was rather small in size and was called, subsequently, Auschwitz I. In October 1941, a far more extensive camp was set up, named after a neighboring village, Auschwitz II-Birkenau (Encyclopaedia Judaica Vol. 3, Coll. 854-871). From March 1942, Jews were directed to the second camp.

Mass murders of Jewish prisoners by Zyklon B (prussic acid) gas was instituted at Birkenau as from January 1942, at the instigation of Adolf Eichmann, who was in overall command of the execution of the "Final Solution" of the Jewish Problem by genocide, decided on by the Nazis at Wansee in 1941. The gassing continued for two years and ten months, during which time a million Jews perished in the camp.

The convoys arrived at the rate of three or four a day; they were usually met at the platform by the Camp Commandant, Rudolph Hoess, later executed for war-crimes, and the infamous Dr. Mengele, who performed the "Selektion", strong prisoners being separated for forced labor in mines and factories, the remainder being consigned for immediate "elimination."

The first transport of prisoners from Holland arrived in July 1942; the one carrying our Saint was, perhaps, the third, being preceded by a transport of men which had reached the camp that afternoon.

The newcomers were taken to barracks and told to leave their clothes on a numbered peg, to be retrieved after the shower, which they were falsely led to believe would follow. Women usually had their hair cut off. The prisoners had then to walk four hundred meters along a path till they came to a large room, with tubes running across the ceiling. Force was used to get them to enter, when necessary. The metal doors were locked, levers operated and the gas introduced into the rooms. Twenty to twenty-five minutes later, electric-pumps evacuated the gas, allowing special commando-units to enter and empty the chambers. Not all the victims were dead. Gold dentures were removed and the corpses carted away to be thrown into a common fosse. Crematoria had not yet been installed at Auschwitz; but, later, to obliterate traces of their crimes, the Nazis exhumed the corpses and had them burnt.

From the moment of the arrival of a convoy to the extermination of the victims, no more than an hour and a half would elapse, as a rule. The killing of human beings became a monotonous routine.

Saint Edith, her companions and a thousand other Hebrew Catholics died in the gas-chambers of Auschwitz II-Birkenau on the morning of August 9th from suffocation by prussic acid fumes. She then entered into her glory, accompanied, as we like to believe, by many others.

Some Hebrew Catholic Companions of Saint Edith in her Ordeal

Saint Edith Stein was accompanied by a group of Hebrew Catholics throughout her ordeal; they lived with her, prayed with her, shared her spiritual sentiments, and died, most of them, together with her in the same gas-chamber. They are the rays of light that scintillate around our Saint’s crown of glory. Divine Providence wanted to give the world an example of an ideal Hebrew Catholic Community, though one assembled under duress and for a short period only.

We recall a few names, those most closely associated with Saint Edith in her trial.

Rosa, Edith’s sister

She was the only member of the Stein family to follow Edith into the Church, delaying her entry until the death of her mother, so as to spare the latter the suffering her entry would have occasioned her. She became a Tertiary Carmelite and rendered service to the Nuns at Echt, from where she left with her sister, Edith, for Auschwitz.

Dr. Bromberg and his family

The Doctor, his wife, son and daughter travelled in the transport from Amersfoort to Westerbork. They survived the war, as by a miracle. Mrs. Bromberg, who was very close to Edith, left a fine testimony to her bearing during the two days Edith spent in the camp. The son was ordained a priest in the Dominican Order after the war: Fr. Ignatius Bromberg, O.P.

The Löb family

The father was a Dr. Löb; of his five children, two became Trappist priests, two Trappistines, and one, a Trappist lay-brother. The two priests deployed an admirable ministry amongst the prisoners, proving a benediction to them in their distress. All were to die with Edith and Rosa.

Sister Judith Mendez da Costa

Her family had left Portugal in the 16th century to settle in Amsterdam. She became a Dominican nun and was conventual in Bilthoven from where she was carried off by the Gestapo on August 2nd. Her distant Portuguese origin provided an excuse, so that she was set free for a while and returned to her convent on the 15th August. On the 25th February 1944, she and the entire Portuguese community were transferred from Westerbork to Theresienstadt camp and from there to Auschwitz (16th May) where they were all gassed. Her brother and sister died in the torment. Sister Judith managed to send to her Superior a detailed description of her stay in Westerbork, from August 4th to August 15th, during which time she met Saint Edith.

Alice Reis

She entered the Church in 1932, Edith Stein standing as her godmother. Two years later she entered the Sisters of the Good Shepherd as a postulant. Circumstances in Germany being what they were at the time, she was sent to Holland. On account of her asthma, she was not accepted as a religious, but remained on as a lay-helper to the Sisters in several of their establishments. At 5 o’clock on the morning of August 2nd, she was snatched from her convent at Almelo by the Gestapo and sent to Amersfoort camp, from where she accompanied our Saint on the journey to Auschwitz.

Dr. Ruth Kantorowicz of the Ursuline Convent at Venlo

She had been an old friend of Edith’s. She was arrested on August 2nd and carried off to Amersfoort and then in a goods-train to Hooghalen. She was one of those who were forced to walk across fields, woods and hedges to the Westerbork camp. In answer to an urgent note, the Ursulines sent her supplies with two gentlemen. These saw her in the camp with Edith Stein, both wearing the yellow star-shaped patch. She remarked that the Trappist priests had not been able to celebrate Holy Mass for them. She left with Edith for Auschwitz.

Dr. Meirowsky

Since 1940, she had been resident in the lodge of the Trappistine Abbey near Tilburg. She was a medical doctor of Polish-Jewish origin, acquainted with our Saint with whom she had exchanged several letters. At Tilburg, she rendered valuable services to the community as doorkeeper and community doctor. She was a member of the Dominican Third Order and was regarded by the Trappistines as one of themselves.

In a letter addressed to her confessor from Westerbork, dated "Transfiguratio, 6, VIII." she expressed the most admirable spiritual sentiments, showing to what extent our Saint was seconded in her intentions by other Hebrew Catholics.

We quote the following passages from her letter:

"I want to send you my last greetings and to tell you that I have complete confidence in God and have surrendered myself entirely to His will. Even more — I regard it as a grace and privilege to be driven along this road under these conditions, a witness to the words of our good Fathers and shepherds in Christ.

"If our sufferings have been increased somewhat then we have received a double portion of grace and a glorious crown is being prepared for us in heaven. Rejoice with me. I am going forward unshaken, confidently and joyfully — like the Sisters who are with me — to testify to Jesus Christ and to bear witness to the Truth in company with our Bishops. We are going as children of Our Holy Mother, the Church; we will unite our sufferings with the sufferings of our King, our Saviour and our Bridegroom, sacrificing ourselves for the conversion, for the Jews, for those who persecute us, so that all may know the peace of Christ and his Kingdom. Join with me in thanking God for this great favor by singing an exultant Magnificat."

The letter was signed, Sister M. Magdalena Dominica
(in the world, Dr. Meirowsky).

In our humble option, the sentiments that emanate from Dr. Meirowsky’s letter are no less sublime than those expressed by the early Christian martyrs as they went to their death by fire, by torture and by the lions, in the arenas of the Roman Empire.

Gospel Readings

"When they reached a place called Gethsemane, he said to his disciples, ‘Sit here while I pray’ and he took Peter and James and John with him. Horror and dismay came over him and he said to them, ‘My heart is ready to break with grief; stop here and stay awake.’ Then he went forward a little, threw himself on the ground and prayed that, if it were possible, this hour might pass him by. ‘Abba, Father all things are possible to thee; take this cup away from me. Yet not what I will, but what thou wilst.’" Mark 26: 32-36

"As they led him away to execution they seized upon a man called Simon from Cyrene, on his way back from the country, put the cross on his back and made him walk behind Jesus carrying it.

"Great numbers of people followed, many women among them, who mourned and lamented over him. Jesus turned to them and said, ‘Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me; no, weep for yourselves and your children. For the days are surely coming when they will say "Happy are the barren, the wombs that never bore a child, the breasts that never fed one." Then they will start saying to the mountains, "Fall on us," and to the hills, "Cover us." For if these things are done when the wood is green, what will happen when it is dry?’" Luke 23: 26-31

Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory be
(Any suitable prayer may be said here)
Saint Edith, Pray For Us!

Source: Association of Hebrew Catholics

I Hate to Interrupt Our Novena...

...but I couldn't help but write a post about St. Dominic on his feast day. Personally, I think Edith Stein wouldn't mind. With feast days in such close calendar proximity, I think they're probably toasting one another. Actually, no, they are toasting the Lord!

For anyone interested in in the life and legacy of St. Dominic and his brethren, I highly recommend purchasing St. Dominic's Family : Lives of Over 500 Famous Dominicans by Sr. Mary Jean Dorcy, O.P. From that book I leave you this:

His rule was meant to make the way to heaven easier, not harder. He was the first to propose an order dedicated to preaching at a time when no one but bishops regularly preached. With insight that we can bless today, he foresaw that one might preach in many ways, and in many media; so he made VERITAS the motto of the Order and did not limit the ways or means by which one might preach it. Lastly, his Order was organized to cope with problems of future centuries in lands that had not even been discovered in his day. There is nothing in the Dominican rule to prevent the evangelization of any continent, or of Mars, for that matter; its application is flexible in order to meet the problems of all times and places.

Lord, we praise you for the gift of St. Dominic's life and the establishment of his order. Teach us individually and collectively how to preach your Truth. Amen.

Edith Stein Novena Day 8

Day 8 ­ August 7th to August 8th, 1942
In the death train to Auschwitz

Saint Edith and her fellow-prisoners spent two days in the wagons of a goods-train which took them from Westerbork in Holland through Germany to Auschwitz in Poland. The convoy numbered exactly 987 persons, men, women and children, each wagon being crowded with from fifty to eighty prisoners. Conditions inside the wagons were horrendous.

The train arrived at Auschwitz at ten o’clock on the evening of Saturday, August 8th, and was checked in as bringing a load of insane patients. Two workmen who noticed our Saint Edith on the platform in her Carmelite habit muttered to one another that she, at least, did not appear to be mad. Any communication with the victims was strictly forbidden.

Gospel Reading

"So they took Jesus and he went out bearing his own cross to the place called the place of the skull, which is called in Hebrew Golgotha."

Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory be
(Any suitable prayer may be said here)
Saint Edith, Pray For Us!

Source: Association of Hebrew Catholics