Saint Edith Stein
As a brilliantly
profound German philosopher, as an expert on St. John of the Cross and his
theology of suffering, as a Carmelite nun and as a victim of Auschwitz, Edith
Stein was in a unique position to understand the meaning of the Holocaust. More
importantly, the illumination of our intellects to understand God’s ways comes
from the light of the Holy Spirit, which becomes more available as personal
sanctity and prayer increase. Edith Stein stood out as unique in both her
sanctity and her recollection in prayer, even as a Carmelite nun, and even (and
especially) as a prisoner en route to certain death at Auschwitz.43
From the
beginning of the Nazi takeover of Germany in 1933, she saw what was happening
to the Jews in the light of the Cross. During a holy hour at the Carmelite
convent in Cologne, she had the following illumination:
I spoke with the
Savior to tell him that I realized it was his Cross that
was now being laid upon the Jewish people, that the few who understood this had
the responsibility of carrying it in the name of all, and that I myself was
willing to do this, if he would only show me how. I left the service with the
inner conviction that I had been heard, but uncertain as ever as to what
“carrying the Cross” would mean for me.
She also saw a
special relationship between what was happening to the Jewish people and their
rejection ofJesus. On the day that she found out about the synagogue burnings
she made the following comment (later printed in the monthly of the Benedictine
abbey in Beuron, where Abbot Walzer was her spiritual director):
This is the
shadow of the cross that falls upon my people! Oh, if they would only realize!
That is the fulfillment of the curse which my people have called down upon
themselves!
Beyond the
meaning that the Holocaust had for all Jews, she saw a special role for
herself. By being both Jewish and Catholic, she identified fully both with the
Jews by blood and with the Church by faith and thus was able in a unique way to
bring the suffering of the Jews to the Cross of Christ. She felt it was
particularly important for the few victims of the sacrifice who were aware of
its meaning to carry this awareness for all:
I understood the
Cross as the destiny of God’s people, which was beginning to be apparent at the
time (iv). I felt that those who understood the Cross of Christ should take it
upon themselves on everybody’s behalf.... Beneath the Cross I understood the
destiny of God’s people.°
In this role she
compared herself to Queen Esther, who also offered her life before the king to
save her (the Jewish) people:
I firmly believe
that the Lord has accepted my life as an offering for all. It’s important for
me to keep Queen Esther in mind and remember how she was separated from her
people just so that she could intercede for them before the king. I myself
certainly am a poor and insignificant little Esther, but I take comfort from
the fact that the King who has chosen me is infinitely kind and merciful.
Out of this
awareness she made an offering of herself to God in her final testament,
written in 1939:
I joyfully accept
in advance the death God has appointed for me, in perfect subrmssion to his
most holy will. May the Lord accept my life and death for the honor and glory
of his name, for the needs of his holy Church—especially for the preservation,
sanctification, and final perfecting of our holy Order, and in particular for
the Carmels of Cologne and Echt—for the Jewish people, that the Lord may be
received by his own and his Kingdom come in glory, for the deliverance of
Germany and peace throughout the world, and finally, for all my relatives
living and dead and all whom God has given me; may none of them be lost.
This final
testament was echoed in her last words, said to her sister Rosa as they were
led from their convent by the SS guards to be taken to Auschwitz, “Come, let us
go for our people”.
Her intention,
that “the Lord may be received by his own”, was repeated by Pope John Paul II
during his canonization Mass for the new saint:
God of our
fathers, you led the holy Martyr Teresa Benedicta of the Cross, Edith Stein, to
a knowledge of your crucified Son and called her to follow his example in
death. By her prayers, bring all to recognize their Savior in the Crucified
Christ and through him, to arrive at the vision of your glory.’
Edith Stein’s
understanding of her own fate, as well as of the Holocaust, was based on her
knowledge of The Science of the Cross (the title of her last book, written
immediately prior to her arrest and deportation to Auschwitz). When she was
seeking to enter the Carmelite Convent in Cologne she told the prioress that
one of her reasons was “[human activities cannot help us, but only the
suffering of Christ. It is my desire to share in Many of her writings reflect
on the redemptive value of suffering, of the Cross:
By assuming human nature, Christ became
capable of suffering and dying. His divine nature, which He has had from
eternity, gave infinite value and a redeeming power to His suffering and death.
Christ’s suffering and death continues in His mystical Body and in each one of
His members. Everyone has to suffer and die. And if he is a living member of
the Body of Christ, then his death and suffering acquires redemptive power
through the divine nature of the Head. In the light of the mystery of
redemption, [this] is the ultimate raison d’etre ("reason for being"). Those who are joined to Christ,
therefore, will unflinchingly persevere even in the dark night of subjectively
feeling remote from and abandoned by God. ... The way of the Son of God is to
get to the resurrection through suffering and the cross. Getting to
resurrection glory with the Son of Man, through suffering and death, is also
the way for each one of us and for all mankind.
She wrote to a fellow Carmelite:
One can only gain a scientia crucis (knowledge
of the cross) if one has thoroughly experienced the cross. I have been
convinced of this from the first moment onwards and have said with all my
heart: ‘Aye, Crux, Spes Unica’ (‘Hail, Cross, our only hope’).
.....
To fully elaborate the meaning that St. Edith Stein saw in the Holocaust would
require sharing in the depth of her understanding, which is impossible.
However, it is clear that she saw in it an aspect of expiatory suffering,
expiating for the Jews’ rejection of Christ. She saw in it a redemptive value
for the redemption of the whole world. She saw a specific link between her
sacrifice and the special grace needed to bring about the conversion of the Jews.
In that light, it may not be irrelevant that she perished with a train
transport composed entirely ofbaptizedJews.
All of these aspects are very consonant with the idea that the Holocaust is
related to the Second Coming—to the return of Christ in glory. Grace is always
“purchased” by suffering. Suffering and sacrifice is the coin that we
here on earth have to offer up to God and receive grace in return. The greatest
grace possible is the grace of Redemption, of salvation.
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