Monday, February 10 : Saint Teresa Benedicta of the Cross [Edith Stein]

Every human soul is in itself a temple of God: this opens up to us a vast and entirely new perspective. Jesus’ life of prayer is the key to understanding the prayer of the Church. Christ participated in his people’s worship of God that was done [in the Temple] publicly and according to the precepts of the Law… He established a very close relationship between that liturgy and his offering of himself, and thus he gave it its full and true sense, that of creation’s homage of thanksgiving to its Creator. By that very fact, he brought the liturgy of the old Covenant to fulfillment in that of the new Covenant. But Jesus not only took part in the public worship prescribed by the Law. The gospels refer even more frequently to his solitary prayer in the silence of the night, on the wild summits of the mountains, in deserted places (Mt 14:23; Mk 1:35: etc.). Forty days and forty nights of prayer preceded the public life of Jesus (Mk 4:1f.). He withdrew to the solitude of the mountain to pray before choosing his twelve apostles (Lk 6:12) and sending them on their mission. At the hour of the Mount of Olives, he prepared to go to Golgotha. His cry to the Father at that most painful hour of his life is revealed to us in a few brief words. His words there… are like lightning, illuminating for us for an instant the most intimate life of Jesus’ soul, the unfathomable mystery of his being as man-God and of his dialogue with the Father. That dialogue certainly lasted his entire life without ever being interrupted. Christ prayed interiorly not only when he withdrew away from the crowd, but also when he remained in the midst of people.

Roman Extraordinary (Tridentine) Daily Readings – rosary,team