Tuesday, April 5 : Saint Teresa Benedicta of the Cross [Edith Stein]

Before you hangs the Savior on the cross, because he became obedient unto death on the cross (Phil 2:8) (…) The Savior hangs naked and destitute before you on the cross because he has chosen poverty (…) The Savior hangs before you with pierced heart. He has spilled his heart’s blood to win your heart. If you want to follow him in holy purity, your heart must be free of every earthly desire (…). The arms of the Crucified are spread out to draw you to his heart. He wants your life in order to give you his. Ave Crux, Spes unica! Hail O Cross, our only hope! The world is in flames (…) 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. Make your heart free (…) then the flood of divine love will be poured into your heart until it overflows and becomes fruitful to all the ends of the earth. 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. If you are nuptially bound to him by the faithful observance of your holy vows, your being is precious blood. Bound to him, you are omnipresent as he is. You cannot help here or there like the physician, the nurse, the priest. You can be at all fronts, wherever there is grief, in the power of the cross. 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” (Jn 6:68). Ave Crux, Spes unica!
Roman Catholic Ordinary Calendar – rosary,team