Covenant, Call and Faithfulness
August 9, 2019: Remembering Edith Stein
The covenant that Israelites had with Yahweh was not formulated on some imaginary terms, but was established on a concrete experience of a nation walking into freedom. Neither is the covenant that we have with God based on an imagination – it is based on a concrete sacrifice of the Son of God, signed with the blood from the Cross and ratified with the death of the Lamb of God!
At our baptism we have counter signed that covenant and it is upto us to honour it all our life. The terms are clear – to recognize the great deeds that God has accomplished on our behalf; to acknowledge the saving mysteries of the life, death and resurrection of the Son of God; and to behold the great gift of Resurrection that is promised us in the hope of this covenant.
We can behold that resurrection in the Risen Lord, if we are ready to participate in the life of the Son of God – a life lived totally in obedience to the holy will of God. Carrying the daily cross – is the readiness to face the hurdles of each day and continue to feel the presence of God beside; to remain steadfast to what is true, right and just, despite the consequences that might prove to be tricky or troublesome; to be ready to lose the whole world, just in order to gain one’s soul!
Only after having reflected on the Word, did I notice that the reflection suited so exactly the person of the saint, whom we remember today: Edith Stein, or St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross - a German Jew who found Jesus and converted to Catholicism, began living her baptismal calling at a deeper level becoming a Discalced Carmelite, but was killed by the Nazi racism on 9th August 1942, at Auschwitz Concentration Camp. She was so ready to lose anything to remain faithful to her call!
At our baptism we have counter signed that covenant and it is upto us to honour it all our life. The terms are clear – to recognize the great deeds that God has accomplished on our behalf; to acknowledge the saving mysteries of the life, death and resurrection of the Son of God; and to behold the great gift of Resurrection that is promised us in the hope of this covenant.
We can behold that resurrection in the Risen Lord, if we are ready to participate in the life of the Son of God – a life lived totally in obedience to the holy will of God. Carrying the daily cross – is the readiness to face the hurdles of each day and continue to feel the presence of God beside; to remain steadfast to what is true, right and just, despite the consequences that might prove to be tricky or troublesome; to be ready to lose the whole world, just in order to gain one’s soul!
Only after having reflected on the Word, did I notice that the reflection suited so exactly the person of the saint, whom we remember today: Edith Stein, or St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross - a German Jew who found Jesus and converted to Catholicism, began living her baptismal calling at a deeper level becoming a Discalced Carmelite, but was killed by the Nazi racism on 9th August 1942, at Auschwitz Concentration Camp. She was so ready to lose anything to remain faithful to her call!