Thursday, August 9, 2012

St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross


St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross
(Feast August 9)

St Teresa Benedicta of the Cross exemplifies so many beautiful virtues.  She died a virgin and bride of Christ.  She faced suffering and death with courage and love of Christ Crucified.  As a Catholic Jew from the Netherlands she was taken to the concentration camp Aushwitz where she was put to death in the gas chambers.  Shortly before her deportation she spoke of possible rescue, “Do not do it! Why should I be spared? Is it not right that I should gain no advantage from my Baptism? If I cannot share the lot of my brothers and sisters, my life, in a certain sense, is destroyed”. Pope John Paul said of St. Teresa in his canonization homily “the new saint teaches us that love for Christ undergoes suffering. Whoever truly loves does not stop at the prospect of suffering: he accepts communion in suffering with the one he love”.
Quote of St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross:
"I understood the cross as the destiny of God's people. I felt that those who understood the Cross of Christ should take it upon themselves on everybody's behalf."


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