Novena to St. Edith Stein - Prayers to St. Teresa Benedicta a Jewish Convert and Martyr of Auschwitz
Saint Teresa Benedicta of the Cross (Edith Stein), a convert from Judaism and a Carmelite Nun, was killed in Auschwitz on August 9, 1942. She was beatified on May 1, 1987, and canonized on October 11, 1998. She is the patron Saint of Converts, Europe; loss of parents; converted Jews; martyrs; World Youth Day.
Novena to St. Teresa Benedicta Say 1 Our Father, 1 Hail Mary and 1 Glory Be each day of the Novena...St. Teresa Benedicta, your hunger for truth and courageous example still inspires us. You spent your life humbly accomplishing great works, focusing your energy into the few minutes allowed for your intellectual work. Look upon your tired and needy sisters and brothers on this earth and pray that we will receive the grace needed each day to make every minute of every day fruitful.
Closing prayer:
Lord God of our fathers, you brought St. Teresa Benedicta to the fullness of the Science of the Cross at the hour of her martyrdom. Fill us with that same knowledge, and through her intercession, allow us always to seek after you, the Supreme Truth, and to remain faithful until death to the covenant of love ratified in the blood of your Son for the salvation of all men and women. Grant this through Christ our Lord, Amen.
Saint Edith, pray for us!
Novena Of The Holy Spirit
by St. Benedicta of the Cross (Edith Stein)
Who are you, sweet light, that fills me
And illumines the darkness of my heart?
You lead me like a mother's hand,
And should you let go of me,
I would not know how to take another step.
You are the space
That embraces my being and buries it in yourself.
Away from you it sinks into the abyss
Of nothingness, from which you raised it to the light.
You, nearer to me than I to myself
And more interior than my most interior
And still impalpable and intangible
And beyond any name: Holy Spirit eternal love!
Are you not the sweet manna, that from the Son's heart
Overflows into my heart, the food of angels and the blessed?
He who raised himself from death to life,
He has also awakened me to new life
From the sleep of death. And he gives me new life from day to day,
And at some time his fullness is to stream through me,
Life of your life indeed, you yourself: Holy Spirit eternal life!
Are you the ray, that flashes down from the eternal Judge's throne
And breaks into the night of the soul that had never known itself?
Mercifully relentlessly it penetrates hidden folds.
Alarmed at seeing itself, the self makes space for holy fear,
The beginning of that wisdom
That comes from on high and anchors us firmly in the heights,
Your action, that creates us anew: Holy Spirit ray that penetrates everything!
Are you the spirit's fullness and the power
By which the Lamb releases the seal
Of God's eternal decree?
Driven by you, the messengers of judgment ride through the world
And separate with a sharp sword
The kingdom of light from the kingdom of night.
Then heaven becomes new and new the earth,
And all finds its proper place
Through your breath: Holy Spirit victorious power!
Are you the master who builds the eternal cathedral,
Which towers from the earth through the heavens?
Animated by you, the columns are raised high
And stand immovably firm.
Marked with the eternal name of God,
They stretch up to the light, bearing the dome, which crowns the holy cathedral, your work that encircles the world:
Holy Spirit God's molding hand!
Are you the one who created the unclouded mirror
Next to the Almighty's throne,
Like a crystal sea, in which Divinity lovingly looks at itself?
You bend over the fairest work of your creation,
And radiantly your own gaze
Is illumined in return. And of all creatures the pure beauty
Is joined in one in the dear form
Of the Virgin, your immaculate bride: Holy Spirit Creator of all!
Are you the sweet song of love and of holy awe. That eternally resounds around the triune throne, that weds in itself the clear chimes of each and every being? The harmony, That joins together the members to the Head,
In which each one finds the mysterious meaning of his being blessed
And joyously surges forth, Freely dissolved in your surging:
Holy Spirit eternal jubilation!
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