Quote of the day, 14 April: St. Edith Stein

I look forward with so much joy to the silence.

Letter 168, Easter Week 1934
Remarks prior to reception of the Carmelite habit, 15 April 1934

There must be special places on earth for the solemn praise of God, places where this praise is formed into the greatest perfection of which humankind is capable. From such places it can ascend to heaven for the whole church and have an influence on the church’s members; it can awaken the interior life in them and make them zealous for external unanimity.

But it must be enlivened from within by this means: that here, too, room must be made for silent recollection. Otherwise, it will degenerate into a rigid and lifeless lip service. And protection from such dangers is provided by those homes for the interior life where souls stand before the face of God in solitude and silence in order to be quickening love in the heart of the church.

Saint Edith Stein

The Prayer of the Church (1936)

Stein, E. 2014, The Hidden Life: hagiographic essays, meditations, spiritual texts, translated from the German by Stein, W, ICS Publications, Washington DC.

Featured image: The Discalced Carmelite nuns of the Monastery of the Conception del Carmen in Valladolid celebrated the Liturgical Memorial of St. Teresa of Avila in 2016 with a Eucharist presided by the Auxiliary Bishop of Valladolid, Luis Argüello, who also blessed a new image of the Saint. Photo credit: Ángel Cantero, Iglesia en Valladolid / Flickr (Some rights reserved).