Carmelite wisdom to encourage & inspire
On 2 February 1922 St. Edith Stein received the Sacrament of Confirmation. Here we read the recollections of her novice mistress, with added commentary by scholar, translator, and editor Father John Sullivan, O.C.D.
Read more →
St Edith Stein's time of postulancy was moving quickly. In January 1934 she wrote: "As I stand in our peaceful choir I cannot thank God enough for having lifted me out of the whirlwind and set me in this profound peace, that I have done nothing to deserve."
Read more →
St. Edith Stein describes clashes between the state and Church, but she notes that it works both ways. The state can have "excessive claim to power" and the Church can exercise its teaching mandate "wrongfully."
Read more →
St. Edith Stein writes, “In faithful trust, we must abandon our souls to the sovereignty of the Holy Spirit. It is not necessary that we experience the epiphany in our lives.” Edith urges trust and abandonment.
St. Edith Stein sends New Year’s greetings to her friend, philosopher Roman Ingarden. Apologizing for her formality, she writes: “All the best wishes for the New Year for the entire family!”
Continue reading →
On the anniversary of St John of the Cross’s canonization, we read a quote from St Edith Stein’s “Science of the Cross,” which recounts an assault on John from an angry lover whose girlfriend John converted.
Continue reading →
On the feast of St. Stephen, St. Edith Stein pauses to write to a former student; she explains the vocation “to suffer with Christ and thereby to cooperate with him in his work of salvation.”
Continue reading →
St. Edith Stein, writing from St. Magdalena College in Speyer, sends early Christmas greetings in a postcard to her friend, philosopher Roman Ingarden. “There is a lot to tell,” she says, “but writing is a great robber of time.”
Continue reading →
In the waning hours of 13 December 1591, St. John of the Cross predicted his death at midnight. Fr. Iain Matthew, O.C.D. and St. Edith Stein provide us with the account of John's holy death.
Continue reading →
When St. Edith Stein was a faculty lecturer in Münster, she celebrated St. Nicholas Day with her students in December 1932. One student recalled, “we sang Advent songs, and she was just like one of us.”
Continue reading →
St Edith Stein tells us about the kidnapping of St John of the Cross and his fellow confessor, Fray Germán, from the chaplain's quarters at the Carmelite monastery of the Incarnation in Avila on the night of 2–3 December 1577.
Continue reading →
St. Edith Stein sends greetings on this date in 1934 to her old friend and recent Jewish convert, Ruth Kantorowicz; she offers this advice: let nothing distract you “from living in the intense thought of the Advent liturgy.”
Continue reading →
On 16 November 1937 St. Edith Stein writes, “My sister Rosa is living wholly on faith […] interiorly she is completely alone.” Learn about Rosa’s difficult path from baptism to the Carmel of Echt and the pitfalls she faced along the way.
Continue reading →
St. Edith Stein wrote to a Cistercian nun on this date in 1932 about sex education; Edith offers advice on “teaching the elementary facts of life and their meaning, honestly as well as realistically,” stating that it’s “far from dangerous.”
In St. Edith Stein’s biography of St. Teresa of Avila, we read this bold statement: “One who loves feels compelled to do something for the beloved.” It describes not only St. Teresa of Jesus but St. Teresa Benedicta, too.
Saint Edith Stein was born on this date in 1891, the youngest of seven children. Sister Teresia Renata, her novice mistress tells us about the beginning of Edith’s “life in a Jewish family” as seen from the Carmelite perspective.
Edith Stein was canonized in Rome on 11 October 1998. In this blog post we share excerpts from the homily of St John Paul II and images that reflect her life and mission.
For the renewal of vows at the Carmel of Echt in 1940, St. Edith Stein wrote a meditation for the prioress at her request. We share the final section of the meditation where Edith presents a striking response to the age-old complaint that God doesn't hear our prayers. "What right have we to be heard?" Edith asks. Her own answer is decisive: "The day on which God has unrestricted power over our hearts we shall also have unrestricted power over his."
Keenly aware of Europe's urgent situation, in 1939 God prompted St. Edith Stein to offer herself to "the Heart of Jesus as a sacrifice of propitiation for true peace." We examine her request in the light of Carmelite spirituality and the examples of Discalced Carmelite martyrs who made similar offerings in centuries past.
The Real News
Everyday Life
The latest news on WordPress.com and the WordPress community.
web de espiritualidad carmelitana
Antonio Mas Arrondo
Let nothing disturb you, Let nothing frighten you, All things are passing away: God never changes. Patience obtains all things. Whoever has God lacks nothing; God alone suffices. ~ St. Teresa of Avila
Monasterio de las Batuecas Carmelitas Descalzos
Carmelite Quotes 
Recent comments