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Edith Stein was born in 1891, the youngest of eleven children, at a time when the continent of Europe was on the cusp of entering two world wars. Many of us know her story: raised in the Jewish faith, Edith later converted to Catholicism after reading the autobiography of St. Teresa of Avila. She discerned a call to the religious life, and eventually became a Carmelite nun, taking the name, “Teresa Benedicta of the Cross.” St. Benedicta of the Cross died a martyr in 1942, when the Nazis ambushed her convent and sent her to the concentration camp in Auschwitz. She was killed in the gas chamber.
The Holocaust is one of the most tragic horrors inflicted by man in recent history; it is perhaps the single most inexplicable evil that continues to be a stumbling block for both the faithful and atheist alike: if there is a God, why would He allow this? The fallback attempt to explain free will rings weak and feeble.
Yes, our Faith teaches us that God gives us free will, but He also gives us the gift of prayer. How many of us know with certainty that there have been times in which God changed the course of events in our lives to protect us from evil, all because we prayed with as much faith as we could muster? The fact is, even though God gives us free will, anyone with a shred of faith knows that God also intervenes in our lives, if we but ask Him to.
Yet . . . for the six million Jews who were slaughtered during World War II, it seems that God did not. A person of faith would perhaps come to accept the answer, “It is a mystery,” but to an atheist, that answer would only solidify what they already believe to be true: there is no God.
What answer would convince an atheist, or at least open his heart a tiny crack, that he might allow for the possibility to see things in a different way? Perhaps the one to ask is none other than St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross, who died a devout Catholic, but who lived for many years before her conversion as an atheist.
Edith Stein was raised Jewish, but she abandoned the faith that was her heritage. We do not know for certain why, but we imagine that Edith would not have been able to reconcile an omnipotent God with mankind’s power to destroy the lives of others. Edith undoubtedly would have asked the same questions that countless others have asked before professing themselves atheist: If there is a God, how could He permit such evil?
So how did Edith find the answer that eventually converted her heart to God? It seems that it was her reading of St. Teresa of Avila’s autobiography. After she finished the book, Edith announced, “This is the Truth.” But she didn’t go from staunch atheist to Carmelite nun by only reading a book, no matter how edifying it might have been; there was a lot that came before this episode in her life.
There were several factors that prepared Edith’s heart to receive the grace of unwavering conversion when she read St. Teresa’s work. One would have been the influence of her devout Catholic friends. In fact, it was while she was staying at the home of one such friend that she noticed the book on St. Teresa of Avila and read it cover to cover.
What does this tell us? It tells us that we do not always have to preach—let alone argue—about the Faith with our non-believing friends in order to “convince” them of the truth. Simply living out the truth of our faith is wildly attractive, all on its own!
For most Christian Europeans of the early twentieth century, associating with Jews would have been both dangerous and frightening, but Edith’s Christian friends didn’t allow this to inhibit their friendship. Neither did they frown upon her, exclude her, or deem her “unworthy” for her lack of faith. On the contrary: Edith’s friends offered her an unconditional love, despite their differences. It would have been this very love that broke open her heart a tiny crack—just enough to allow her to receive the grace when it would come to her through the written words of the saint.
Another factor that led to the decisive conversion of Edith Stein was the family in which she was raised. Her family was not comprised of “nominal” Jews; they were devout. They did not merely go through the motions of their faith; they lived it. Edith’s family would have prayed, observed the prescribed times of fasting, memorized the Torah. So when Edith professed her atheism, although her father had long since died, it would have devastated her mother. But Edith’s mother did not reject her daughter. She continued to love her fallen-away child, even sending her to study at the university to cultivate her intellect and encourage critical thinking. The two did not see eye to eye when it came to matters of belief, but Edith always greatly admired her mother’s strong faith. It was a faith that, while different from her own, influenced Edith to thirst for the same passion for truth.
Like Edith’s mother, we too can be devastated by the rejection of faith we witness in those we love. We don’t have the power to “convince” those in our lives who have left the Faith to come back; but God does. So let us learn from the faith of Edith’s mother—and the welcoming acceptance of Edith’s friends—and realize that the best thing we can do to participate in God’s plan of salvation for these souls is to continue to love them unconditionally, “for they know not what they do” (Lk. 23:34).
In the end, St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross did not convert from atheism to Christianity because she could explain the darkness of the Holocaust. She converted because she could now see the hand of God in these dark circumstances. We too must strive to point out God’s hand in the dark circumstances of our loved ones’ lives, if we want their hearts to come to see. We must help prepare the soil of their hearts through our hope in their conversion, loving them unconditionally, and peacefully and joyfully trusting in the Lord to do His job. Our job, then, is to simply “do whatever he tells [us]” (Jn. 2:5).
Author’s Note: Excerpt from: The Safe Haven: Scriptural Reflections for the Heart and Home (Ordinary Time Weeks 15-21).To purchase, visit Amazon or The Catholic Company, where all other volumes currently in print are also available.
Image from Wikimedia Commons
