For the children of God, freedom means being

unhindered in following the Spirit of God. And

the greatest hindrances do not come from without,

but lie within ourselves.St. Teresa Benedicta (Edith Stein)

Soundings from the Carmelite Monastery, Ormiston for

YOUNG ADULTSIssue 10 March 2005

Europe and the world recently commemorated the 60th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, a sobering and soul-searching occasion for men and women sensitive to the dignity of human life, and the values of justice and freedom. With our Holy Father, Pope John Paul II, we “bow our heads before all those who experienced this manifestation of the ‘mystery of evil’.” One of our Carmelite sisters, now canonized as St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross (Edith Stein) from the Cologne Carmel, was among the millions killed there. We are devoting this issue to her.

We are half way through the year of the Eucharist, which reminds us of Jesus’ love for us and of our bond of union with one another in Him. In the YCG meetings, Father Greg will focus on this mystery in its scriptural, theological and spiritual aspects. Communion is at the heart of our Christian life: communion with Jesus in the Trinity, with our brothers and sisters in Him, with all people and with creation. Sister Lucia, one of three children entrusted with the Fatima message, lived it to the full. We have reprinted a brief extract from the newsletter of our Generalate in Rome after her death in Coimbra Carmel last month. We pray for love and simplicity like hers. ‘Christ in Auschwitz’

by Sister Monica OCD - Cologne Carmel

Sister Lucia diesOn February 13th, in Coimbra Carmel, Portugal, our Carmelite Sister Lucia went to her eternal reward. She, together with her cousins, Jacinta and Francesco, was a witness to the numerous apparitions of the Blessed Virgin Mary at Fatima, beginning on May 13, 1917. The other two visionaries died young, as the Blessed Virgin had predicted, and have since been declared Blessed by the Church.

Our Sister lived humbly and quietly in her community, combining a prayerful-contemplative life with an intense letter-writing ministry, with which she comforted distressed people, replied to VIPs, encouraged her readers to believe and trust in God, always zealous in her devotion to Mary. The Popes have always held her in great esteem. The message that the Virgin had entrusted to the three shepherds touched upon present and future events. Pope John Paul II was particularly fond of this simple Carmelite religious. He met her on several occasions, expressing his clear devotion to our Lady of Fatima, returning there three times on pilgrimage. A year after the attempt to assassinate him in St Peter’s square, he offered the Blessed Virgin the bullet that almost killed him: it was placed in the crown of Mary’s statue.

All issues of ‘Seeds of Carmel’ are posted on our Carmelite website www.carmelite.com/nuns/ormiston

We welcome your questions, comments or suggestions.

Sister Cecilia, Carmelite Monastery, 287 Wellington St., Ormiston. Qld. 4160. Ph. (07) 3286 1401 Email: carmston@powerup.com.au

Themes.....St. Teresa Benedicta - Edith Stein

‘Come Rosa, let us go for our people!’ With these words the Carmelite Sister Teresa Benedicta comforted her sister, the only other member of her Jewish family to convert to Catholicism, as the Gestapo led them into the black van. A week later they were victims of ‘The Holocaust’ at Auschwitz.

Edith Stein was born in 1891 in Breslau, Germany, the seventh surviving child in a loving family. A highly gifted student, she pursued studies in psychology and philosophy, obtaining her doctorate in 1917 under the great phenomenologist, Edmund Husserl, who later took her on as his assistant. Having declared herself an atheist at the age of fifteen, Edith was determined to seek truth in her own way. She came into contact with Christianity through some of her friends. It was at the home of a Catholic couple - both philosophers - that she picked up a copy of St. Teresa’s ‘Life’, which she read in one sitting. For her, this was the truth.

So it was at the age of 30 that Edith was baptized. She took up a teaching position in a Catholic High school run by the Dominican sisters in Speyer. Here, living and praying with the sisters, she became familiar with Church life and spirituality. Continuing her scholarly work, Edith was frequently invited by different organizations, particularly teachers’ associations and women’s groups, to speak on current social issues. After eight years in Speyer, she was offered a position as a university lecturer in Münster. By 1933, however, Hitler’s Third Reich was forcing all Jews out of public institutions and Edith had to leave after a year. Edith saw in this a sign from God that she could now follow her dream to consecrate her life to God in prayer, and she entered the Carmel of Cologne at the age of 42.

Receiving the Carmelite Habit, Sr. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross was permitted to resume her intellectual work. Life was becoming dangerous, though, not only for her, but for her community,

and in 1938 she transferred to the Carmel of Echt in Holland. Her sister Rosa later followed, and lived in the extern quarters, helping the community there. Increasingly aware of her fate, and like Esther, interceding on behalf of her people, Sr. Teresa Benedicta offered her life for peace. In 1942, in retaliation for the Dutch Bishops’ public protest at the treatment of the Jews, all Catholics of Jewish descent were immediately rounded up and exterminated. Witnesses recall seeing Sr. Teresa Benedicta in the camp, sad but serene, caring for the children whose mothers were too distraught to do so. It is believed they all died in the gas chambers a week later on 9 August. Pope John Paul beatified and canonized Edith Stein as a martyr.

YCG BrisbaneThe Brisbane Young Carmelite Group is now in its fourth year. Meetings are irregular - about every three months - depending on when Father Greg Homeming manages to get up from Sydney. Some of the original group have now moved on. Kelly married an American marine, and lives in Texas. With her husband in Iraq, she came back last year to stay with her Mum for the birth of her beautiful baby girl, Taylor, whom she brought down to show us.

Nicholas and Damon are both studying for the priesthood. Maria was married in January. Some of the overseas students have finished their studies and returned home. We hope they have grown a little closer to God in their time with us.L to R: Kristina, Nicholas, Teresa, Maria, Anne, Beth, Mary

Kelly

Visitor from GermanyLast August, we had a very happy visit with a young ‘thirty-something’, Ursula, who knows our sisters in Weimar Carmel very well. An English teacher in her home country, her command of our language is amazing. Just to give her a little taste of Aussie culture and really test her English, Sr. Marie Tania brought her guitar along and sang among other things: ‘Home Among the Gum Trees’, ‘Old Man Emu’ and ‘G’day, G’day’!! Ursula is now translating a booklet on the spirituality of Edith Stein given us by a Swiss lady who is hoping we can get it published. That’s Ursula at the back in the photo below, taken in our parlour.

Praying with.....St. Teresa Benedicta

There is something poignant about the last writings of a martyr. The text below is the first stanza of a poem written by Edith after a conversation in the garden with her Prioress only weeks before her life was taken from her. She had carried in her heart for several years a presentiment of her fate, which she wholeheartedly accepted in union with the Cross of Jesus.

Let’s take about 30 minutes to pray with Edith. Ask Jesus to sit with you and try to open yourself to His Spirit. Bring to your prayer whatever causes you to feel afraid for the future: your own, or perhaps that of your family, friends, or even of our fragile planet. Reflect for a while on any thoughts and feelings that surface. Be aware of a presence within you, calming you and giving you hope. Now slowly ponder Edith’s prayer over and over until it becomes part of you.....

Such assurance supported Edith in her terrible ordeal, as she drew inspiration from Jesus, who had endured the Cross with absolute trust in the Father. You, too, are upheld by this same inner strength. There is One within you who is Love itself, and who will never let you go. Be at peace and rest in this confidence.

Who are you, sweet Light, that fills meAnd 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 a single step alone.

You are the spaceThat embraces my being and buries it in yourself.If you abandon me I sink into the abyssOf nothingness, from which you called me into being.

You are nearer to me than myself,More intimate than my inmost being.

And yet no one touches youOr understands youAnd you break the bonds of every name:Holy Spirit - Eternal Love!

National Evangelization Teams Visit

Every year the NET teams come for a visit before setting off on their various missions. This year Shayne and Shanelle brought a full contingent of 40 young people, along with some of the staff. They came from Australia, New Zealand, USA, Canada, Malaysia, Brazil and even Uganda. After sharing some of their stories, they asked all kinds of questions about our life, including very profound ones, and then j o i n e d us for E v e n i n g

Prayer in the Church. The afternoon finished with their theme song for the year - as always, rousing and enthusiastic. These young evangelizers are a great inspiration to us, and we follow them throughout the year with our thoughts and prayers, not only for themselves, but for the thousands of young people to whom they minister in retreats and parish life. They give us hope for the future of the Church.

God is love and

love is goodness giving itself away

St. Edith Stein

I left school not knowing how to answer my “call”. A missionary vocation seemed just right, but wiser counsel won the day, and I took up studies at the Uni. At the end of that, I accepted a position - very congenial - in the student faculty at the Melbourne Uni.

Though some of the paths I was pursuing seemed unrelated to my final goal, I knew I would reach my Promised Land, if I kept searching for His will with all my heart and all my soul. (Deut.4:30) I then accepted to go overseas as Australian delegate to a conference of the International Union of Students, after which I took up residence in London. Having joined the Catholic Evidence Guild, I was reading St. Therese’s Story of a Soul in preparation for giving a talk on their pitch in Hyde Park, when God spoke to my heart, telling me Carmel was the Promised Land for me. Though I wanted to take immediate possession, I had yet to learn that God’s ways are not my ways, and his thoughts not my thoughts, so there were unexpected delays before the doors of Carmel opened to me.

Every call implies mission - for the sake of others, not for oneself. Every time I begin the Divine Office, I am aware of being swept beyond the narrowness of the present moment, in order to embrace the world and all its peoples, with their hopes and hungers, their pains and birthings, and so gathering them all into a loving worship of God. Each morning when I put on my Carmelite Habit, I recall how Esther had to clothe herself in all her fineries, to approach the great King Assuerus in order to plead for her people. And as “Jesus was heard for his reverence” (Heb. 5:7) our strivings to live obediently, poorly and chastely become apostolically fruitful.

I had seen at close quarters, the emptiness of political and social systems for bringing fulfilment and happiness to the human heart. Though I longed to be effective in filling this void, I could find no human way of doing so. Yet, in Carmel’s unceasing prayer, I have the quiet, confident assurance that children of faith are being spiritually born to me, and prodigal sons continually returning to the Father’s home. Through years of trial and waiting, God has carved out a loving friendship with me, which I hope will culminate in a bond of trust so strong that each morning at Mass when I offer my little Isaacs on the altar, everyone on the face of the earth will benefit.

Sister Katherine is currently our community bursar and attends to most of the business affairs of the community in collaboration with Sister Cecilia. She has been Prioress and Formator many times over a period of more than thirty years. She wrote these reflections for one of her novices a few years ago.

‘In Baptism is contained the fundamental deposit of Christian vocation. Before we are aware of any call, the Holy Spirit is moulding us interiorly according to God’s design.’ (JP II - Letter to Youth)

I was in primary school, when I first became aware of God’s call regarding my future life - always “other”, “vague” but certain. I can even remember the dress I was wearing and the actual moment. As Emily Dickinson says “I have never spoken with God, nor visited Him in heaven, yet certain was I of the spot where He called me, as if a chart were given.” Looking back now, I can verify that such a call could not have arisen from any wish I might have formulated for my future life.

My time in Carmel has shown me the importance of having this deep sense of divine calling. It gives purpose to the whole of my religious life. To live obedient, poor and chaste every day does not come easily to human nature. Only this deep sense of being called for a definite divine purpose, makes it possible, fruitful and wonderful.

Later, at age 12, acting as St. Ignatius in a school theatrical, I had to lure Francis Xavier away from his desultory life as a frivolous student by repeating over and over “What does it profit a man if he gain the whole world and suffers the loss of his soul.” This was a peak experience for me, articulating the call as a challenge to “leave” my earthly ambitions, and make a surrender of my whole life to God - just to be His - totally available for His redemptive work.

REFLECTIONS ON MY CARMELITE CALLING

Mintie makes himself at home among the papers on Sister Katherine’s desk