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| Edith holding her cousin's son, 1921 |
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| Edith the philosophy student |
Like Christians in the early centuries, I was confirmed at
the same time that I was baptized. Although in my case, it all happened on my way home
from the hospital--a mere three days after I was born in the city of Pinar del Río.
As my parents explained, everything was so uncertain and chaotic in 1960 Cuba that our pastor and family friend suggested it. Castro’s government had already shipped, literally, hundreds of priests out the country on a boat, and no one could predict how long, or if,
any priests would be allowed by the communists to stay behind.
After moving to the United States as a teenager and seeing
how confirmations here are done, I felt a bit cheated that I never got to pick a
patron saint.
Fast forward to my early forties. Writer and dear friend Colleen Smith contacted me with a book idea, one that had been offered to her fist—but that
she discerned would be a better fit for me: a biography of a Jewish convert, Carmelite nun, and soon to be saint.
When I first began reading about Edith Stein, I was more
than a little freaked out. She was a
gifted, renowned philosopher, a brilliant writer and speaker—and I was entrusted with the task of writing a popular biography introducing readers to this phenomenal woman.
I began by ordering all of her books that have been
translated into English by ICS Publications (Institute of Carmelite Studies), which of
course, did nothing to appease my anxiety.
Stein was a prolific author and her texts were rich, academic and spiritually profound.
I looked at how others told her story and found out that there
had been a number of biographies already published by people much better versed
in both philosophy and Carmelite spirituality.
Everything changed when I picked up Vol 5 of Edith Stein’s Collected Works: “Self Portrait In Letters 1916-1942,” translated by Josephine
Koeppel, O.C.D.
In her letters I met a young woman who loved God
so deeply, so profoundly that, like the original apostles, dropped
everything she had and knew, to follow Him completely.
I fell in love with Edith, my self-adopted patron saint, reading
her letters.
If you want to read my biography of this beautiful saint, whose feast
day is today, August 9, click here.
“[I]t is always a small, simple truth that I have to express: How to go about living at the Lord’s hand.” ~letter by Edith, 1931
“I do not use extraordinary means to prolong my workday. I do as much as I can. The ability to accomplish increases noticeably in proportion to the number of things that must be done. When there’s nothing urgent at hand, it ceases much sooner. Heaven is expert at economy.” ~letter by Edith, 1930
