by Margalita Poletunow, LPC
During a consultation, a woman, whom I will refer to as Jane, told me that she was pursuing therapy because she was “desperate for a child”. Jane revealed that after being unable to become pregnant for years her doctor recommended IVF because it was the best way for her to have a baby. Jane was very excited at the prospect and sincerely believed that it was the answer to her problems. She was able to get pregnant, twice. Sadly, she miscarried both pregnancies. Jane was heartbroken, dejected, and baffled at the outcomes of the IVF procedures. She cried out to me: “What’s wrong with me? Why does this keep happening to me? I was so sure IVF would work. I would do anything to have a baby!”
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May 25
“Avoid truth without love, love without truth."
-St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross (Edith Stein)
Today’s Reflection:
In what ways is God calling me to stand against cultural evil? How can I do it with love?
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May 4
"The soul of a woman must...be expansive and open to all human beings; it must be quiet, so that no small weak flame will be extinguished by stormy winds; warm, so as not to benumb fragile buds; clear, so that no vermin will settle in dark corners and recesses; self-contained, so that no invasions from without can peril the inner life; empty of itself, in order that extraneous life may have room in it; finally, mistress of itself, and also of its body, so that the entire person is readily at the disposal of every call."
- St. Theresa Benedicta of the Cross (Edith Stein)
Today's Reflection:
Like the Blessed Virgin Mary, woman is called to receive the life of God within her through the power of the Holy Spirit, so that she becomes a channel through which love enters the world. A love truly able to aid humanity in not falling. Like our Blessed Mother we must bring God's word to His people, intercede before God's throne for the sake of the world, and unite our sufferings to the Passion and death of Jesus Christ. By so doing, we give birth to God's life in others and thus fulfill our divine mission of spiritual motherhood. This call is not for the fainthearted, but for women of courage, faith, perseverance, and hope.
In rereading that last line, how is God calling you to be a person of "courage, faith, perseverance, and hope" in order to bring God to others?
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March 4
“To drink the chalice with the Lord (Mt. 20:21) means dying to one’s natural self – both in the sensitive and in the spiritual part. Only in this way can one enter the narrow way.”
-St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross (Edith Stein)
For Reflection:
Recall again that Scripture and Tradition tell us that Mary stood at the foot of the Cross. What is the significance of this stance and what does it indicate about Mary? How was this a “dying to one’s natural self,” in the sense and emotions as well as in the spirit? Read Matthew 7:14. Mary’s fiat gained was her gate to the narrow way, a way she followed all her life. What is your current sorrow? How can it be a narrow way for you?
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February 23
“Living faith is the firm conviction that God exists, the acceptance – as truth – of all that has been revealed by God, and a loving readiness to be led by the divine will.”
-St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross (Edith Stein)
For Reflection:
Mary and Joseph had “living faith” according to this definition – even being led to Egypt at the direction of an angel in a dream. On a scale of 1 to 10, one being “no faith at all” and 10 being “living faith” per the above quote, where are you? Where do you want to be? What can you do today to move you one step forward?
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St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross (Edith Stein, 1891 – 1942)
She was a brilliant scholar, a contemplative mystic, and a “liberated” feminist. At various times she was also a devout Jew, an atheist, a philosopher, a Catholic, and a Carmelite nun. Hers was a heart that hungered for truth, with a passion that burned with such purity and clarity that Pope John Paul II, whose own Mulieris Dignitatem and “Letter to Women” bear the unmistakable imprint of her spirit, canonized her less than fifty years after her death at Auschwitz.
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August 9
Feast of St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross, Edith Stein (1891 – 1942)
"The way of faith gives us more than the way of philosophical thought: it gives us God, near to us as person, who loves us and deals with us mercifully, giving us that security which human knowledge cannot give. But the way of faith is dark."
-St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross
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June 11
“A quality unique to woman is her singular sensitivity to moral values and an abhorrence of all which is low and mean; this quality protects her against the dangers of seduction and total surrender to sensuality.”
-St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross (Edith Stein)
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Daily Gracelines - Lenten Journey with Mary - Day 18
Theme:
Mary's sorrowing heart is the perfect "vehicle" to take us more deeply into the passion of Jesus, Our Lord.
Grace:
I pray for the grace to enter deeply into the Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ by means of the Immaculate Heart of Mary
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February 10
"The way of faith gives us more than the way of philosophical thought: it gives us God, near to us as person, who loves us and deals with us mercifully, giving us that security which human knowledge cannot give. But the way of faith is dark."
--St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross (Edith Stein)
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