My Days Are In Your Hands

August 9, 2017
” … My basic attitude since I’ve been here is one of gratitude — grateful that I may be here and that the house is as it is. At the same time, I always have a lively awareness that we do not have a lasting city here. I have no other desire than that God’s will be done in me and through me. It is up to him how long he leaves me here and what is to come then. In manibus tuis sortes meae [My days are in your hands (Ps 31: 15)]. There everything is well cared for. I need not worry about anything. But much prayer is necessary in order to remain faithful in all situations. Especially [must we pray] for those who have heavier burdens to carry than I have, and who are not so rooted in the Eternal. Therefore I am sincerely grateful to all who help. … “
 
St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross (Edith Stein), from a letter written April 16, 1939, to Mother Petra Brüning, OSU, following her 1938 move from Germany to the Carmel in Echt in the Netherlands.
 
The Church today celebrates the Memorial of St. Teresa Benedicta. She was murdered in a gas chamber at Auschwitz-Birkenau 75 years ago today on August 9, 1942.
 
The excerpt above is found in the 2016 Paulist Press book “Edith Stein: Selected Writings.”