Looking for a daily devotion for Lent? Every day (minus Sundays), U.S. Catholic will bring you words of wisdom and questions for reflection from different spiritual writers, from C.S. Lewis to Henri Nouwen. Click here to get these messages of hope delivered to your inbox daily!
Edith Stein (Saint Teresa Benedicta of the Cross, O.C.D.): Thy will be done
“Thy will be done,” in its full extent, must be the guideline for the Christian life. It must regulate the day from morning to evening, the course of the year and the entire life. Only then will it be the sole concern of the Christian. All other concerns the Lord takes over. This one alone, however, remains ours as long as we live … And, sooner or later, we begin to realize this.
In the childhood of the spiritual life, when we have just begun to allow ourselves to be directed by God, we feel his guiding hand quite firmly and surely. But it doesn’t always stay that way. Whoever belongs to Christ must go the whole way with him. He must mature to adulthood: He must one day or other walk the way of the cross to Gethsemane and Golgotha. (Edith Stein: Essential Writings, Orbis)
Reflection questions
1. Everyone struggle to trust fully in God in their own ways. What does it look like to accept the words “Thy will be done” in your own life? What work do you need to do to get to a place where you can put your trust in God?
2. What does Stein mean when she says that in the beginning of our relationship with God, we feel God's presence quite strongly, but as our spriitual relationship matures, we have to walk the way of the cross?
3. What is your cross? How are you being called to go the whole way with Christ?
Stein (1891–1942), a Jewish convert who became a Discalced Carmelite nun, was arrested by the Nazis and died in Auschwitz.
