Atheism has a hold on many in modern society on the grounds that immaterial things, like ideas and God, don’t exist; only material things, like bodies and matter, do. Atheism and materialism have many converts, including many scientists. They don’t seem to be able to deal with a reality that they can’t measure or perceive with their senses. Today’s saint, St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross, born as Edith Stein, was one such atheist, as well as philosopher.
She was born in 1891 to a Jewish family in Germany. She became an atheist at age 14 and later a philosopher. However, her search for truth, and reading the autobiography of St. Teresa of Avila, led her to convert to Catholicism. She taught in the universities in Germany until her Jewish heritage required her to step down. She became a Discalced Carmelite in 1933 and was sent to Holland in 1938 to escape Nazi oppression. Arrested in 1942 after the Dutch bishops condemned the Nazis, she was sent to Auschwitz where she was martyred along with her sister.
As a philosopher, she developed a proof for the existence of God based on the existence of human beings and our egos, which are dependent on the existence of a higher being, who is not dependent on any other being for existing. God is! We are because God is. But St. Teresa Benedicta did not die for a philosophical abstraction. Some claim that it is only because of her Jewish heritage that she was killed. However, her martyrdom was directly connected to the Dutch bishops’ condemnation of the immorality of the Nazis and thus, she is a true martyr. She died because she believed in a loving God who died for us. Atheism cannot comprehend such a love!
She was born in 1891 to a Jewish family in Germany. She became an atheist at age 14 and later a philosopher. However, her search for truth, and reading the autobiography of St. Teresa of Avila, led her to convert to Catholicism. She taught in the universities in Germany until her Jewish heritage required her to step down. She became a Discalced Carmelite in 1933 and was sent to Holland in 1938 to escape Nazi oppression. Arrested in 1942 after the Dutch bishops condemned the Nazis, she was sent to Auschwitz where she was martyred along with her sister.
As a philosopher, she developed a proof for the existence of God based on the existence of human beings and our egos, which are dependent on the existence of a higher being, who is not dependent on any other being for existing. God is! We are because God is. But St. Teresa Benedicta did not die for a philosophical abstraction. Some claim that it is only because of her Jewish heritage that she was killed. However, her martyrdom was directly connected to the Dutch bishops’ condemnation of the immorality of the Nazis and thus, she is a true martyr. She died because she believed in a loving God who died for us. Atheism cannot comprehend such a love!
No comments:
Post a Comment