Cat,
I just finished reading, Edith Stein, The life of a Philosopher and Carmelite, by Teresia Posselt and it was wonderful. I highly recommend it. If you want to read something from Pope John Paul as he canonized her as a saint you can find it at,
www.fatherpius.littleway.ca/carm03.html
It captured her life and her affect on life so well. I hope sehe will soon be considered a doctor of the Church along side her Carmelite sisters, St Teresa of Avila and St Theresa of Lisieux.
God Bless!
Thank you so much for the recommendation.
We first learned about Edith Stein back when my daughter’s Protestant college, Calvin College, did the play, “Edith Stein.” My daughter played “Sister Ruth,” the “ditzy” sister who has a sweet, servant’s heart, but doesn’t have even a tenth of the bra(name removed by moderator)ower of Edith Stein.
The woman who directed the play made sure that the actors were acquainted with Carmelite mysticism. They visited a Carmelite monastery near their city, and interestingly, my daughter kept going back. She told us that there was nothing distracting there. No pictures, no stained glass windows, no music, nothing She could just sit and think about God and pray. She could see the little “cells” where the cloistered nuns were praying, and it gave her a good feeling to know that they were there, praying for the world.
The play is excellent, BTW. The byplay and chatter among the sisters is so endearing. It really erases a lot of stereotypes that many of us (who weren’t raised Catholic) have about convents.
The playwright came to Calvin to see the production, and spent some time with the actors and tech crew. He really liked one touch that the director did–she cast the same actress as Edith Stein’s real mother, and the Mother Superior in the convent.
I believe that it was after this play that my daughter started seriously considering Catholicism. By then, we were already Catholic. This play gave her a chance to “try out” being Catholic. The play also introduced her (and the other Protestants at Calvin College!) to many of the basic practices, as well as the basic theology, of the Catholic Church.
Before the play started, the “nuns” walked through their “convent,” which was a set constructed “in the round,” so it passed right through and around the audience. The “nuns” did various little chores, like dusting the furniture, lighting the lamps, washing the floor, etc. before the play started. They didn’t speak to the audience, but they would nod and smile at us as they walked by us. The lights were very dim in the house, so we really had the feeling of being part of the convent.
I think my daughter liked this part of the play. She has a servant’ heart in real-life, too. (At family dinners, she’s the one who walks around with the coffee pot, picks up people’s empty plates, loads the dishwasher, etc.)
She loves reading about Edith Stein, Teresa of Avila, and other Carmelites.
But…she’s a professional stage manager! Not exactly “nun” material! And she’s dating someone!
I think it’s interesting, though, that even though she works from 6 in the morning until midnight doing various theater jobs, and she has a million friends in the theater world, she insists on living alone and enjoys solitary runs, silent retreats, etc. I think she has a Carmelite soul, if there is such a thing. And I think that Edith Stein prays for her and for all the Protestants who were involved in that play at Calvin College!