'Miracle' Did Auschwitz Victim's Intercession Save Benedicta's Life?

[May 14, 1987]

Teresia Benedicta McCarthy is a happy, healthy little two-year-old named after a Jewish Carmelite nun killed at Auschwitz by the Nazis in 1942. A few weeks ago, Benedicta was literally at death's door from accidental poisoning. Many who know the child, including doctors and nurses who were caring for her, believe that her complete recovery is due to a miracle. Her family and the legion of friends who prayed for a healing are convinced Benedicta is alive today through the intercession of Blessed Teresia Benedicta (Edith Stein) who was beatified by Pope John Paul II in Cologne, Germany on May 1, 1987. -> Download

Some Guiding Reflections on the Icon of the Servant of Yahweh: Blessed Teresia Benedicta of the Cross

Auschwitz, 1992

Posted 02/2005
(Rev.) Emmanuel Charles McCarthy

An icon is meant to be a manifestation of the living God. It is meant to bring forth a reverent awe of God through contemplation of his inscrutable mercy at work in the life of a person or of persons for the benefit of all humanity.

To contemplate a holy icon is to ponder, with the heart of faith, God who is love. It is to see Divine Mercy acting in ways that are as far above our ways as the heavens are above the earth. It is to feel infinite Love creating some great end which is quite beyond human comprehension. It is this God, made flesh in His Word, Jesus, to whom a person shows reverence, love and gratitude when he or she bows down before or kisses an icon. It is this God to whom people say 'Yes' when they cross themselves in front of an icon. Blessed Teresia Benedicta of the Cross is the instrument of this God, made in His image, born into His Chosen People, baptized into His Chosen Servant. This icon is an image of her within her patently Providential history, revealing to 'those who have eyes to see' the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, One God, now and always and unto ages of ages.

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Pondering a Miracle and The Living Mystery Beyond It

The Canonization of Edith Stein

Posted 05/2005
(Rev.) Emmanuel Charles McCarthy

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