Many decades ago, I committed to praying a portion of the Divine Office. Morning and Evening Prayer are recommended for Benedictine Oblates, and I have always appreciated the larger structure it provides to one’s prayer life. Giving the day to God in the morning, and closing out the day in gratitude is foundational to our faith, and knowing that I’m praying with the Church (even in my paltry way) is deeply consoling.

There have been many “chapters” in this commitment, as I have moved from form to form. I confess that long ago I lost my lovely little Benedictine Office book. Since I was for many years a busy mother, I’ve used various books, as well as websites and podcast resources. The former was great for when I could snatch a little quiet time morning and evening in my Beloved Chair. Online resources worked when driving or chores kept me in motion..

The problem that grew organically from this commitment wasn’t at all associated with any particular form. Rather, it was the Prayer Creep that sprouted around the Office, especially now that I’m widowed and have time for that Beloved Chair. As long as I’m sitting there, why not pray for the clergy? This led to the creation of a list of every priest I’ve known for over forty years. And the intentions! What else have I to do but offer up the myriad intentions of all who entrust them to me. And all those who don’t actually ask me to pray, but I knew they could use prayers. Who doesn’t? And then the needs of the Church, and the world, and this and that ... until those well-meant intentions took twice as long as the Office! It was becoming unwieldy and had to change.

Quite recently, I heard a lovely interview with Dr. Rachel Fulton Brown’s new book on the Little Office of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Her account of the outsized history of this prayer was fascinating, with a sizeable chunk of Christendom (both clergy and lay) praying it daily! Being a history buff, I ordered her book, which turned out to be a hefty tome of almost 500 pages, not counting the 200 pages of footnotes! I’m in Geek heaven!

What this pointy-headed scholarship actually reveals is the profound beauty of the child-like faith of the people whose minds were shaped by simple communal prayers. Their trust in Our Lord’s own Mother sufficed to propel them through hardships that we cannot begin to appreciate from this distance. As sophisticated as we think we are, we must try to imitate their trust. Dr. Brown writes:

Imagine! Imagine that you are a devotee of Mary and her Son; a medieval devotee of the Virgin, skilled in the recitation of her Office, that cycle of psalms, chants, lessons, and prayers, said daily throughout the High Middle Ages, and later, by every man, woman, or child, who could read, and, as we see, even by many who knew the texts only by heart, or in part. As you sing to her, the chants and psalms of her Office, imagine that you know yourself joined by all the creatures in Heaven and on earth in worship of their Creator, made visible to his creatures through the Incarnation of the Son, and that Lady to whom you sing is the one who made him visible by giving birth to him.

In our fragmented, post-Christian world, we cannot imagine such a community, but it is still ours! When we pray the Divine Office—any version or even a part—we are joined by the multitudes throughout the ages who believed as we do now, and who share the devotion from their beatific reward, so much better even than my Beloved Chair! Just imagine—this is what anchored Christendom for centuries!

The author continues:

“You could never weary of describing her, because she herself is the most perfect image and likeness of the Lord, whom she bore in her womb, the unspotted mirror of his majesty, and the very image of his goodness” (Wisdom 7:26).

How I love my prayers now! Community matters, especially for those living alone or unable to engage with the wider world as they might wish. And as for the focus on Mary that some might question? She is our mother, our model, and our intercessor with the good God. She keeps nothing for herself, but actually echoes the perfect will of God in every cell of her being!

The most surprising aspect of adopting this shorter, more powerful form of prayer is what it has done to the Prayer Creep. When we are joined to the Almighty in this way, feeling our littleness but wanting to join our every inclination to the Divine will, we can present the prayer in its entirety and trust that good will come. (Fiat voluntas tua! Thy will be done!)

It’s like that little boy in 1965, who hugged the Sears catalogue to his chest, and said, “I want the magnifying glass, I want the tent, I want the magician’s set, I want it all!” I still have my list of intentions, but I can simply hug them to my heart (like that catalogue) as I pray the psalms, begging for grace to seep into all the cracks and crevices of the lives of those I love. Surely God knows the details, and in bringing them into the Office I’m joined by all the angels and saints as well.

Isn’t this what Saint Therese of Lisieux wanted? Certainly, each of us has a list of souls that God loves more than we do. Moreover, we have a list of intentions that God promises to fulfill in ways unimagined. Additionally, we have so many apprehensions and outright fears, but God can eradicate them all when the greater good has been achieved. His ways are not our ways, but the desire of his Heart is that the desires of our own hearts nestle inside his with trust—in imitation of Our Lady.

I cannot recommend this prayer enough. Mornings and evenings dedicated to God through the motherhood of the one he entrusted with his very Life will be blessed—and all that happens between. In the Office, we see the ancient promises laid out before us daily. We are swept along into the narrative toward the culmination of the divine plan throughout the ages. It should salve the loneliness, staunch the fears, ease the pain, and lead to a deeper faith as we align our fiat with that of the Blessed Mother: Fiat voluntas tua!

Helpful links:

Universalis offers all the prayers of the Divine Office according to the Novus Ordo calendar.

DivineOffice.org offers all the prayer of the Novus Ordo calendar and offers a community as well.

IBreviary also offers an app for download to Android or iPhone with all the prayers of the Novus Ordo.

The Ordinariate Office cycles through all 150 psalms monthly, with a lovely translation!

The Ordinariate Office is prayed here in community every morning and evening live—all are welcome.

The Little Office of the BVM with prayers in English online according to the Novus Ordo calendar

The Little Office of the BVM according to the Vetus Ordo calendar, English and Latin

The Little Office of the BVM in English and Latin with hymns (I was a sucker for the blue cover!)

Mary and the Art of Prayer: The Hours of the Virgin in Medieval Life and Prayer OK, maybe a little long, but every page is a treasure and offers so much insight into a deeply Christian time

There are many more resources—just do a search and compare sites and books.

If you are already praying the Office or have questions, please comment and we will offer any assistance we can. Most importantly, remember that you are never alone! So many are already praying for your needs and would love for you to join the ongoing choir of praise!

Ah… the antebellum South. Celebrated for its stylish women and genteel manners. Reviled for its legacy of slavery and violence.

Well, you won’t find any of that down in the backwoods of Georgia, not in the lives of Cean (pronounced ‘see-ann’), Lonzo, and their children and extended family. This is a story of the Southerners that popular culture has all but forgotten. These dirt-poor farmers never saw, let alone owned, a slave. The women made their own simple clothes out of cotton they helped plant, harvest, spin, weave, and dye before it was ready to cut and stitch.

Caroline Packard Miller’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel Lamb in His Bosom is a time capsule. Her characters speak in their own Southern dialect; one that was rapidly disappearing when she researched and wrote in the 1930s.

Lamb in His Bosom follows the married life of Cean Smith, starting from the day of her marriage to Lonzo Smith. We follow her as she grows and changes from Cean Carver, a “girl-child of unexpressed fancies and long imaginings” to Cean Smith, a woman who has “learned of Godalmighty how to bear a grief without complaining.”

There’s no glamor in this life, and Miller makes us feel the unceasing toil, as well as the exasperation and temptation to despair, that weighs on Cean at times. And yet there is also a breathtaking beauty and a hard-won satisfaction woven through her life; some of it resulting from the work of her hands, some accepted as a blessing from God.

Cean and Lonzo’s marriage is happy. Not perfect, but happy. They know and trust each other, and stand in awe of each other’s capabilities. They don’t question their roles in marriage or society; they just buckle down and do the work allotted to them. Cean struggles with birthing and rearing children on top of managing the house and garden, but she perseveres with grace and humility.

Cean comes to embody all the loving power that a woman is capable of. We feel her joys and sorrows, her frustrations and anger, her humble faith, and her agonies. Spoiler alert: not all of Cean’s loved ones survive to the end of the novel. Subsistence farming on the edge of civilization is a messy, dangerous life, and that’s before the Civil War starts.

And yet the love shared by Cean with her husband, her children, and her extended family consistently rises above their poverty, the war, and the normal brokenness of human nature.

They thrived in the face of what we moderns would call impossible circumstances. They are grateful for their blessings and recognize the gifts from God; the one who promised to carry His children like lambs in His bosom.

BONUS! Discussion Questions available!

• Discussion Questions

  • 1. Cean feels an expectation that, “a woman-child must be purer in heart…, careful of her body, holy in her mind, for she bears within her the seeds of souls.” Do you agree or disagree that the unique ability to bear and nurture new life demands a different standard for women?

  • 2. The men trading at the Coast tell each other stories they’ve heard about slaves, using words no longer acceptable in polite society. Are they to blame for using the only words and stories given to them? How aware are we of the sources behind the words and stories we tell about people we’ve never seen?

  • 3. Each of the main female protagonists (Cean, her mother Seen, and sister-in-law Margot) has a moment in which she sees God’s handiwork in her suffering; some way in which He either prepared her beforehand or blessed her through the cross that she accepted. Each of them responds with humility and nestles a little closer to the Divine Shepherd. Have you ever had this experience?

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Proverbs 31:10-31

10 Who shall find a valiant woman? far and from the uttermost coasts is the price of her.

11 The heart of her husband trusteth in her, and he shall have no need of spoils. 12 She will render him good, and not evil, all the days of her life. 13 She hath sought wool and flax, and hath wrought by the counsel of her hands. 14 She is like the merchant’s ship, she bringeth her bread from afar. 15 And she hath risen in the night, and given a prey to her household, and victuals to her maidens.

16 She hath considered a field, and bought it: with the fruit of her hands she hath planted a vineyard. 17 She hath girded her loins with strength, and hath strengthened her arm. 18 She hath tasted and seen that her traffic is good: her lamp shall not be put out in the night. 19 She hath put out her hand to strong things [a distaff], and her fingers have taken hold of the spindle. 20 She hath opened her hand to the needy, and stretched out her hands to the poor.

21 She shall not fear for her house in the cold of snow: for all her domestics are clothed with double garments. 22 She hath made for herself clothing of tapestry: fine linen, and purple is her covering. 23 Her husband is honourable in the gates, when he sitteth among the senators of the land. 24 She made fine linen, and sold it, and delivered a girdle to the Chanaanite. [a merchant] 25 Strength and beauty are her clothing, and she shall laugh in the latter day.

26 She hath opened her mouth to wisdom, and the law of clemency is on her tongue. 27 She hath looked well to the paths of her house, and hath not eaten her bread idle. 28 Her children rose up, and called her blessed: her husband, and he praised her. 29 Many daughters have gathered together riches: thou hast surpassed them all. 30 Favour is deceitful, and beauty is vain: the woman that feareth the Lord, she shall be praised.

31 Give her of the fruit of her hands: and let her works praise her in the gates.

(From the Douay Rheims edition of the Bible, 1899, Public Domain)

Context: Feminist scholars rightly point out that women in ancient Israel had limited economic options. They were seen as the property of their fathers until marriage, and then as the property of their husbands, until they were either widowed or died themselves. Marriage was considered mostly in economic terms. Current day Arabs still offer the father of the bride remuneration for taking his worker bee daughter away from him.

Translation Notes: The entire section is an alphabetized acrostic in the original Hebrew. In English, it would be A-she’s adorable, B-she’s so beautiful, C-she is cheerful when she cleans, etc. (See Psalm 119 and Lamentations 1 - 4 for similar examples.) This acrostic is attributed to the mother of King Lemuel of Massa, a tribe of Northern Arabians. While disputed by some, this fact adds an even broader layer to the cultural expectations of women in ancient times, even outside of Judaism.

Vocabulary

Distaff and spindle: items used for spinning flax or wool into thread. Stretching the thread as it was spun is a nice segue into the next line about reaching out to the needy. Here’s a visual for those unfamiliar with spinning.

Fine linen and purple/household clothed in scarlet: Dyed wool was extremely expensive in ancient times. Only very wealthy families could afford it.

‘Girdles’ for the merchant: Not spandex (!!) but a sash used to hold the tunic out of the way for work. Further, the exact rendering shows our mom to be an international trader, not merely local.

feareth the Lord: [yārē in Hebrew] not anxiety or apprehension, but reverence before God.

Meditation: How industrious and clever the Proverbs 31 woman is! I have to admit that King Lemuel’s mother probably warned him about women like me. I’ve been known to eat the bread of idleness, drinking a glass of red wine and reading a book. All scripture has meaning for people of faith, and the Proverbs 31 woman causes me to pause and reflect.

Whether or not there is help in the home, there is a call to resourcefulness that should challenge any woman. Whoever supports the household, there is a given income that leads to three outcomes:

• The extra income can be wasted in imprudent ways by buying what could be made or buying what isn’t really needed;

• The extra income can be safeguarded and used prudently so that it lasts and perhaps some is put aside as savings;

• The family income can be augmented by the creative skills of the woman.

This is what makes the woman blessed in this account. She looks at her gifts and circumstances, and finds ways to stretch the resources of the household. Extra credit for harnessing the skills of those in her charge! Anyone who has applied herself in scrappy ways to finding or creating a little extra money to spend is usually quite careful with what she has accomplished.

Let’s take from this scripture what is useful for modern middle-class women. Since career options have widened beyond weaving and spinning, women can contribute to the overall household bottom line in many creative ways, both in and out of the home. Being a wise and thrifty hausfrau means that midnight oil is going to burn, one way or the other.

The measure you give will be the measure you get, eternally speaking. Being richly blessed will not just mean economic security for your husband, but also is a source of personal satisfaction for the woman who manages to spin a little gold out of the straw allotted to her. Moreover, there is the joy of having been pleasing to God, even in such a humble way...and even a mother-in-law should be happy with that.

Discussion Questions:

1. If you are married, which verses of the Proverbs 31 poem do you think are most relevant to you? To your husband?

2. Women today have more economic freedom. How do we find a middle ground between women as property and women as independent matriarchs?

3. Is there an inherent danger to the economic freedoms available to women? How might their ability to add to the security of their households be a distraction to the legitimate needs, and a means of putting material ends before the good of those under her charge?

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SHORT BIO: Dr. Cynthia Jones-Nosacek is a retired family practice physician in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. She is a respected pro-life bioethicist in addition to doing medical mission work in Uganda with her husband, Deacon Gary Nosacek of the Archdiocese of Milwaukee. She and her husband have five children, and live in a multigenerational household. This interview was completed in early 2025 and is available on the My Secret is Mine podcast.

Caption: Dr. Cindy among the members of the Acholi tribe in Uganda, where she visits twice a year to a sister parish and provides medical care. For more information on the mission, visit her parish website Three Holy Women in Milwaukee.

Podcast about Uganda Work!

Genevieve: Tell me a little bit about your time at medical school. Were there a lot of women in your class at that time?

Dr. Cindy: I started medical school in 1977, graduated in 1980. And my class and even the class maybe just before me were the first ones that had more women in it than previous years.

Genevieve: And how was that experience for you, being one of the pioneers?

Dr. Cindy: Well, there was a lot of anger from the male students. I kept hearing about how I was taking up the place of a man who would work harder and work longer hours. My children were all going to be emotionally dysfunctional because I was going to be working. That I wasn’t a real doctor.

Genevieve: So was this animus face to face?

Dr. Cindy: Oh, it was face to face. They were not shy about telling me those things. And I got my revenge, because when I was in practice, I was one of the highest billers in our group for my specialty.

Genevieve: But from what I understand, you thrived in your specialty and your husband helped a lot in the years of raising children.

Cindy: Yes. In the beginning, my husband had a children’s radio show for 20 plus years. Until I got home from work, my mother would help watch the children. But when the time came for my mom to retire, my husband gave up his job. And he just stayed with the kids.

Genevieve: Isn’t that amazing? And that’s the beauty of a good marriage. You just assessed the needs of everyone in the family and said, “all right, how are we going to go about doing this?”

Dr. Cindy: It’s also about the ability and the willingness to make sacrifices. Whoever stays home has sacrificed something. Then the one who works has sacrificed something. So it’s just a shared project for the good of all.

Genevieve: I love that. And, I’d like to lead into another beautiful fact about your life – you and your husband Gary live in a multi-generational home. How did this come about?

Dr. Cindy: Well, we have a 125 year old Victorian home. And so the third floor was the servants’ quarters. So there’s two bedrooms, and a living area. And when my daughter finished a masters degree and got married, she and her husband decided to stay with us for a while.

Well, then COVID came, and the babies came. She has four children, one of whom has special needs. And so my daughter had to quit her job to stay home for the special needs child. And it looks like it’s going to be a more long-term situation.

Genevieve: Did you go into it with any apprehension?

Dr. Cindy: Not really. When I was between jobs early in my career, my husband and I lived with my parents. And we had two children at the time. And so I kind of knew what to expect, and how to help them feel more like this is their home.

Genevieve: So you already knew what it was like to have this older person looking over your shoulder. Now you’re that older person looking over your daughter’s shoulder. What did your early experience teach you about how to be a good, gentle, non-obtrusive grandmother?

Dr. Cindy: I have to bite my tongue. And sometimes, I have to tell my daughter, “tell me if you just want to vent, or if you want advice.”

You know, just as a physician, I tried as much as possible to let the parents decide what was best for their kids. There’s so many experts around nowadays, that people just don’t trust themselves. And I think parents need to trust themselves. It’s not always the same thing for each kid, either.

Genevieve: So, what is it like having the grandchildren in the same house?

Dr. Cindy: Well, they do know who mom and dad is, and there are times when only mom or dad will do, which is good.

The way the house is set up, the parents and one or two of the babies sleep on the third floor, but the others sleep in a bedroom on our floor. And so sometimes we’ll hear them during the night and one of us will get up instead of the parents. Or occasionally they’ll get up in the morning and the parents aren’t up, so they’ll climb into bed with us.

Genevieve: Right. I love it. And do you and your husband share your faith with them?

Dr. Cindy: We do pray together, before meals, that sort of thing. And they go to a later Mass than we do, but sometimes with us. My husband Gary is a deacon, and the two oldest go to the Catholic school where he serves. And so they see grandpa at the altar.

Genevieve: That’s wonderful. Christ is very much a part of your household. As you say, there’s four adults and four children. That’s some one-on-one time that’s fully available to each of them. What about alone time as a couple?

Dr. Cindy: My daughter and her husband occasionally will have a date night. Or after we put the kids to bed, I might make my husband and myself a fancier meal than I normally would. So we try that way. Or go stay somewhere overnight. We get our time because of my work, with the Catholic Medical Association and missionary trips to Uganda. (To hear the full podcast on their work in Uganda, click here.)

Genevieve: I think generosity is the prevailing spirit in your household and it’s very edifying.

Dr. Cindy: There’s one thing I always tell my parents, and my kids, especially when they’re having problems in their relationships. You know, love is a choice, not a feeling. A verb, not a noun. And that’s kind of how we’ve tried to live.

My Secret is Mine includes monthly interviews of Catholic women living the feminine genius with great grace and insight! Please subscribe so you won’t miss a single interview!

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If you’re old enough to remember this was a cigarette slogan, you know a lot has changed in fifty-plus years. But, according to some, not enough has changed in the Catholic Church. They point to the work of Saint John Paul II with contempt. He did not advocate ordaining women, nor did he re-jigger a single word of Humanae Vitae. Is it possible to promote the dignity of women without those changes?

In 1988, twenty years after Humanae Vitae upheld the Church’s prohibition on artificial contraception, Saint John Paul II wrote this little encyclical, “On the Dignity and Vocation of Women” (Mulieris Dignitatem). He had been writing about married sexuality since at least the early 1940’s. We can assume he understood the mixed feelings in the pews on the subject. Maybe that’s why he didn’t mention Humanae Vitae in this encyclical.

I think the pope wanted to say, “Feminine liberation is about so much more than sex.” He redefines the problem for women in terms of a shared relationship with men. And he challenges men to bring forth the talents of women beyond La Leche League and Playboy centerfolds.

And 37 years later, it’s still relevant.

The women’s movement did not begin with the summer of love and the birth control pill. From Seneca Falls forward, the crusading women were concerned with the problems of real women – not just vocational issues.

And for women, sexuality presents certain “problems.” Pregnancy and motherhood are herculean tasks that do overwhelm women physically and mentally to the point that their other talents are sometimes postponed or ignored while they raise the next generation. Even menstruation presents logistical concerns that men simply do not have.

The pope has no business in my bedroom,” proclaim many women, including many Catholic women. Permit me to be a contrarian. What if the pope has something worthwhile to say?

It’s not like most Catholics don’t know what the Church teaches on contraception and abortion. Oh, they know. I converted in 1992, and I knew. Actually, until the Episcopalians started the domino chain in the early 1930’s, even most Protestants taught that contraception and abortion were sins. Comedians and pundits take every opportunity to point out how backward the Church looks on this point. “Every sperm is sacred.” Ha, ha, ha.

But Pope Saint John Paul II does have something to say. I first read Mulieris Dignitatem as a young mother with many small children underfoot. I was deeply afraid that I would never do anything again but change diapers and adjudicate toddler tantrums.

Perhaps for that reason, two sentences of that encyclical stood out for me above all the rest. “It is therefore necessary that the man be fully aware that in their shared parenthood, he owes a special debt to the woman. No program of “equal rights” between women and men is valid unless it takes this fact fully into account.” (Mulieris Dignitatem, 18)

“Amen, brother!” It was my take-away, my sonar in a world where those “special debts” were clouding my vision and my ideals. In the history of the world, men have often mistreated women, physically and emotionally. There has been violence, and repression. This isn’t heaven. Even a relatively affluent suburban mom can feel like a slave. But there is hope, and God’s plan is bigger and better than we realize.

Women are right to hate sin and reject violence. The pope said so. In fact, women play a special role in that very area. To the extent that women are marginalized in society, there is a corresponding increase in the danger of inhumane and unjust actions. There was, and is, a need for women to find liberation...even from irrational toddlers.

In this series on Mulieris Dignitatem, I will explore the nature of the exact “debt” owed to women by men, and the spiritual economics of the relationship between the sexes, and the “solvency” open to Christians who embrace the payoff offered by our Lord Jesus Christ. And I invite you to join me. In these uncertain economic times, the treasure that matters remains free.

***

To read Mulieris Dignitatem, visit the Vatican Website. A new book of meditations on this important document is being written by Genevieve Kineke of Domus Aurea, for release in early 2027! Join the conversation!

Like many sites in the Holy Land, the building is sacred to Jews and Muslims as well. King David’s Tomb rests in the basement. Damage during the war for Israeli independence allowed archaeologist Jacob Pinkerfeld to excavate the site while repairing it, and he found five different levels of flooring.

The Upper Room has endured a variety of foundations. Pinkerfeld first found a 12th-century Crusader floor, just beneath the marble slabs. A mosaic floor with geometric designs dating to the Byzantine period rested about eighteen inches below that. A mere four inches lower, the remains of the original Roman floor were revealed, constructed at the end of the first century.

The original building appears to have been a Judeo-Christian synagogue, abandoned when Titus destroyed Jerusalem in 70 A.D. Almost the entire city was left in ruins. When Emperor Hadrian visited some years later, he reported that only the neighborhood on Mount Zion survived, including a small “Church of the Apostles,” which was supposedly built atop the original Upper Room.

Byzantine Emperor Theodosius the Great erected a larger church, Hagia Zion, in the late fourth century, built on top of the older ruins. Bishop John II of Jerusalem elevated it to Basilica status in 415. The Persian army destroyed most of the land’s churches, including Holy Zion, in the early seventh century. After the Persian withdrawal, the Christians rebuilt it, but in the early 11th century an apocalyptic caliph from Egypt flattened it again.

When the Crusaders rebuilt it, they combined the Church of the Apostles and the Church of the Pillars (built to honor the final resting place of Mary the Blessed Virgin), naming the new church St. Mary of Mount Zion. The building housing the Upper Room and King David’s Tomb is separate from Dormition Abbey, but their underlying foundations link up with the ancient ones described above.

Tourists visiting the Upper Room today find a large room with three naves, and gothic style columns worthy of the Crusaders who constructed them. A Muslim mihrab points the direction of Mecca for daily prayer, reminding the visitor of the many occupants of the building over the centuries. Several yeshiva schools (for the study of the Torah) dot the neighborhood, in honor of the Davidic lineage housed below.

Each successive construction to honor the birthplace of Christian joy had a unique character. It is somehow fitting that, 2000 years later, the Upper Room and its basement burial chamber draws thousands of tourists each year. King David symbolized the messianic hope of the Jews, and the Upper Room became for Christians a witness to the answer to those prayers.

On this Feast of Mary, Mother of the Church, we beg the Holy Spirit to embolden us to ask for what we need, and to have the courage to take up our crosses.

“The Spirit and the Bride say, “Come.”

Let everyone who listens answer, “Come.”

Then let all who are thirsty come;

all who want it may have the water of life and have it free."

—Revelation 22:17

Prayer: Come Lord Jesus!

We are bold to ask, and even bolder to believe!

Your promises to us will be fulfilled.

Strengthen all women in faith, hope and love!

Amen.

Day 9: “The Spirit and the Bride say, “Come.”

Let everyone who listens answer, “Come.”

Then let all who are thirsty come;

all who want it may have the water of life and have it free.

—Revelation 22:17

Prayer: Come Lord Jesus!

We are bold to ask, and even bolder to believe!

Your promises to us will be fulfilled.

Strengthen all women in faith, hope and love! Amen.

Novena reprinted from Edith Stein: Selected Writings (Templegate Publishers, 1990), pp. 92-99. Photo via encaminados vamos at Cathopic.

Day 8. Are You the sweet song of love, and of holy awe,

Resounding ever round God’s throne triune,

Which unifies the pure tone of all beings,

Within itself?

The harmony which fits the limbs to the head,

So that each blissfully finds the secret meaning

Of His being,

And exudes it with gladness freely dissolved

In Your streams:

Holy Spirit—

Eternal jubilation!

Prayer: Come Lord Jesus!

We lift up to you divorced women today. May they rediscover hope.

With you, all things are possible. Amen.

Novena reprinted from Edith Stein: Selected Writings (Templegate Publishers, 1990), pp. 92-99. Photo via encaminados vamos at Cathopic.

Day 7. Are You the one who made the mirror bright,

Which stands beside the throne of the Almighty

Just like a sea of crystal

Wherein the Godhead views Himself with love?

You bend o’er the most marvelous of Your creations

And beaming shines Your splendor back to you.

The pure beauty of all beings

United in the lovely form of

The virgin, Your flawless bride:

Holy Spirit—

Creator of the World.

Prayer: Come Lord Jesus!

We lift up widows today. In your mercy, provide for their needs.

And provide comfort in their sorrows. Amen.

Novena reprinted from Edith Stein: Selected Writings (Templegate Publishers, 1990), pp. 92-99. Photo of mosaic in Basilica of Pompei by Matteo Cavallone of Cathopic.

Day 6. Are You the master who builds the eternal dome

Rising from earth and through to very Heaven?

The columns, enlivened by You, rise high

And stand firm, immovable.

Marked with the eternal name of God,

They reach high up into the light,

Bearing the cupola, which crowns the holy dome,

Your work encompassing the universe,

Holy Spirit—

God’s shaping hand.

Prayer: Come Lord Jesus!

We lift up all women religious, for perseverance and joy!

Amen.

Novena reprinted from Edith Stein: Selected Writings (Templegate Publishers, 1990), pp. 92-99. Photo from Pierluigi on Cathopic.

Day 5. Are You the wealth of spirit and of power

By which the Lamb loosens the seals

From God’s eternal decree?

Driven by You the messengers of judgment

Ride through the world

And with sharp sword divide

The reign of light from the reign of night.

Then the Heavens are renewed, and new the earth,

And through Your breath

Everything finds its rightful place:

Holy Spirit—

Conquering power!

Prayer: Come Lord Jesus!

We lift up women suffering from mental illnesses and addictions.

Bring your peace to their lives in tangible ways. Amen.

Novena reprinted from Edith Stein: Selected Writings (Templegate Publishers, 1990), pp. 92-99. Photo from Mario Sandoval on Cathopic.

Day 4: Are you the ray

That flashes from the Eternal Judge’s throne

To pierce into the night of my soul,

Which never knew itself?

Merciful, yet unrelenting, it penetrates the hidden crevices.

The soul takes fright at sight of her own self,

Makes room for holy awe,

For the beginning of that wisdom

Descending from on high,

And anchoring us securely in the heights,—

For Your workings, which create us anew:

Holy Spirit—

All-penetrating ray!

Prayer: Come Lord Jesus!

We lift up all single women today.

May they bring the fullness of their faith to the world daily. Amen.

Novena reprinted from Edith Stein: Selected Writings (Templegate Publishers, 1990), pp. 92-99. Photo from Carolina BA on Cathopic.

Day 3: Are You not the sweet manna

Which flows from the heart of the Son

Into mine,

Food for angels and for the blessed?

He who from death to life arose,

Has awakened me, too, to new life,

From the sleep of death,

New life he gives me day by day.

Some day his abundance will completely flow through me,

Life of Your life—yes, You, Yourself:

Holy Spirit—

Eternal life!

Prayer: Come Lord Jesus!

We lift up women who suffer illness and face death.

May fear vanish, and pain subside. Amen.

Novena reprinted from Edith Stein: Selected Writings (Templegate Publishers, 1990), pp. 92-99. Art: “Pentecost” by Albrecht Durer, by Restored Christian Art on Cathopic.

(A Pentecost novena by St. Edith Stein)

Day 2: Who are You, sweet light that fills me

And illumines the darkness of my heart?

You guide me like a mother’s hand,

And if you let me go, I could not take

Another step.

You are the space

That surrounds and contains my being.

Without You it would sink into the abyss

Of nothingness from which You raised it into being.

You, closer to me than I to myself,

More inward than my innermost being—

And yet unreachable, untouchable,

And bursting the confines of any name:

Holy Spirit—

Eternal love!

Prayer: Come Lord Jesus!

We lift up all mothers this day,

in sorrow and in joy, bring them strength! Amen.

Novena reprinted from Edith Stein: Selected Writings (Templegate Publishers, 1990), pp. 92-99. Photo: CD Gutierrez, Cathopic.

Pray with St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross for the coming of the Holy Spirit to redeem and transform our world.

“The Spirit and the Bride say, “Come.”
Let everyone who listens answer, “Come.”
Then let all who are thirsty come;
all who want it may have the water of life and have it free.
—Revelation 22:17

Prayer

Come Lord Jesus!
We are bold to ask, and even bolder to believe!
Your promises to us will be fulfilled.
Strengthen us in faith, hope and love!
Amen.

Photo by Katsiaryna Endruszkiewicz on Unsplash

“Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.” (Matthew 5:4)

The Bible speaks of widows many times. The widow who has only enough for oil and flour for one loaf is generous and shares with Elijah. God then provides her with enough to live through the famine. Jesus has mercy on the weeping widow and raises her son from the dead. He speaks of the poor widow in the temple as an example of someone who gives from her poverty and will be rewarded. It's clear from the context that, in the early church, widows were being neglected.

Two millenia later, are widows still being neglected? Yes.

The Lord promised to console those who mourn. However, the Lord depends upon his Church to act as his eyes, ears, mouth and arms. Many Catholic parishes have grief ministries. And people are far more likely to talk about loss and grief. The Order of Christian Funerals states: “When a member of Christ’s body dies, the faithful are called to a ministry of consolation to those who have suffered the loss of one whom they love.”

Here are some resources:

Good Mourning Ministry was established by John and Sandy O'Shaughnessy, both of whom were widowed with two young children to raise. They provide videos and workbooks that can be used in a parish setting, and are available for speaking engagements. www.goodmourningministry.org

The Seasons of Hope Catholic Parish Small Group Resources (by M. Donna McLeod) This unique grief support program for Catholics focuses on the spiritual side of grieving the death of a loved one. It invites those who mourn to accompany one another and to meet Christ through scripture, prayer, reflection, and simple activities that offer comfort and help to foster healing and spiritual growth.  Recently updated. Pastoral.center/seasons-of-hope

Hope’s Harbor: A Devotional Journal, by Trish Stukbauer:  Embracing the metaphorical journey of grief, these 60 devotions offer a lifeline for those navigating the unpredictable waves of sorrow, affirming that God is an unwavering anchor in our tumultuous seas of emotions. Recognizing the challenge of focusing during times of grief, each devotion is intentionally short, an acknowledgment that concentration may waver amidst the emotional storm. Available on Amazon.

Lord, let us pray:

* for all widows and widowers that they would know the Holy Spirit as Comforter;

* for all those who mourn, that they would be blessed with friends and family who allow them to mourn in their own way;

* for widows of military personnel, that they would know honor for their spouse and gratitude for their profound sacrifice;

* For those who have cared for spouses with lingering diseases, that God would fill their time with fulfillment and peace;

* for those who have lost their spouses suddenly, that any regrets would be soothed with forgiveness and healing;

* for communities to remember to draw close and care for widows and widowers, emotionally, physically and spiritually; and

* for an increase of care for widows, especially the elderly, that all public agencies and caregivers would be kind and sensitive to their dignity and their loss.

Amen.

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Thank you Dawn Eden Goldstein for such a great interview! AND - we hope you will buy her excellent new book: The Sacred Heart: A Love for All Times:

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We are on a journey of exploration in May. After three years of posts, the team at My Secret is Mine is exploring some new opportunities, and spending the next month in prayer over our content and apostolate. As a subscriber, we invite you to share your feedback.

As we review and pray over our work, we are reprinting some of our best posts. We hope you enjoy one of our first Bible studies.

When Edith Stein told her best friend, Hedwig Conrad-Martius, she was becoming a Catholic, her friend was shocked. In the face of her exclamations, Edith silently wrote on a piece of paper: secretum meum mihi. Here’s the Bible verse she was referring to

Isaiah 24:15-18: "Therefore glorify ye the Lord in instruction: the name of the Lord God of Israel in the islands of the sea. From the ends of the earth we have heard praises, the glory of the just one. And I said: My secret to myself, my secret to myself, woe is me: the prevaricators have prevaricated, and with the prevarication of transgressors they have prevaricated. Fear, and the pit, and the snare are upon thee, O thou inhabitant of the earth. And it shall come to pass, that he that shall flee from the noise of the fear, shall fall into the pit: and he that shall rid himself out of the pit, shall be taken in the snare: for the flood-gates from on high are opened, and the foundations of the earth shall be shaken."

(From the Douay-Rheims translation of the Latin Vulgate)

Edith Stein was a young post-grad student, the rising star of her circle in Gottingen under famed philosopher Edmund Husserl. When she embraced baptism in 1922, her best friend Hedwig Conrad-Martius demanded to know why. Stein never responded, but wrote, "secretum meum mihi," on a nearby page of paper. (Latin for "my secret is mine, or my secret is unto me." Indeed, her conversion was devastating to her Jewish family. And although she was aware of a vocation to Carmel early on, at the advice of her confessor, she chose not to follow for over a decade.

Edith Stein is not the only one to have quoted this tidbit "Secretum Meum Mihi" in relation to keeping the inner details of one's faith private. The famous English convert John Henry Newman quotes it in his conversion account Apologia Pro Vita Sua, and St. Philip Neri also quotes it in his exhortations to his followers. And Bernard of Clairvaux, the great Cistercian, quotes it in relation to a commentary on the Song of Songs. All of them concurred: a relationship with Jesus Christ was a mystery one could never fully explain to anyone.

Context: This section of the book of Isaiah is known as his Apocalypse. Apocalyptic literature often focused on a future "day of the Lord", when the "just one" would reward the good and punish the bad. In this particular passage, the human praise of the Just One is side by side with His expected wrath to sinners.

Against the bloody backdrop of current Middle East politics, we might be excused for taking the whole section far too grimly to heart. Will the Lord deliver us? Do my secret longings for God's mercy open me up to His justice? Yet, being set free implies the truth that we are imprisoned...spiritually, emotionally, and otherwise.

Translation Notes:  Almost certainly, the Bible in your home does not have "my secret is unto me" in it at Isaiah 24:16.  Because there are no vowels in Hebrew, a variety of translations are possible, and the context is thus very important. The original Hebrew word, r-z-h, transliterated "ryzyk", translates roughly to "thinness, or leanness". Within the context of the passage, the Latin translation connotes a certainty of weakness as one faces the coming judgment. Subsequent English translations of the original Hebrew use "leanness" - "I waste away," or "I pine away".  (Or - I'm skinny!  Woe is me!)

Vocabulary

The Just One: a reference to the coming of the Messiah in Jewish apocalyptic literature, who would judge and punish the unrighteous in the last days

Prevaricators:  Those who deviate from the truth

The Pit:  Hell, or more technically, Sheol, a concept of the afterlife in which one does not merit God's friendship.

Discussion Questions:

1. Did you get tripped up by the “prevaricators, prevaricating?” It is an alien concept in our culture to call out people who deviate from the truth. Why do you think that is? Is it wise, or not wise, to address someone who “prevaricates?”

2. Edith Stein was ultimately killed at Auschwitz for being Jewish. Religious persecution remains a serious problem today. What should Christians in "safe" countries do to support their suffering and persecuted brothers and sisters in oppressed lands?

3. My secret is mine. Sometimes, I wonder if others even know I am a Christian. As some wag once put it, if the state began to persecute Christians, would they be able to dig up enough dirt to condemn you for the crime? Should we as Catholics proselytize more by words or by example? Why?

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New York: Puffin Books, 1946, 238pp., $9.99 (My Secret is Mine receives affiliate fees from purchases on Bookskop.org.)

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The Psalms of the Old Testament declare that the sins of the fathers haunt their descendants for generations. But what might it look like if a merry and a loving heart stepped in to break that cycle?

Such is the idea Elizabeth Goudge explored in The Little White Horse. The book is often classified as children’s literature - novelist J.K. Rowling said she adored the book at age eight - but the themes and concepts are timeless.

We meet our protagonist, Maria Merryweather, newly orphaned and on her way to live with a distant relative, Sir Benjamin Merryweather, at the estate of Moonacre. As each day passes, Maria learns a little more about her new and delightful home, and comes to realize that its happiness is threatened.

nd the threat is, simply, fallen human nature: pride and vanity, stubbornness, anger, and even excessive curiosity have wrecked the happiness of the generation before her, and Maria also has the ‘family failings.’

Yet she also has love, and a determination that her new-found home, her Kingdom of Moonacre, will not be left sorrowing.

Love, humility, patience and courage are the keys to saving Maria’s kingdom, and she learns to use them slowly and fumblingly, and sometimes with fear pulling at heart. Her courage and love in the face of fear are an expression of her feminine genius and give the story a depth we don’t normally associate with children’s stories.

Take, for example, her reaction to riding through a pine forest, consumed by fear of the dark: Resolutely, she lowered the arm she had raised to protect herself, straightened her shoulders, and smiled into the darkness. And then, almost as though her smile had been a flame that set a lantern shining, she found she could see a little (p. 209).

Women have a unique gift for seeing and loving the broken, the needy, and the little ones. Maria’s use of this unique gift is what helps her to succeed where her forebears succumbed to humanity’s fallen nature. This exploration of human frailty and the power of a woman’s love is well worth being read again and again.

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When Edith Stein made the difficult decision to enter the Carmelite order in 1933, her mother was devastated. It was not only that she would be definitively turning her back on the Jewish faith of her youth. Rather, it was the stark reality that Edith would not be allowed to leave the cloister, thus never again being home with her family. The cloister was the sacrifice.

In the midst of her final visit home in October 1933, she received a letter from fellow convert Gertrud von le Fort. She responded immediately.

“Your dear letter made me very happy. It is so good for me during these very difficult last days [at home] to receive something from people who understand my path—in contrast to the great pain I must be causing here and have before my eyes daily. You will help me, won’t you, to beg that my mother will be given the strength to bear the leave-taking, and the light to understand it?”

and

“I heard of something very beautiful you have written about the nature of woman. May I get to see that sometime? Once I have arrived in that deep peace—now there still lies a deep abyss before I reach it—then I will surely know that I have a holy duty toward those who must remain outside.”

The book in question was “The Eternal Woman,” and it is still in print today in many languages. In it, von le Fort presents the Virgin Mary as the icon of the Church. She anticipates Pope John Paul II’s writings, and even uses the term, the “feminine genius.”

Eighteen months later, Edith (now known by her religious name, Sr. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross) had finally had time to read it, and wrote back to her friend.

“Dear Baroness,

Our retreat ended this morning. A retreat in Carmel—all that’s lacking to make it heaven is one’s own holiness. My spiritual reading those days was your new book. I could not get to it earlier.

Now, at last, I can thank you for this beautiful Christmas gift. I would not like to think of this retreat, which has meant so much to me, without your book. It has a distinct place in it. And apart from this very personal aspect, I find that, actually, everything else that has been written about woman in the past decades is now superfluous. There is much written in your book that we already knew. But all that has now been taken back to its deepest roots and put into its place. And a line has been drawn under everything ‘problematic.’”

Reading between the lines, I do not think this was false flattery. For most of the previous decade, Dr. Edith Stein had been writing and lecturing on the challenges women faced in society. Though her mother did not understand, her entire academic career had focused on the strength she absorbed from the life of her own mother, who had become a prominent businesswoman after her husband died when Edith was two. Edith recognized the truth about Mary’s role that leads all women to discover their strength.

Excerpts from Self-Portrait in Letters: 1916-1942

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