Advent advice from Saint Teresa Benedicta<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"During Advent we prepare to receive the Lord. We are alert and watchful, we make straight the path for the Lord, we repent of our sins to make a worthy\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/labmind\/2011\/12\/advent-advice-from-saint-teresa-benedicta.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Advent advice from Saint Teresa Benedicta\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"During Advent we prepare to receive the Lord. 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<\/div>\n

During Advent we prepare to receive the Lord. We are alert and watchful, we make straight the path for the Lord, we repent of our sins to make a worthy dwelling for the Lord in our hearts.<\/p>\n

At the same time, we\u00a0acknowledge\u00a0that it is the Lord Himself who\u00a0prepares\u00a0us to receive Him. \u00a0It is He who initiates all movements and graces within our hearts.<\/p>\n

These two previous statements lead to a logical question: How do I prepare to receive the Lord if ultimately it is He who prepares me? <\/p>\n

This question regarding the Lord\u2019s workings in our souls has puzzled people of faith throughout the centuries. \u00a0Questions such as these have arisen: If it is all done by God\u2019s grace, what can I possibly do? \u00a0If I try hard to prepare myself, am I denying God\u2019s ability to work within me? \u00a0If all is grace, can I blame God if I am not properly prepared since He did not prepare me? <\/p>\n

Saint Teresa Benedicta of the Cross, also known as Saint Edith Stein, sheds some light on this dilemma in her 1919 work\u00a0Philosophy of Psychology and Humanities<\/i>. \u00a0She writes:<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is a state of resting in God, of complete relaxation of all mental activity, in which you make no plans at all, reach no decision, much less take action, but rather leave everything that\u2019s future to the divine will\u2026 This state might have befallen me after an\u00a0experience\u00a0that exceeded my power, and that has completely consumed my mental lifepower and deprived me of all activeness. \u00a0Compared to the cessation of activeness from the lack of lifepower, resting in God is something\u00a0completely\u00a0new and unique.\u201d<\/p>\n

Saint Teresa Benedicta\u2019s insight is simple yet tremendous. \u00a0She asserts that the state of resting in God where you find total peace must be\u00a0preceded\u00a0by the complete consumption of your lifepower. \u00a0After you have done everything within your power and ability, after having used up all your human energies, only then can you rest and place everything in God\u2019s hands. <\/p>\n

She contrasts this with someone who simply rests in God without having consumed all his or her lifepower. \u00a0This would be someone who does\u00a0absolutely\u00a0nothing and says, \u201cGod will take care of it.\u201d \u00a0The former is someone who does all that is humanly possible and then says, \u201cGod will take care of it from here because there is nothing else I can do.\u201d \u00a0The difference between these two attitudes is enormous. <\/p>\n

This insight is helpful as we prepare during the Advent Season. \u00a0We prepare by doing that which is within our power and ability, and then we turn it over to God. \u00a0We cannot sit doing nothing hoping God will act, this would be\u00a0presumptuous. \u00a0We do what we can and ask the Lord to help us make up for what we are lacking.<\/p>\n

Click here for more information on the arrest, deportation and martyrdom of Saint Teresa Benedicta of the Cross and other Jewish-Catholics<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"