Daybreak

Wednesday of the 18th Week in Ordinary Time Optional Memorial of St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross, 1891-1942; brilliant philosopher from a Jewish family; she stopped believing in God at age 14; but she was so captivated by the autobiography of St. Teresa of Avila, that she was eventually baptized, and later became a Carmelite; she lived for four years in the Cologne Carmel, and then moved to the Carmel in Echt, Netherlands; Nazis were arresting all Jews who had become Christians, and Teresa Benedicta and her sister Rosa--also a Catholic--died in the gas chamber at Auschwitz Office of Readings and Morning Prayer for 8/9/23 Gospel: Matthew 15:21-28