Project BLACK MAMBA

'Tis the Optional Memorial of Saint Teresa Benedicta of the Cross, Virgin & Martyr, O.C.D. (1891-1942, born Edith Stein), martyred in the reign of the Führer Adolf Hitler: Martyr-link ūna, Martyr-link duae, & Wikipedia-link.

Commentary: Wayback Machine. Quoth the Holy Redeemer bulletin:

Edith Stein, religious name: Teresa Benedicta of the Cross, was a German Jewish philosopher who converted to Roman Catholicism & became a Discalced Carmelite nun.

Quoth the Holy Family bulletin:

A brilliant philosopher who stopped believing in God when she was fourteen, Edith Stein was so captivated by reading the autobiography of [St.] Teresa of Ávila (15 October) that she began a spiritual journey that led her to Baptism in 1922. Twelve years later, she imitated Teresa by becoming a Carmelite, taking the name Teresa Benedicta of the Cross. Born into a prominent Jewish family in Breslau (now Wroclaw, Poland), Edith abandoned Judaism in her teens. After living in the Cologne Carmel (1934-1938), she moved to the Carmelite monastery in Echt, Netherlands. The Nazis occupied that country in 1940. In retaliation for being denounced by the Dutch bishops, the Nazis arrested all Dutch Jews who had become Christians. Teresa Benedicta & her sister Rosa, also a Catholic, died in a gas chamber at Auschwitz on 9 August 1942.

'Tis also the festival of Blesseds Thomas Palasor, Priest, & John Talbot, Martyrs (died 1600), martyred in the reign of the queen Elizabeth I, two of the Eighty-five Martyrs of England & Wales: Martyr-link Tango Papa & Wikipedia-link Tango Papa, Martyr-link Juliett Tango & Wikipedia-link Juliett Tango; Wikipedia-link LXXXV.

'Tis also the festival of Blesseds Michał Tomaszek & Zbigniew Adam Strzałkowski, Priests & Martyrs, O.F.M. Conv. (died 1991), martyred by the Shining Path Communists, two of the Three Martyrs of Chimbote: Martyr-link Mike Tango, Martyr-link Zulu Alpha Sierra, & Wikipedia-link III.

Scripture of the Day
Mass Readings—Feria
The Book of Numbers, chapter thirteen, verses one, two, & twenty-five; & chapter fourteen, verses one, twenty-six thru twenty-nine(a), thirty-four, & thirty-five;
Psalm One Hundred Six, verses six & seven(a,b), thirteen & fourteen, twenty-one & twenty-two, & twenty-three;
The Gospel according to Matthew, chapter fifteen, verses twenty-one thru twenty-eight.

Commentary: Gospel reflection by Bishop Robert Barron (Word on Fire):

Friends, in today's Gospel we witness the strange exchange between Jesus and a feisty woman. It is one of the only scenes in the Gospels where someone seems to get the better of Jesus. First Jesus refuses even to acknowledge her. Then his disciples tell her to back off. Finally, Jesus hits her with a devastating one-liner: "I have come for the lost sheep of the house of Israel; it is not right to throw food to dogs."

This woman—probably a widow and certainly a foreigner—is given a triple brush-off. In this she stands for all those who stand outside, on the margins, alone. Then we hear the woman's snappy come-back: "Even the dogs eat the scraps that fall from the master's table." She will not be put off by this brusque behavior.

Now, what do we make of this story? A long tradition stresses the perseverance of the woman in the face of the "test" that Jesus sets for her. And there is something right about it. Augustine says that we pray in order to expand our will to accept what God is going to give us.

Mass Readings—Optional Memorial of St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross
The Book of Hosea, chapter two, verses sixteen(b,c), seventeen(c,d), twenty-one, & twenty-two;
Psalm Forty-five, verse eleven;
The Gospel according to Matthew, chapter twenty-five, verses one thru thirteen.