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Gospel: Matthew 22: 17-27
As Jesus and his disciples were gathering in Galilee,
Jesus said to them,
“The Son of Man is to be handed over to men,
and they will kill him, and he will be raised on the third day.”
And they were overwhelmed with grief.
When they came to Capernaum,
the collectors of the temple tax approached Peter and said,
“Does not your teacher pay the temple tax?”
“Yes,” he said.
When he came into the house, before he had time to speak,
Jesus asked him, “What is your opinion, Simon?
From whom do the kings of the earth take tolls or census tax?
From their subjects or from foreigners?”
When he said, “From foreigners,” Jesus said to him,
“Then the subjects are exempt.
But that we may not offend them, go to the sea, drop in a hook,
and take the first fish that comes up.
Open its mouth and you will find a coin worth twice the temple tax.
Give that to them for me and for you.”
The Gospel of the Lord.
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Edith Stein, whose feast day we celebrate today, represents everyone who suffers for who they are.
In Edith’s case, she was born into a Jewish family in Poland at the turn of the 20th century.
After losing her faith in college, she rediscovered the Lord and converted to Catholicism, eventually becoming a Carmelite nun, right before the breakout of World War Two.
Shortly after the War began, she and the other nuns in her convent were shipped off to Auschwitz and gassed.
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Edith Stein was hated because she was Jewish…and, again, because she became Catholic.
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Throughout history, people have been targeted because of their skin color, their religion, their politics, their gender, and their economic or social status.
Edith Stein – and all the victims of hate – remind us that we must learn to transcend these boundaries that divide us, seeing each person as made in the image and likeness of God.
Common ground can always be found between people willing to compromise or to work for the common good.
This should be particularly true among Christians. “Wherever two or three are gathered in my name,” Jesus says, “I am there in the midst of them.”
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Do my words and actions foster unity? Do they ever divide?
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“Whatever you do to the least of these my brothers and sisters of mine,” Jesus says, whether at home, online, or in a gas chamber, “you do to me.”
Saint Edith Stein, pray for us.
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Image credits: (1) Honeybear Lane (2) United Nations Peacekeeping (3) Edith Stein Arrested, YouTube (4) Jen Norton Art Studio