Stand With Mary and With the Church under the Cross (II)

The work of a mother is hidden for the most part, and even its rewards are intangible. This is exactly why Edith Stein looked to women to preserve within human society those spiritual values that cannot be measured. It is not that the public achievements of women are unimportant of course, but that women must not lose sight of those ends for which all other things are only the means. In one of her letters, Stein wrote: "On the question of relating to our fellowman - our neighbor's spiritual need transcends every commandment. Everything else we do is a means to an end. But love is an end already, since God is love." In an address just before Hitler's rise to power, Blessed Edith Stein urged a group of Catholic women to fight for these very truths: "Perhaps the moment has almost come for the Catholic woman to stand with Mary and with the Church under the cross." It would be a shame to let her answer the call alone.