“Secretum meum mihi,” (“my secret is mine.”) was St. Edith's Stein's cryptic response when her best friend asked why she converted. We serve up interviews, historical sketches, Bible studies, book reviews and essays for Catholic women. MY SECRET IS MINE is for women with an audacious hope: that the Messiah makes all things new.
The decision no one wants to discuss, let alone make. And yet the long history of Christianity shows countless saints and martyrs who grappled with that very decision on both a physical and a spiritual level. They were faced with the horrible question: when those in authority move to active violence against people of faith, what will we do?
Do we run, either to a different physical location, or to a secular abandonment of faith? Do we hide, conforming quietly as long as possible, until cooperation is no longer possible or until we forget our faith? Do we fight, knowing that the consequences will be swift and cruel?
These choices also appear in Gertrud von le Fort’s The Song at the Scaffold, set during the French Revolution. She shares the tribulations of the Carmelite nuns of Compiégne. While this story is fictional, it is inspired by the true story of the Sixteen Blessed Teresian Martyrs of Compiègne. In von le Fort’s retelling, three central characters emerge, each embodying an option of the dread ‘run, hide, fight’ triad.
Our protagonist, Blanche de la Force, is a novice beset by crippling fear and anxiety. While she earnestly aspires after the option to fight, she knows her own weaknesses all too well, and eventually decides to run. She leaves religious life, although she is certain of her vocation.
Mother Superior Teresa of St. Augustine seeks that middle ground in all the turbulence of the Revolution. She knows that disaster is all but inevitable, but she seeks to stave it off for as long as possible, giving her spiritual daughters time to grow, resolve, and choose for themselves. She doesn’t want to run, and yet she knows that not everyone in the convent is ready to fight. So she puts up a seemingly hopeless fight to shelter and hide their consecrated life.
Sr. Marie of the Incarnation, the novice mistress, is a fighter through and through. She knows her struggles with pride, but they are distinct from the burning zeal that prompts her to offer her life for the redemption of France. She sees the world through the lens of the cross and stands unflinchingly by the conclusion that only supreme sacrifice can counter the evil running rampant in her beloved homeland. She is prepared to make that sacrifice… but is God ready to accept it?
Yet, in the end, God is still the victor, and His brides are brought to His presence and given the palm of martyrdom. The path to that victory can’t be foreseen by human reason, but serves as a reminder of the stultitia Dei—the foolishness of God that is wiser than the wisdom of man.
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My Secret is Mine Volume 3 #5
Enjoy an essay on Jesus talking to women, even though it was not kosher. Meet Charna Seibert, a breast cancer survivor... Read more
Volume Three of My Secret is Mine newsletter includes essays and discussions on Mulieris Dignitatem, On the Dignity and Vocation of Women, an apostolic letter written by St. John Paul the Great in 1988.
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“Secretum meum mihi,” (“my secret is mine.”) was St. Edith's Stein's cryptic response when her best friend asked why she converted. We serve up interviews, historical sketches, Bible studies, book reviews and essays for Catholic women. MY SECRET IS MINE is for women with an audacious hope: that the Messiah makes all things new.
