Edith Stein on Motherliness

Spiritual Mothers,

tomorrow we will honor Saint Teresa Benedicta of the Cross, also known as Edith Stein. She was a brilliant writer and philosopher, who made invaluable contributions in many areas, especially in combating modern society’s view on the dignity of women.

She saw receptivity and motherliness as woman’s unique power, a power capable of transforming a home, workplace, professional environment, country, or society in ways that men cannot.

“Everywhere the need exists for maternal sympathy and help, and thus we are able to recapitulate in the one word motherliness that which we have developed as the characteristic value of woman. Only, the motherliness must be that which does not remain within the narrow circle of blood relations or of personal friends; but in accordance with the model of the Mother of Mercy, it must have its root in universal divine love for all who are there, belabored and burdened.”

– The Significance of Women’s Intrinsic Value in National Life (1928)