Edith Stein delivers a short essay centered around Christ’s words in Gethsemane, “Thy will be done.” She asserts this is the regulatory measure of following Christ. Her writing is magnified by a short description of her own Spiritual journey. She was born into Judaism, turned to atheism in her teens, later converted to Catholicism as a Discalced Caremilite nun, and died at the age of 51 in the Auschwitz concentration camp.
The essay reads as a charge to her fellow nuns and friars. The surrendered will of Christ, Stein writes, is evident in His obedience, poverty, and purity. From the cross Christ calls for the allegiance of His followers and the answer Stein urges is, “Lord, where else should we go. You have the words of eternal life.”
God’s will is for some a grandiose mystery that must be discovered and followed with pinpoint accuracy, and rigid attention to detail. For others it is a pious thought that few, if any, every attain and so it sounds good but is not practical. For Christ, God’s will, was a daily call to surrender, intimacy, and listening. It is a pursuit to follow the two great commandments, love of God and of others. It is not God’s will that we all die on a Roman cross, or serve others in a nunnery. It is His will that today we might lean in to a supreme love for Him and a humbled, servant minded, love of others.