Posted January 12, 2014 Book: Embracing Edith Stein: Wisdom for Women from St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross Author: Anne Costa Servant Books. Cincinnati, OH. 2014. Pp. 110 An Excerpt from the Jacket: Join Anne Costa as she invits you to share the wisdom of Edith Stein. Though the author never knew Edith Stein personally, Stein's writings had a profound effect on Anne, and she came to view Edith as a personal friend. The different aspects of the life and teaching of St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross can serve as a guide for women and their unique vocation today. Topics include: Being openhearted Experiencing freedom through surrender Learning to feed our souls Deepening the vocation of love common to all women An Excerpt from the Book: Sensitivity: Feeding our Souls "The strength of women lies in the emotional life" How many times have you been told that you are too emotional or too sensitive? As women, we may have received the message that expressing our emotions is a weakness and that we need to be more stoic or logical in our approach to life's circumstances. Yet God gave us our emotions and sensitive natures as gifts to be delighted in and shared. The fabric of our feminine souls are attached together with the vibrant and colorful emotions that we use to express our inner lives. In fact, as our friend Edith confirms in the quote above, "our strength lies in our emotional life.: Emotions are an essential part of what it means to be human. Jesus is our example and model. As an emotional Savior, he cried several times that we know of during his public ministry and expressed anger, joy, anguish, sorrow, and love --- emotions that we all share. As Edith explains, "the soul perceives its own being in the stirrings of the emotions --- and through the emotions it comes to know what it is and how it is… It grasps the relationship of another being to itself … and the significance of the inherent value of exterior things, unfamiliar people and impersonal things." Table of Contents: 1. Edith Stein: a women in search of freedom and truth 2. Woman, know thyself 3. Receptivity: opening our hearts 4. Generosity, freedom through surrender 5. Sensitivity freeing our souls 6. Maternity: our vocation of love Epilogue