East
meets West in America’s soon-to-be Blessed
(Vatican Radio) “It’s interesting that God has chosen to
honour a contemplative instead of an activist for the next American to be
beatified”, says Bishop Kurt Burnette of the Byzantine Ruthenian Catholic
Eparchy of Passaic. He was speaking to Vatican Radio about Sister Miriam
Teresa Demjanovich, who will be beatified Sunday in New Jersey.
Born in Bayonne, New Jersey, Sr. Miriam Teresa is the fourth
native born American woman to be beatified. However, this is the first time
that the Rite of Beatification will take place on American soil. Cardinal
Angelo Amato, the prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, will
preside over the ceremony which will take place in Newark’s Cathedral Basilica
of the Sacred Heart.
The
process of investigation was opened in 1945 to investigate the sanctity of Sr.
Miriam Teresa’s life. She was raised in the Byzantine Ruthenian Church and
taught for a brief period in Jersey City before entering the convent of the
Sisters of Charity of St. Elizabeth in 1925.
Her
spiritual director recognized her sanctity and asked her to write reflections
on holiness. Although she fell ill and died two years after professing her
final vows, Sr. Miriam Teresa’s writings still remain as a source of
inspiration to this day. The collection of her writings, entitled “Greater
Perfection”, was published shortly after her death.
Bishop
Burnette reflected on the impact of her legacy on Eastern and Western
spirituality.
“One
of the remarkable things about her writings, I believe, is that she brings an
Eastern Christian spirit of unity into the Western analysis. The Western
theology tends to be analytical. For example, when she talks about prayer, in
the West they had divided prayer up into three stages. What they called the
purgative, the illuminative and the unitive. But Sr. Miriam Teresa claims that
prayer always includes all three parts.”
Pope
Francis approved a miracle attributed to Sr. Miriam Therese when a young boy
who lost his eyesight due to macular degeneration was cured after prayers
through her intercession. For Bishop Burnette, this miracle along with her
profound humility, spirituality and insight are clear signs of God’s
confirmation of her sanctity. “I don’t believe we really choose who is going to
be canonized, God does”, he concludes.
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