A gift of this Advent has been the writings of Fr. Alfred
Delp, S.J. from his cell in Tegel, the Nazi prison in which he was hanged the
day after Epiphany, 1945. In gratitude
for the gift of this experience, I aim to write on each of these “12 Days of
Christmas” between the Nativity and Epiphany. And I am writing to force myself (and
encourage you) to process the challenge that he gives us as his parting gift in
a question: What difference does it make
to us really, that Christ is born?
Satisfied or Searching?
Today on Christmas I begin with his caution that we not
simply walk away from the Nativity Scene satisfied, but rather searching.
Fr. Delp meditated on the Christmas Vigil 1944, writing:
“One must take care to celebrate Christmas
with a great realism. Otherwise, the
emotions expect transformations the intellect cannot substantiate. Then the outcome of this most comforting of
all holidays can be a bitter disappointment and paralyzing weariness….”
As he struggles every day to rise above his own human
condition (Germany being bombed by the Allies, the Catholic Church having
capitulated to Hitler, and most immediately his imminent execution) he
continues:
“Oh, you need to have counted the hours until your next piece of bread in
order to know what this means, and what tension is involved in rising above the
human condition.”
He goes on to explain,
“Eliminating
the tension…may have seemed like a relief at first, like liberation from an
uncomfortable burden. Yet over time, one cannot avoid recognizing that these
burdens are among the fixed conditions and prerequisites of life.”
“Tension” is the term that Delp used in the temporal/eternal
relationship within each of us. When
Mary answered “yes” to the angel, she relieved this tension, and within her
grew the God/man who could die/rise and save us from…what?
So here our soon-to-be-murdered young Jesuit warns us not to
avoid the tension that is real, remains real, between the promise of our own salvation
and the work of participating in the salvation of others. We searched for the Manger, after waiting for
The One. He calls to us: “The God whose coming we celebrate remains
the God of promise!”
We are not finished with the gift of Christmas. We have simply come to encounter The Way.
Our search for Christ continues; it is a search for justice. As Delp experienced true hunger, he experienced
more acutely the meaning of our call – to “hunger and thirst for justice.”
Tomorrow: Papal Midnight Mass: from Pieta to Manger to
Pieta.
FreeLemonadeStand by John J. Daniels is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.
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