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December 1
Black Elk, Sola Sierra, Rosa Parks, Charles de Foucauld, and World AIDS Day
David Barnhart
December 01, 2025
Garden mushroom, 2025. Own photo.
Today is the birthday, in 1863, of Black Elk, a leader of the Oglala Lakota people. He was present at both the Battle of Little Bighorn and the Wounded Knee Massacre, and was a proponent of the Ghost Dance movement. Many of the popular quotes attributed to him were fabricated.
Today is also the birthday, in 1935, of Sola Sierra, a Chilean human rights activist who never backed down searching and advocating for the people disappeared by Augusto Pinochet’s regime. Both her husband and a friend were kidnapped and murdered.
Today in 1955, Rosa Parks was arrested for refusing to give up her seat to a white man on a Montgomery bus. This became the event that launched the Montgomery bus boycott.
Today also marks World AIDS Day, first established in 1988 by the United Nations. It was intended to raise awareness of HIV infection and memorialize those who have died in the epidemic.
Today is the feast day of Charles de Foucauld, priest and missionary to the Tuareg people of Algeria. His friendship with Muslims there was highlighted by his devotion to preach not with words, but with actions. He was martyred on this day in 1916 by bandits.
Reflection:
Charles de Foucauld wrote:
“I no longer want a monastery which is too secure, I want a small monastery, like the house of a poor workman who is not sure if tomorrow he will find work and bread, who with all his being shares the suffering of the world.”
and
“The moment I realized that God existed, I knew that I could not do otherwise than to live for him alone . . . Faith strips the mask from the world and reveals God in everything. It makes nothing impossible and renders meaningless such words as anxiety, danger, and fear, so that the believer goes through life calmly and peacefully, with profound joy- like a child, hand in hand with his mother.”
Prayer: God of Justice, much of our life’s activity is spent pursuing security at the expense of justice. Help us instead to pursue justice, Amen.