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February 2
David Barnhart
February 02, 2025
A friendly Eastern Phoebe perched on my knee. 2021.
Today marks the execution of Alfred Delp, in 1945, who was a Jesuit priest involved in the German Resistance against Nazism and helped Jews escape to Switzerland He was falsely accused of being part of the plot to assassinate Hitler. His accusers knew the case was flimsy, and so gave him the option of resigning from the priesthood to avoid execution, which he refused to do. His principled stand cost him his life.
Today is the Feast Day of the Presentation of Jesus at the Temple, which is a rather long title for the day, so it’s usually referred to as Candlemas. It is forty days from Christmas, and one of the observances in some churches is to bless the candles that will be used in worship for the coming year. The scripture for the day comes from Luke 2:21-40.
A more neglected observance is that this is also the Feast Day of Cornelius the Centurion, one of my favorite stories from the early church which highlights that the early movement was characterized by radical inclusion.
Reflection:
Upon meeting Cornelius and realizing he has been led by the Holy Spirit to include non-Jews in the new Christian movement, Peter says these words:
God has shown me that I should never call a person impure or unclean. …I really am learning that God doesn’t show partiality to one group of people over another. Rather, in every nation, whoever worships him and does what is right is acceptable to him.
Alfred Delp wrote these words during Advent while he was in a Nazi prison: :
“We may ask why God has sent us into this time, why he has sent this whirlwind over the Earth, why he keeps us in this chaos where all appears hopeless and dark and why there seems to be no end to this in sight. The answer to this question is perhaps that we were living on Earth in an utterly false and counterfeit security. And now God strikes the Earth till it resounds, now he shakes and shatters; not to pound us with fear, but to teach us one thing — the spirit’s innermost moving and being moved.”
Alfred Delp also wrote these words, which are helpful for any who believe in re-wilding and supporting climate resilience:
The law of absolute utility, of total functionalism, is not a law of life. There is an extraordinarily close connection between the wilderness and fruitful, satisfying life. Where all the secluded places ring with tumult, where the silent muses have been degraded to pack horses and all the sources of inspiration forced into the service of official mills grinding out propaganda, the wilderness has indeed been conquered—but at what a price. Even greater devastation has taken its place.
Prayer: Creator God who grants visions in the wilderness, help us, your gardeners, to re-wild this paradise you have given us. Show us your inclusive love in community and creation. Amen.