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February 22
Sophie and Hans Scholl, Christoph Probst, Zitakla-Sa, and Pope Gregory VII

Portland Women’s Forum Scenic View. 2024. Own photo.
On this day in 1076, Pope Gregory VII excommunicated Henry IV, the Holy Roman Emperor, in a protracted European power struggle. Henry IV had rallied bishops to “impeach” the Pope. This was a test of church and secular political power that would end dramatically a year later with Henry IV on his knees in the snow at Canossa Castle, seeking forgiveness.
And on February 22, 1943, Sophie Scholl, her brother, Hans, and Christoph Probst were all executed by guillotine in a Nazi prison for distributing anti-fascist leaflets at a local university. Their secret society was called “The White Rose,” and they quoted the Bible as well as German poets in their criticisms of the Nazi party. Just before his martyrdom, Christoph was baptized into the Roman Catholic faith. The Nazis had originally planned on a public execution, but feared turning them into martyrs — which they became anyway.
Today is also the birthday of Zitakla-Sa, a Yankton Dakota author, activist, and musician. She co-founded the National Council of American Indians and wrote an American Indian opera, among many other things.
Reflection:
Sophie Scholl wrote:
“The real damage is done by those millions who want to 'survive.' The honest men who just want to be left in peace. Those who don’t want their little lives disturbed by anything bigger than themselves. Those with no sides and no causes. Those who won’t take measure of their own strength, for fear of antagonizing their own weakness. Those who don’t like to make waves—or enemies. Those for whom freedom, honour, truth, and principles are only literature. Those who live small, mate small, die small. It’s the reductionist approach to life: if you keep it small, you’ll keep it under control. If you don’t make any noise, the bogeyman won’t find you. But it’s all an illusion, because they die too, those people who roll up their spirits into tiny little balls so as to be safe. Safe?! From what? Life is always on the edge of death; narrow streets lead to the same place as wide avenues, and a little candle burns itself out just like a flaming torch does. I choose my own way to burn.”
And:
“I will cling to the rope God has thrown me in Jesus Christ, even when my numb hands can no longer feel it.”
Zitakla-Sa wrote:
“I would not forget that the pale-faced missionary and the hoodooed aborigine are both God's creatures, though small indeed their own conceptions of Infinite Love. A wee child toddling in a wonder world, I prefer to their dogma my excursions into the natural gardens where the voice of the Great Spirit is heard in the twittering of birds, the rippling of mighty waters, and the sweet breathing of flowers. Here, in a fleeting quiet, I am awakened by the fluttering robe of the Great Spirit. To my innermost consciousness the phenomenal universe is a royal mantle, vibrating with His divine breath. Caught in its flowing fringes are the spangles and oscillating brilliance of sun, moon, and stars.”
Prayer: Great Spirit with whose flame we burn, give us the courage to live lives of creative tension, vibrating with your divine breath. Amen.