- This is the Day
- Posts
- January 20
January 20
David Barnhart
January 20, 2025
In addition to being the observance of Martin Luther King, Jr.’s birthday (which was on January 15), today is the Feast Day of Pope Fabian, who died on this day in 250 CE. Legend has it that when the time came to select the next pope, a dove landed on an ordinary young man in the crowd, which reminded those present of Christ’s baptism. They could not refuse what seemed a clear sign from God, and chose him to be their leader. He became an effective pope for the next fourteen years, but when Decius became the new Roman emperor, he demanded citizens conform to worshiping Roman gods. Fabian refused and was executed.
Outdoor Gallery at the Berlin Wall, 2004
(I do not have the artist’s name in this photo, but would love to add it if someone knows).
Today also marks the death, in 1962, of poet and pacifist Robinson Jeffers. Among other creations, he built a granite stone house with his own hands in Carmel, California. He also wrote the following poem, which feels appropriate for the day.
Reflection:
“The Answer”
Then what is the answer?- Not to be deluded by dreams.
To know that great civilizations have broken down into violence,
and their tyrants come, many times before.
When open violence appears, to avoid it with honor or choose
the least ugly faction; these evils are essential.
To keep one's own integrity, be merciful and uncorrupted
and not wish for evil; and not be duped
By dreams of universal justice or happiness. These dreams will
not be fulfilled.
To know this, and know that however ugly the parts appear
the whole remains beautiful. A severed hand
Is an ugly thing and man dissevered from the earth and stars
and his history... for contemplation or in fact...
Often appears atrociously ugly. Integrity is wholeness,
the greatest beauty is
Organic wholeness, the wholeness of life and things, the divine beauty
of the universe. Love that, not man
Apart from that, or else you will share man's pitiful confusions,
or drown in despair when his days darken.
I agree that dreams of justice may not be fulfilled in this life, because that is what life and dreams are: a motion or yearning towards fulfillment. But the poem is an acknowledgment that somehow beyond the stories we tell ourselves about this life, there is, in Parker Palmer’s words, “a hidden wholeness.”
Prayer:
Deepest Reality, remind us of our connection to all things. Amen.