March 30

This marks the death of Joachim of Fiore, in 1202, an apocalyptic theologian who looked for hidden messages in the book of Revelation and anticipated an “Age of the Holy Spirit” in which universal salvation on earth would become a reality. He believed this apocalypse would happen by 1260. 

Today also marks the passing, in 2005, of Fred Korematsu, who resisted the internment of Japanese Americans during WWII. I have previously shared that Fred Korematsu day is celebrated on his birthday, on January 30.

Today is also the feast day and marks the martyrdom of Maria Restituta Kafka, a nurse, nun, and outspoken critic of Adolf Hitler. Because she would neither remove crucifixes from patient rooms nor show deference to the petty dictator, she was imprisoned, threatened, and eventually guillotined. She is a witness not only to freedom of religion and speech, but to the fragility of autocrats to bear mockery and criticism. 

Today is Land Day in the Palestinian Territories. Most Americans are unaware that Palestinian land is regularly confiscated and encroached upon by Israel for both “settlers” (colonizers) and “security.” The slow theft of land over decades has resulted in very limited freedom of movement for the people living in occupied land. 

Reflection: 

Sister Maria Restituta Kafka said: 

Joachim of Fiore was an interesting character, especially when considered with modern end-times prophets. Though he supported numerological and millenarian views that I’m skeptical of, his faith that the Good News would be brought to fruition in human history had a major impact on the Protestant Reformation. Rather than the bloody and violent eschatological theologies of today, Joachim anticipated an apocalypse more like the hippie’s “Age of Aquarius,” an evolution of human consciousness when old prejudices would disappear and human beings would enter a new age of peace and understanding. 

I reject the idea of supersessionism, that the “Old Testament” God was about law, and the New Testament God is about love. Joachim preached this idea. But I also think about what people in the twelfth century had experienced, and how radical it would have been to hear him proclaim a coming age in which the church would be superfluous and hierarchies would disappear. 

Prayer: God of Grace and Glory, give us the tenacity to seek your already-present reign, whether it be transcendent or historical, in which religion becomes another word for “life,” and where equity and justice are everyday experiences instead of ideals. Amen.