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November 9
Ahn Chang Ho, Thomas Berry, Margery Kempe, Elijah Lovejoy, Oskar Schindler, and Miriam Makeba
David Barnhart
November 09, 2025
A perfectly posed pigeon. England, 2011. Own photo.
Today in 1998, capital punishment was abolished in the UK.
Today is the birthday, in 1878, of Ahn Chang Ho, activist for Korean independence and a powerful force in organizing the Korean immigrant community in the United States. He was imprisoned and tortured many times for his resistance to Japanese rule of Korea.
Today is also the birthday, in 1914, of Thomas Berry, Catholic priest and ecotheologian. He made the case that the ecological crisis is a spiritual crisis.
Today marks the Episcopal feast day of Margery Kempe, who lived from 1373 to 1438. Her autobiography was the first in the English language, and contains stories of her mystical experiences.
Today marks the martyrdom, in 1837, of Elijah Parish Lovejoy, a Presbyterian minister and journalist whose abolitionist writings and publications made him a target of mob violence in Alton, Illinois.
Today marks the death, in 1974, of Oskar Schindler, German factory-owner and member of the Nazi party whose actions saved over 1200 Jews during the holocaust.
Today also marks the death, in 2008, of Miriam Makeba, or “Mama Africa,” singer and anti-apartheid activist. While her singing raised awareness in the United States of apartheid in her native South Africa, she was banned from entering the U.S. because she married Stokeley Carmichael, leader of the Black Panthers.
Reflection:
Describing one of her visions, Margery Kempe wrote:
“On a night, as this creature lay in her bed with her husband, she heard a sound of melody so sweet and delectable, that she thought she had been in Paradise, and therewith she started out of her bed and said: "Alas, that ever I did sin! It is full merry in Heaven."
She also wrote:
“Patience is more worthy than miracle-working.”
Elijah Lovejoy wrote:
“I have opened my mouth for the dumb. I have pled the cause of the poor and oppressed. I have maintained the rights of humanity and of nature....by the grace of God I will not, I will not forsake my principles....The cry of the oppressed has entered, not only into my ears, but into my soul so that while I live I cannot hold my peace.”
Echoing the famous words of Frederick Douglass’s speech, he also wrote about an Independence Day celebration:
“Alas! What bitter mockery is this. We assemble to thank God for our own freedom, and to eat and drink with joy and gladness of heart, while our feet are on the necks of nearly three millions of our fellow men. Not all our shouts of self-congratulation can drown their groans. Even the very flag of freedom that waves over their heads is formed from materials cultivated by slaves, on a soil moistened with their blood drawn from them by the whip of a republican taskmaster.”
Miriam Makeba said:
“My concerts were canceled left and right. Speaking about South African Apartheid was fine, but they were suddenly afraid I might speak about American Apartheid, although I never did. Bookers told me that my shows would finance radical activities and [Reprise Records] told me they were not going to honor my recording contract. I didn’t say anything, but if I was married to a troublemaker, I must be a troublemaker. I’d already lived in exile for 10 years, and the world is free, even if some of the countries in it aren’t, so I packed my bags and left.”
Thomas Berry wrote:
“The natural world is the fundamental locus for the meeting of the divine and the human. We need to look up at the stars at night and recover our primordial wonder that awakened in our souls when we first saw the stars ablaze in the heavens against the dark mystery of the night. We need to hear the song of the mockingbird thrown out to the universe from the topmost branch of the highest tree in the meadow ... In all these experiences communion takes place between ourselves and the numinous reality ... If we were truly sensitive, we would realize that in these moments the universe is communicating to us the most basic understanding that we really need.”
Prayer: God of the Universe, our love for you is only as great as our love for the oppressed—including the oppressed planet. Help us to know and love you and your creation and your creatures more deeply. Amen.