Alfred Delp, SJ: Waiting to be executed
Alfred Delp, a German Jesuit who was executed for his resistance to the Nazi regime writes from prison, “Yet it does happen, even under these circumstances, that every now and then my whole being is flooded with pulsating life and my heart can scarcely contain the delicious joy there is in it.”
Before first snow I scattered seeds
set my seat to wait
castle clouds spill silver lace
freeze life’s waving gate
Some days I sit in solitude
strain to leap ahead
skipping to what is not yet
it is as if I’m dead
But when I sit inside my cell
savor sacred seed
suffused in holy hope I wait
for nothing more I need
Life’s seed is surely planted
something is begun
sitting, waiting, savoring
no moment may be shunned
Even death’s dissolution
cannot rupture my worth
sitting, waiting, savoring
inspires joys rebirth
Poem by Debra Asis
Alfred Delp, SJ quote is found in to today’s selection in An Ignatian Book of Days by Jim Manney, a series of daily reflections from the Spiritual Wisdom of St. Ignatius of Loyola. Throughout the book we hear the voices of St. Ignatius as well as many great thinkers and writers, long gone and present day, each uniquely revealing the way of finding God in all things.And that is my intention; to find God/Divine Presence/Ultimate Reality in whatever presents itself to me each day in 2024.
Each day I read, reflect and write on the selection, hoping to articulate the ways in which I come to know God/Divine Presence/Ultimate Reality via personal experience, impelled by the leading of my inner life.
INVITATION
Would you like to join me? The book is accessible on Amazon. Let me know in the comments to this post and sign up to get an email whenever I post. I would love to read your reflections too, public or private messages welcome!
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Learn more about me at
https://www.debraasis.org
All words are generated by grace and the grit of a real human being,
Debra Asis
