Advent of the Heart
+ First Week of Advent +
Fr. Alfred Delp, German Martyr
Let us view these writings through the lens of our own times. Fr. Delp’s theological genius is nothing short of breathtaking. All quotes below pertain to the First Sunday of Advent…
Opening Psalm of the Tridentine Mass (the Mass Fr. Delp would have celebrated):
“To Thee have I lifted up my soul: in Thee, O my God, I put my trust, let me not be ashamed: neither let my enemies laugh at me: for none of them that wait on Thee shall be confounded. Show, O Lord, Thy ways to me: and teach me Thy paths.”
Fr. Delp’s homily, Munich, 1941:
“Much of what is happening today would not be happening if people were in that state of inner movement and restlessness of heart in which man comes into the presence of God the Lord and gains a clear view of things as they really are. [Fr. Delp changes to the past tense, displaying his distanced vantage point from this world.] Then man would have let go of much that has thrown all our lives into disorder one way or another and has thrashed and smashed our lives. He would have seen the inner appeals, would have seen the boundaries, and could have coordinated the areas of responsibility. Instead, man stood on this earth in a false pathos and a false security, under a deep delusion in which he really believed he could single-handedly fetch stars from heaven; could enkindle eternal lights in the world and avert all danger from himself; that he could banish the night, and intercept and interrupt the internal quaking of the cosmos, and maneuvered and manipulated the whole thing into the conditions standing before us now. That is the first Advent message: before the end, the world will be set quaking.”
Fr. Delp’s homily, Munich, 1943:
“People who fail to live out of the center can be alienated from themselves so easily by outside influences. Other values of secondary importance impose themselves, making life inauthentic and bringing it under an alien law and an alien paradigm. Are we living out of the center of our being?”
From Tegel Prison, Berlin, 2 months before Delp’s martyrdom, struggling to write while in handcuffs. These were smuggled out at great risk. Do not take these words for granted:
“Light the candles wherever you can, you who have them. They are a real symbol of what must happen in Advent, what Advent must be, if we want to live.”