Christmas Meditation from "Advent of the Heart" with PDF

Well, we’re getting this out on the trad feast of the Epiphany, better late than never! It has been quite a project going through the entire book and extricating the “best” quotes (which is hard to do because every sentence is genius). My best advice is: read the book! But it is not for the faint-hearted and if you want an intellectual challenge, you got it.

According to the traditional Liturgical Calendar, Christmastide began the evening of December 24th with the Mass discussed below. This is not the Midnight Mass, it is the vigil. Christmastide extends until the octave of Epiphany, at which time we enter Time After Epiphany, which extends till Septuagesima (technically Lent). The Cycle of Christmas, when we meditate upon the Incarnation, extends from Advent to Septuagesima, when we begin our meditation upon the Redemption. Christmas celebration, according to my pastor, generally goes until the Feast of the Presentation, February 2nd, as this is last of the major feasts of the Cycle of Christmas.

There is supplemental Advent material in the book, which I will be completing for you, just to be thorough, with PDFs. Then we will have a complete study of Advent of the Heart, which should be used in conjunction with the book. This can be for family or church use. I was unsuccessful in establishing an Advent prayer group this past year, but will try again next year. In fact, I hope to be having regular Nomen Christi meetings by then. If you are local, please get on our email list, so we can contact you! Meetings will be held in the mid-Long Island area.

ADVENT OF THE HEART

+   Christmas Meditation ~ Fr. Alfred Delp, German Martyr   +

Let us view these writings through the lens of our own times.  All quotes below are from the Christmas Vigil Tridentine Mass, along with commentary written in Tegel Prison, Berlin, 1944, shortly before Fr. Delp’s martyrdom…

Opening Psalm:

“This day you shall know that the Lord will come, and save us: and in the morning you shall see His glory.”

“This means, first, quite simply the nearness of the holy day, the relationship between the Vigil Mass and Christmas Day.  However, it also means a continuing condition, a basic principle of our lives…Man wants so much to regard the known as if it were the final answer, and to feel at home there and settle himself firmly…Man must keep going, keep traveling toward life’s prize…This [text] evokes a creative and healing restlessness in us, to which we are indebted for everything that is authentic and fully alive…And now, at the gates of The Christmas mystery, through which we want to enter as though it were the rediscovered Paradise, the same motif will come into play…You have heard and understood the message…You should set out toward the tangible fulfillment and encounter.  Here too, is the old tension.  Here, too, is the principle of archery: the bow can be drawn only when the archer bears the burden… “

Collect (prayer prior to Epistle):

“O God, Who dost gladden us by the yearly expectation of our redemption, grant that we, who now joyfully receive Thine only-begotten Son as our Redeemer, may also without fear behold Him coming as our Judge, even the same Lord Jesus Christ Thy Son.”

“…the liturgy rescues the image of the incarnate God from the danger of being seen as delicate and innocuous…we are reminded that the Child at whose coming we are rejoicing is the future Judge of our lives.  These smiling eyes of the Child will someday focus on us in mature, solemn examination and judgment.”

Epistle, Romans 1:1:

“…the Gospel of God, which He had promised before by His prophets in the holy Scriptures concerning His Son, who was made to Him of the seed of David according to the flesh: who was predestinated the Son of God in power according to the spirit of sanctification by the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ from the dead: by whom we have received grace, and apostleship for obedience to the faith in all nations…”

“As the Epistle…intones, [of the seed of David according to the flesh]…It is the incomprehensible fact of God entering into history, that He stepped into our law, into our space, into our existence, and not only like one of us, bus as one of us…Paul says of this relationship to Christ, [by whom we have received grace, and apostleship for obedience to the faith in all nations]…All encounters with God challenge His creatures to response and mission.”

Post-Communion:

“We beseech Thee, O Lord, grant us fresh courage [or breath, respirare in Latin], as we celebrate the birthday of Thine only-begotten Son: Whose heavenly Mystery is our food and drink.”

“…we will seldom pray a word so earnestly, honestly, and longingly as this respirare asking for breath at the close of the Christmas Eve Vigil Mass: Lord, give us breath.  Let us draw a deep breath because the stones have fallen from our hearts, because life is on solid ground again…here we have arrived at the heights upon which the respirare, the sigh of relief, the new breath, can happen…The world continues on its course, but it has become the barque of the Lord God that no storm can overturn and no flood can tear asunder.”

 FR. DELP’S CHRISTMAS MEDITATION PRINTABLE PDF

4th Week of Advent from "Advent of the Heart" with PDF

ADVENT OF THE HEART

+   Fourth Week of Advent   +

Fr. Alfred Delp, German Martyr

Let us view these writings through the lens of our own times…

Opening of the Tridentine Mass (the Mass Fr. Delp would have celebrated):

“Drop down dew, ye heavens, from above, and let the clouds rain the Just: let the earth be opened and bud forth a Savior.  The heavens show forth the glory of God: and the firmament declareth the work of His hands.”

Fr. Delp’s homily, Munich, 1941, Fourth Sunday of Advent:

“Advent has already called man three times.  It called through the shaking; it called to authenticity; and it called to confession of faith.  And now Advent calls a fourth time.  Without this fourth call, the other three are not possible…It is an old term, a forgotten word, and a forgotten value: fear of God…Man must learn again…to reckon with God as the ultimate category of reality, as the decisive judgment of all that exists…the person who has seen God, is so totally different, so totally other, because our God is totally Other…Further, someone who observes the otherness of the believer will be changed by it…”

Fr. Delp’s homily, Munich, 1942, Pre-Christmas Reflection:

“We need to celebrate holy days in three ways.  First, by recalling a historical event…there is always a clearly defined event connected to the mystery, a clear statement intended, a fact.  This brings us to the second point.  Within all of the foregoing, a great mystery, the Mysterium, is hidden…These two points are followed by the third way, in which we must consider the feast to be serious and important…we should not come to Midnight Mass as if we do not live in the year 1942 [or 2024?].  The year must be redeemed along with everything else.  And from the Gloria, we have to take with us the peace and faith in the glory of God…and we are the last refuge for the homeless people who do not know anything about the Lord anymore.”

From Tegel Prison, Berlin, 1944, Fourth Sunday of Advent:

“Our life has become hard and harmful to an extent that far exceeds the natural measure of hardship and distress that were always part of life.  The liberation must begin with the great conversion…which, gathering itself to a mighty strength, will break through the frost-encrusted ground of adversity overnight…[Man] overlooks exterior signs of reality, and dulls his senses with daily routine until the avalanche of life drives him out of the cozy homes and well-tended gardens into the streets of distress and wandering…Life brings greater burdens and bears a richer cargo than we can cope with, comprehend, or manage alone…The great outcry to God must begin and not let up…The time of the great intercessors has come…Prepare the way.  This is a call to enter into history.”

PDF Printable Fourth Sunday of Advent

(For church or home use, or distribution.)

3rd Week of Advent from "Advent of the Heart" with PDF

Sorry a bit late on this, I’ve been researching the world situation much of my time…mysterious drones, looming world war and an incoming new US administration, it all interrelates in a deeply concerning way.

ADVENT OF THE HEART

+   Third Week of Advent   +

Fr. Alfred Delp, German Martyr

Let us view these writings through the lens of our own times.  All quotes below pertain to Gaudete Sunday, when we are called to be glad…

Opening of the Tridentine Mass (the Mass Fr. Delp would have celebrated):

“Gaudete in Domino Semper!”

“Rejoice in the lord always: again I say, rejoice.  Let your modesty be known to all men: for the Lord is nigh.  Be nothing solicitous: but in every thing by prayer let your petitions be made known to God.  Lord, Thou hast blessed Thy land: Thou hast turned away the captivity of Jacob.”

Fr. Delp’s homily, Munich, 1941:

“Someone facing the Ultimate will not be apathetic, not just accept everything simply because it is, and because it does not change, and because it goes on and on, and because it is happening everywhere…every overstepping of boundaries, every boundary violation and every usurping of power leads the whole thing to disaster.  Look at how these great leaders were shattered and how their work was shattered: Alexander, Caesar Augustus, Napoleon…It came when they were not content with the laurel wreath of greatness, but wanted to take the diadem of the Messiah.”

Fr. Delp’s homily, Munich, 1942:

“…we read this wonderful Epistle:

Brethren, rejoice in the Lord…and the peace of God that passes all understanding preserve your hearts and thoughts in Christ Jesus, our Lord.

Are these not images of the promise, and longing, and great questions of Advent?  Are they not images of what should be fulfilled when the veils fall, when the Lord reigns over the land?  Do we not seek a life in which joy would have a place once again?”

From Tegel Prison, Berlin, 1944:

“The great deception begins, the time of noise and crowds, organized feeding-frenzies, and massive festivities.  Until suddenly the earth quakes and the subterranean thunder, which one wanted to drown out with screaming, because one failed to understand it, breaks forth fully and mightily and fills the day with its call to judgment…Only one thing will help, and that is to hear the call of John the Baptist…The view for connections and content will be reopened to life, and the earth will be fruitfully flooded again by the streams of mission, confirmation, and mastery.  These are the streams that still carry the ship of life and lead it onward.  This is the first meaning of Gaudete in Domino.  Separated from the Lord, the whole thing atrophies!  We must keep telling people this.  It is the most important announcement of these days.  And we must know it and visibly live it as examples.”

*** PDF Printable Third Week Advent ***

2nd Week of Advent from "Advent of the Heart" with PDF

ADVENT OF THE HEART

+   Second Week of Advent   +

Fr. Alfred Delp, German Martyr

Let us view these writings through the lens of our own times.  All quotes below pertain to the Second Sunday of Advent…

Opening of the Tridentine Mass (the Mass Fr. Delp would have celebrated):

“People of Sion, behold the Lord shall come to save the nations: and the Lord shall make the glory of His voice to be heard, in the joy of your heart.  Give ear, O Thou that rulest Israel: Thou that leadest Joseph like a sheep.”

Fr. Delp’s homily, Munich, 1941:

“ To this message about being deeply shaken, the Second Sunday of Advent adds a new word, a message about man’s authenticity.  Someone who encounters the Ultimate, who knows about the end, must let go of every compromise.  In the presence of the Ultimate the only thing that survives is what is authentic.  All compromise shatters there.  All cheap negotiating shatters there.  All half-truths, and all double-meanings, and all masks, and all poses shatter there.  The only thing that stands the test is what is authentic.” 

Fr. Delp’s homily, Munich, 1942:

“A variety of responsibilities will be imposed from this time forth…it is our responsibility to make a disturbance in the world that is strong enough in itself to tear this chaos out of its cycle and to lead the world back to its source.  Christians bear the responsibility to generate an authentic unrest within creation, through our existence, our word, and our work…We are obliged to be concerned about the destiny of the world.  Moreover, we must know that we gamble away our own individual salvation if we don’t play, or, to word it better, if we don’t fight, for salvation and order in the world…May we stand in this world, not as people in hiding, but as those who help prepare the way of the only-begotten Son of God.”

From Tegel Prison, Berlin:

“The great historical and personal hours of grace will always mean some form of awakening and return to a true order of reality.  This is also the meaning of Advent: not only promise, but rather conversion and transformation.  Plato would say, ‘orientation to a capability for truth.’  John the Baptist put it more simply, ‘Repent.’  The prayers and message of Advent push man out beyond every surface and bring him to a consciousness of the full sculptural dimensions and drama of his situation…A person filled with confidence in God will profit from this time and stand up to the test…May God break open the narrowness that confines us within ourselves, and make us capable of Him, and capable of His mission.”

SECOND WEEK OF ADVENT FR. DELP PDF PRINTABLE

FOR HOME OR CHURCH USE

1st Week of Advent from "Advent of the Heart" with PDF

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.”

PDF PRINTABLE

FOR FAMILY & CHURCH USE OR DISTRIBUTION

Be A Calling Voice!

“Let us not shun and suppress the earnest words of the calling voices, or those who are our executioners today may be our accusers once again tomorrow, because we silenced the truth.”

Fr. Alfred Delp

Please click on the image for a link to the book, where you will get more info and several links on this lesser-known martyr. This is an extraordinary book, which I highly recommend and it is so relevant to our own times. It can also be used as a family Advent meditation. From the publisher’s notes:

"Fr. Alfred Delp, S.J., was a heroic German Jesuit priest who was imprisoned and martyred by the Nazis in a Nazi death camp in 1945. At the time of his arrest, he was the Rector of St. Georg Church in Munich, and had a reputation for being a gripping, dynamic preacher, and one who was an outspoken critic of the Nazi regime. He was an important figure in the Resistance movement...

His approach to Advent...is what Fr. Delp called an Advent of the heart. More than just preparing us for Christmas, it is a spiritual program, a way of life. He proclaimed that our personal, social and historical circumstances, even suffering, offer us entry into the true Advent, our personal journey toward a meeting and dialogue with God. Indeed, his own life, and great sufferings, illustrated the true Advent he preached and wrote about..."

Karl Kreuser, S.J., from the Foreword:

"As one of the last witnesses who knew Fr. Alfred Delp personally, I am very pleased this book will make him better known...The more one reads his writings, the more one clearly recognizes the prophetic message for our times! Like his contemporary, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Delp ranks among the great prophets who endured the horror of Nazism and handed down a powerful message for our times."

Fr. Alfred Delp...Advent not over yet!

[originally published December 13, 2015]

For our Advent meditation today, here are some excerpts from Fr. Delp's "Homily for the Third Sunday of Advent, Preached in Munich, December 14, 1941:"

"Standing in the presence of the Last Things [Death, Judgement, Heaven, Hell], in the presence of the Ultimate...results in-a peculiar knowledge of ourselves...Someone facing the Ultimate will not be apathetic, not just accept everything simply because it is, and because it does not change, and because it goes on and on, and because it is happening everywhere...In the presence of God, the Absolute Ultimate, nothing counts but that which is real. Man can pass the test of the last days only without pathos, without cramps, without lies, without masks. This requires an honesty of being that has measured itself against the Ultimate...Alexander, Caesar Augustus, Napoleon...were not content with the laurel wreath of greatness, but wanted to take the diadem of the Messiah [Delp and others like him, could not publicly mention Hitler or the Nazi regime...but would cleverly allude to their present reality in the hopes of avoiding a legal cause against them-Delp would consult others on these matters before giving his homilies]......one must contradict false claims when they are set forth or intimated, and false promotions when they are offered...'Who are You?'...One day, when we stand in the presence of the Absolute, this question will cut through our existence like a lightning bolt and manifest what is real and what was masquerade...'In your midst stands One Whom you do not know.' He is, however, in our words and in the beating of our hearts and the hammering of our pulses and in everything. What you do not comprehend, and yet what should be so real and merciful, is that He is standing there, through it all, in your midst. That should be our confession. It is not a protest, not a proclamation, but our very being..."

Fr. Delp concludes this Gaudete homily on a joyful note: Christ is with us always!

More on Father Alfred Delp.....

[Originally published December 11, 2015.]

I gave a brief introduction to Fr. Alfred Delp and the book Advent of the Heart in [a previous post]. Advent was a topic that concerned Fr. Delp throughout his life (1907-1945). It became a metaphor for his own experience "waiting" for the end of the terrifying Nazi regime. In his case, Christmas became his own martyrdom, when he encountered, not a porcelain baby in a creche, but Christ Himself as the Second Person of the Beatific Vision. Almost in anticipation of this extraordinary journey, his preaching and writings on the subject were gripping theological genius...and very appropriate for our own times. It is ironic that the United States of America, rolling into Germany in 1945 with her tanks of salvation, would one day need so desperately this martyr's words of warning and instruction.

The book divides into the 4 weeks of Advent, with appropriate selections of Fr. Delp's writings. It is a wonderful way to celebrate the Season of Advent, but not at all for the faint-hearted. If you take these writings to heart, they will challenge and change you in the most fundamental, deep ways. So....consider yourself warned. As it states in the introduction to Saint Louis de Montfort's The Secret of Mary, these words will exact a responsibility from you:

"...beware, then, of remaining inactive...it would turn into a poison and be your condemnation."

To proceed, I'd like to offer a few brief excerpts from the various introductions to Advent of the Heart, which I feel are essential to the understanding of Fr. Delp:

"Delp wrote the 1944 meditations in Tegel Prison, usually while his hands were in handcuffs. These meditations were smuggled out of the prison as seret messages...

This book presents Advent sermons from Father Delp's parish work in Munich, alongside the powerful messages from his prison Advent experience of 1944...

Their roughness evokes a powerful sense of immediacy rooted in the suffering and danger of the times."

Fr. Delp was originally arrested for suspicion of having knowledge of the attempt on Hitler's life which took place on July 20, 1944.....

"Although all charges related to the assassination attempt were dropped, the irreconcilable opposition of Christianity to Nazism became the focus of the proceedings...Delp was convicted of high treason and sentenced to death by hanging."

Dear Father Alfred Delp, pray for us!

Advent of the Heart, Writings of Fr. Alfred Delp, Martyr under Hitler

I'm very busy for the next few weeks, so I will re-publish some posts from last advent, dealing with the amazing writings of Fr. Alfred Delp....here goes....

[The following was originally posted on November 29, 2015.]

There is an INCREDIBLE book by Ignatius Press, compilations of Fr. Alfred Delp, martyr under the Nazis, entitled Advent of the Heart: Seasonal Sermons & Prison Writings, 1941-1944. It takes us week by week through Advent....and believe me, with this book, you will not be the same person when you arrive at the creche on Christmas Day. I will be posting some quotes from this book throughout Advent. No better time than today to begin. Here are excerpts from Fr. Delp's "Homily for the First Sunday of Advent Preached in Munich, November 28, 1943" (remember the words you are about to read, this man was killed for).....

"There is nothing more blessed in life than true waiting."

"Man is truly human only when he transcends himself."

"We should discover life and its fundamental order."

"This should be our first Advent light: to understand everything, all that happens to us and all that threatens us, from the perspective of life's character of waiting."

"God enters only His own rooms, where someone is always keeping watch for Him."

"Other values of secondary importance impose themselves, making life inauthentic and bringing it under an alien law and an alien paradigm."

Image courtesy amazon.com

"Light the Candles Wherever You Can, You Who Have Them"

On the previous post, First Sunday of Advent, we read a few of Fr. Delp's quotes from his writings of that day-here are a few more from his First Sunday homilies and prison writings that speak so much to our present times, on the precipice of chaos (this is why there is now such a person as the "Catholic Prepper"):

"Perhaps what we modern people need most is to be genuinely shaken, so that where life is grounded, we would feel its stability; and where life is unstable and uncertain, immoral and unprincipled, we would know that, also, and endure it. Perhaps that is the ultimate answer to the question of why God has sent us into this time...It is because we have stood here on the earth with a totally false and inauthentic sense of security...

...[Delp moves into the past tense here, as he contemplates the crumbling world around him] 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 maneuver and manipulate 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...

...now it is time for each individual to use every opportunity to guide life into this order now-and to do it with the same 'unshakeability' with which the Lord will come...

...the basic condition of life always has an Advent dimension: boundaries, and hunger, and thirst, and lack of fulfillment, and promise, and movement toward one another. That means, however, that we basically remain without shelter, under way, and open until the final encounter, with all the humble blessedness and painful pleasure of this openness...

Hunger and thirst, and desert journeying, and the survival teamwork of mountaineers on a rope-these are the truth of our human condition...

In the same way that lies have gone out from people's hearts, penetrating throughout the world and destroying it, so should-and so will-the truth begin its healing service within our hearts. Light the candles wherever you can, you who have them."

As much as I see the internet as part of the artificial, inauthentic life modern man has created, it IS, nevertheless, a light. We each must find the light God has given us to save souls at this very late hour.