Plough My Account Sign Out
My Account
    View Cart

    Subtotal: $

    Checkout
    Detail from Henry Ossawa Tanner's painting of the Annunciation to Mary.

    The Angel of Annunciation

    By Alfred Delp

    December 8, 2021

    Available languages: Español, Français

    1 Comments
    1 Comments
    1 Comments
      Submit
    • Joyce

      What a wonderful, but sad reminder that this is so true, today on December 9, 2021. Our world is so broken, from things that are still happening today. Covid 19, and other unseen plague's that has covered this earth, hatred has taken it evil self upfront. But I still believe, The Lord is Our Shepherd, he will spread a table in the presence of our enemies. With the latest school shooting, here in Michigan, in the city of Oxford, "It's ugly sting of death, leaving Four Young People Dead and never to walk this earth as we know it again. My heart aches for those Parents, that sent their Children to school that day, not knowing that would be the last time speaking to them. I'm reminded of the Little Angels in Sandyhook, that went to school and never return home. In this story for today, The Priest, knew he was going from this world to another, but he never faulted of stop PRAYING. Keep on Praying and Trusting in the hand, that does not sway or move. May The Peace of The Lord Abide In Our Hearts Today. Amen!

    From When the Time Was Fulfilled: Christmas Meditations


    Condemned as a traitor for his opposition to Hitler, Alfred Delp, a Jesuit priest, wrote this piece in a Nazi prison shortly before he was hanged in 1945.

    I see Advent with greater intensity and anticipation than ever before. Walking up and down in my cell, three paces this way and three paces that way, with my hands in irons and ahead of me an uncertain fate, I have a new and different understanding of God’s promise of redemption and release.

    Two years ago I was given a little angel for Advent. It bore the inscription, “Rejoice, for the Lord is near.” A bomb destroyed the angel and killed the man who gave it to me. I feel he is doing me the service of an angel now.

    The horror of war would be unendurable unless we kept being encouraged by the promises that have been spoken. There always are angels of annunciation, speaking their message of good news into the midst of anguish, scattering their seed of blessing that will spring up one day in the midst of the night. They call us to hope. These are not yet the loud angels of rejoicing and fulfillment that come out into the open, like the angels of the first Christmas. Quiet, inconspicuous, they come into rooms and hearts as they did then. Quietly they bring God’s questions and proclaim to us the wonders of God, for whom nothing is impossible.

    Henry Ossawa Tanner: The Annunciation, 1898

    The Annunciation, Henry Ossawa Tanner, 1898

    For all its seriousness, Advent is a time of inner security, because we have received a message from on high. Oh, if it ever happens that we forget the message and the promises; if all we know is the four walls and the prison windows of our gray days; if we can no longer hear the gentle step of the announcing angels; if our souls are no longer both shaken and exalted by their whispered word – then it will be all over with us. We are living wasted time and are dead long before they do us any harm.

    If we want to be alive, then we must first believe in the golden seed of God that the angels have scattered and are still offering to open hearts. Then we must walk through the gray days of our time as announcing messengers. So many need their courage strengthened, so many are in despair and in need of comfort, there is so much harshness that needs a gentle hand and an illuminating word, so much loneliness crying out for a word of release, so much loss and pain in search of inner meaning! God’s messengers know that the Lord is casting seed of blessing into these hours of history as well.

    Understanding this world in the light of Advent means to endure in faith, waiting for the fertility of the silent earth, the abundance of the coming harvest – not because we put our trust in the earth but because we have heard God’s message and have met one of God’s angels ourselves.

    Advent is the time of promise; it is not yet the time of fulfillment. To eyes that do not see, it seems as though the final dice are being cast down here in the valley of death: on the battlefields, in the cities of violence and poverty, in the souls of millions who live lives of desperation. Those who are awake, however, sense the working of other powers – eternal realities, which shine their light of the radiant fulfillment to come.

    From afar sound the first notes, not yet discernible as a song or melody. The new song of God’s future is still far off and only just announced and foretold. But fulfillment is happening. It is occurring today. And tomorrow the angels will tell what has happened with loud, rejoicing voices, and we will know it and be glad.

    Contributed By AlfredDelp Alfred Delp

    As a condemned prisoner of Germany’s Third Reich, Jesuit priest Alfred Delp wrote letters and meditations from his prison cell expressing his struggles, victories, and convictions. His writings are still valued today for their clarity and direction.

    Learn More
    1 Comments
    You have ${x} free ${w} remaining. This is your last free article this month. We hope you've enjoyed your free articles. This article is reserved for subscribers.

      Already a subscriber? Sign in

    Try 3 months of unlimited access. Start your FREE TRIAL today. Cancel anytime.

    Start free trial now