The Coastlands Wait for His Teaching

Father Alfred Delp, s.j. in December 1944, two months before his execution by the Nazis in Tegel Prison for his efforts to subvert Hitler’s war machine, penned a reflection smuggled out with his laundry, “Figures of Advent.” In solitary confinement, he experienced Advent as a “time of being deeply shaken, so that man (sic) will wake up to himself.” “We should not grant ourselves the commonplace, habitual reflections about Advent. We must recognize ‘figures’ of perfected and ideal people of these days and of all time, who personify and live the Advent message and the Advent blessing. Cheering or shaking us, consoling or uplifting us, these figures call out and touch our humankind.” One of these figures was John the Baptizer, who cried in the wilderness to “prepare the Way of the Lord.” Recognizing Jesus as more than a prophet, John ...