Markings

"Markings"- Dag Hammerskjold was given to me by my friend, Dan, in 1991.  It is a book of his spiritual writings and the manuscript was found after his untimely death in 1961. Dag served two  terms as the Secretary General of the United Nations and died in his second term in a plane crash with flying to negotiate a cease-fire between UN forces and those of Katanga.  His dad was the Swedish Prime Minister and he served in many positions in Sweden before the UN.  I heard his name frequently in the news while growing up, but we only knew his public side.  His commitment was to "The way of the Cross".

I take this down occasionally just to read a few gems.

Samples:

"He broke fresh ground-- because, and only because, he had the courage to go ahead without asking whether others were following or even understood.  He had no need for the divided responsibility in which others seek to be safe from ridicule, because he had been granted a faith that required no confirmation -- a contact with reality, light,  and intense like the touch of a loved hand: a union in self-surrender without self-destruction, where his heart was lucid and his mind loving."

"We act in faith---and miracles occur. In consequence, we are tempted to make miracles the ground for our faith.  The cost of such weakness is that we lose the confidence of faith,  Faith is, faith creates, faith carries. It is not derived from, not created, not carried by anything except its own reality."

"Pray that your loneliness may spur you into finding something to live for, great enough to die for."