29 Nov Prison Meditations

The “dear grey book” that was sent to Delp in his prison cell from Munich contained old favorite prayers, one of which was the Litany of the Sacred Heart.  As November drew to a close, he realized that December 1 of 1944 was the First Friday of the month.  First Fridays were devotional days in honor of the Sacred Heart. His many weeks of prayer, worry and interior struggles now released some creative energy, and he decided to do some serious writing.  In a letter to the Mariannes on this day he wrote, “I’m trying to write a short reflection every day on the invocations in the Litany of the Sacred Heart.”

This devotion held a central place in Delp’s prayer life.  It was intended to lead to a spiritual attitude of self-abandonment, trust and surrender.  Delp, as a philosopher and preacher, had always tried to infuse his scholarly work with his deepening sense of the divine mystery that formed the core of his devotions.