First Sunday of Advent

Etty Hillesum was a vibrant young Jewish woman who lived in Nazi occupied Amsterdam in the early 1940s and died in Auschwitz in 1943. In the months before she was arrested, she underwent a profound transformation through the help of a friend, who encouraged her to begin a diary. His influence on her spiritual development is apparent in her writing. He used scripture and the writings of St. Augustine to teach her how to deal with her depression and egocentric moods. Ultimately, she refused to succumb to hate, and in this way, overcame the evil of the Holocaust.

Etty began writing her diary in March 1941 and continued until her death.

While at Auschwitz, she spent the last three months of her life caring for the vulnerable, visiting the sick in the hospital barracks, and writing letters to friends. By her vitality and warmth, her humanity and compassionate care – she became a source of life and inspiration to others. It was from this place that, despite everything that was happening around her, she wrote, “life is glorious and magnificent.”

She was not particularly religious or faith-filled; rather a woman at the mercy of the “influences of the world,” she would say. Yet God decided to use her; that she accepted His invitation is at the center of today’s readings.

Etty saw the signs of the time and by the power of the Holy Spirit, made a decision to allow herself to be guided, formed and taught, giving others similar hope.

She replaced her sinful past, the evil and hate surrounding her, and became a source of life and inspiration to others.

I love the last entry of her diary when she refers to life as glorious and magnificent just days before her execution. I can’t help but think she saw herself meeting Jesus face to face, the same imminent encounter we will all face, confident as she stood before the Son of Man.

Pray today that we know Jesus, we walk with Jesus and we prepare well for the day we meet Jesus. This is Advent at its best.

- Mike Prato, President