You know the way for me
You know the time
Into your hands
I trustingly place mine 
Your plan is perfect 
Born of perfect love
You know the way for me
 That is enough 

February 2021

            Lent has begun and with it are my usual thoughts of getting to choose what I sacrifice, pray, or give to God. It often makes me reflect on faithful people who sacrificed and suffered when they didn’t have a choice. This line of thinking always leads me to Auschwitz or Dachau or Bergen-Belsen. It was the only topic in History class that I was enthralled with and add to it the various books we read about it in English and a visit to the museum in DC and I was hooked. With how often references to the Holocaust have been thrown around and are still being thrown around this past year, I wonder if there has been reflection on it beyond mere name calling. If you have not heard one, I shall offer you one.

            Many years ago, my sister told me a story about the Jews in the concentration camps. The Jews, or anyone for that matter, were not allowed to practice their faith. To do so would mean almost certain death. She said that every breath they took was a prayer. The name of YHWH was always on their lips:

                                            Breathe in…Yah, Breathe out…weh
                                            Breathe in…Yah, Breathe out…weh
                                            Breathe in…Yah, Breathe out…weh

             Tradition has it that many practicing Jews do not speak the name of Yahweh aloud to be certain they do not misuse it.  It most likely was not audible, but it was there; He was there. I do not know if this story is true, yet for anyone to survive that hell, I think that it must be.

            May we all learn this Lent to allow the Blessed Mother and St. Joseph to teach us how to lean into our sacrifices and sufferings so that every breath we take becomes a prayer. And let the name of the Lord ever be on our lips, in praise, for whatever He wills for our lives.






Submitted by an anonymous Schoenstatt  member