Fr Delp on Authenticity

I have just been reading more of Fr Delp's wonderful Advent of the Heart: his sermon for today, preached in Munich in 1941 (before he was arrested and executed for opposing Hitler).

He talks about two spiritual dangers which St John teaches us to avoid. 

'Do not permit regard for private security or personal existence to make you into an inauthentic person.' He points out that when a prophet encounters a king, the prophet is nearly always in the weaker position, as John was. 'What is easier, what is simpler than to muzzle a prophet! Yet indeed, hasn't it been - not the voices of those who went into the palaces and were welcome there - but rather the voices calling in the wilderness who filled the cosmos, who prepared the way, who directed people towards Advent, and who arranged for the proper meeting with the end and the Ultimate?'

His second point: 'Futility or ineffectiveness do not dispense one from speaking the truth, declaring what is wrong, and standing up for what is right and just.' He continues: 'Whoever considers success, or makes his decisions or attitudes dependent upon whether something is futile or certain of success, is already corrupt.'

As I have said before, this is highly recommended Advent reading.