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SOMETHING TO THINK AND PRAY ABOUT THIS WEEK
Managing Freedom
Dachau was closer to the city of Munich than I realised. For some reason I thought I’d be lost in the countryside –out of sight and out of mind. On the tour I discovered that it was built in the early 1930s. It was built not to incarcerate any particular ethnic group, but anyone who disagreed publicly with Hitler’s policies. This changed with time.
The tour was both sombre and intriguing. There was a lot to remember, but one part of the tour I’ll never forget. At the end of the tour the guide described the days when the German soldiers left the camp, leaving the prisoners in their billets. Once the prisoners became aware that the soldiers were gone they wanted to leave the camp, but the Allied officers in charge of the prisoners insisted that they stayed where they were. Days later the Allied troops found their way into the camp and liberated those prisoners. The troops were shocked at what they found.
The Allied camp commanders were right. If the prisoners made their way on to open roads they might have died or might also have been attacked by the advancing troops, who would not have known from a distance who the approaching people were.
I stood in silence for a while as the tour was ending. A still small voice made its way into my soul and said ‘it is often more difficult to manage freedom than captivity’. This still small voice and the image of that prison camp has come back to me on many occasions when I faced changes, with their accompanying fresh challenges and opportunities.
Alan Hilliard, Dipping into Life: 40 Reflections for a Fragile Earth
We remember at this time...
Sport is practised across the globe, and, as Cardinal Tolentino reminded us during the recent Jubilee of Sport, “even when practised alone, sport is always a communal act, underlining its power to speak to the human heart, its joys, its longing for meaning, transcendence, and the infinite”.
Pope Leo XIV reaffirmed a vision of sport that encompasses the whole person – body, mind, heart and spirit. He emphasised teamwork and the educational dimension of sport.
Former Italian Olympic swimmer, Novella Calligaris, said, “For an athlete, losing is crucial—it’s the moment when one truly reveals who they are: how they recover, what they learn, and how they define their next goal.”
May this Jubilee awaken in all athletes – and any of us who play sport – the awareness that we too, too, are missionaries of hope.”
Sacred Space – Daily Prayer for 25 Years
Sacred Space began in 1999 and has offered new content every day since then. You can learn more about Sacred Space on our About page, or if you are a regular, you can share your Sacred Space Story on our Feedback page. For our 25th anniversary, we are featuring stories from people for whom Sacred Space has played a special part in their lives. Please consider sharing your Sacred Space Story.
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