“On
Good Friday last year the SS found some pretext to punish 60 priests with an
hour on "the tree." That is the mildest camp punishment. They tie a
man's hands together behind his back, palms facing out and fingers pointing
backward. Then they turn his hands inwards, tie a chain around his wrists and
hoist him up by it. His own weight twists his joints and pulls them apart...
Several of the priestswho were hung up
last year never recovered and died. If you don't have a strong heart, you don't
survive it. Many have a permanently crippled hand.”
― Jean
Bernard,
Priestlock 25487:
A Memoir of Dachau
Thursday, April 1, 2021
April 1, 2021
FOOT WASHING
My feet: skin flaking at times, hurting and aching as well, needing Vaseline or some type of soothing cream. I guess I’m getting old and dry. I’m needing kneading with my hands – but that’s not as easy as sit seems. Then surprise, YOU, walk into the room and wash my feet. Thank YOU.
“The
first days of January 1942 brought enormous amounts of snow. The reader already
knows what snow meant for the clergy. But this time the torture surpassed the
bounds of the endurable. At the same time the thermometer hovered between 5 and
15 degrees below zero. From morning till night we scraped, shoveled, and pushed
wheelbarrow after wheelbarrow of snow to the brook. The work detail consisted
of more than 1,000 clergymen, forced to keep moving by SS men and Capos who
kicked us and beat us with truncheons.
We had to make rounds with the wheelbarrows from
the assembly square to the brook and back. Not a moment of rest was allowed,
and much of the time we were forced to run.
At one point I tripped over my barrow and fell,
and it took me a while to get up again. An SS man dashed over and ordered me to
turn with the full load. He ran beside me, beating me constantly with a leather
strap. When I got to the brook I was not allowed to dump out the heavy snow,
but had to make a second complete round with it instead.
When the guard finally went off and I tried to
let go of the wheelbarrow, I found that one of my hands was frozen fast to it.
I had to blow on it with warm breath to get it free.”
― Jean Bernard,
Priestblock 25487:
A Memoir of Dachau
Wednesday, March 31, 2021
March 31, 2021
SPY WEDNESDAY
Judas could feel the feel of the 30 silver coins in the side pocket of his cloak. Then guilt, regret, anger, resentment and 26 other rancid feelings rubbed against his brain. Judas resented being called “Thief” by Jesus, - yet he
knew that Jesus knew he helped himself from the money bag. He waited and waited for his moment - to sneak away to the chief priests and ask what would they give for him to betray Jesus. They gave him 30 pieces of silver. They gave him 30 pieces of hell – which ripped him up inside and out. When he realized what he had done, he threw the coins back and went searching for a rope to hang around his
neck and end it all.
Do little kids
feel unfair feelings 100 times more
than fair feelings? Do they kick
their feet against their high chair when they see the
adults sitting at the big table? Do they hate it
when the older folks can stay up and
they have to go to bed? Do they hate it
when their face is washed with the sink
cloth and others use clean napkins? Do folks get it
when they see Les Miserables and Valjean
goes
to jail for 19 years for stealing just a loaf of bread?` Did the people of
Ireland make The Fields of Athenry their national
anthem because Michael is sent on a prison ship to Australia for taking some food for his kid. Do we move from “Unfair”
to “Fair” when we learn to say, “Thank
You” for all the blessings we receive?
“All
the great thinkers have been masters of metaphor because all vivid thinking
must be images and the philosopher whose
metaphors are blurred and diluted is one whose thinking is blurred and
diluted."
