Severe Mercy. On my last fundraising trip, I had a very long drive through Montana and Wyoming. At a certain point, I decided to count the cars coming towards me. About 60 miles later I had counted 4. At some point, Rahel from Hallow called me from Portugal to explain the Advent Challenge. “For God so loved the world ...” (John 3:16). That’s the title. Very beautiful, very fitting for Advent. Bathing in the love of God. That’s always good for us. But it shouldn’t stop there. The basic text on which the challenge is based is the book “Severe Mercy”. I had never heard of it before. It’s quite the story. Shocking. Sad. Beautiful. Irksome. Profound. Intense. Redemptive. And my first reaction was: Really? Advent! Advent is all about Austrian Christmas markets and peaceful Advent music, ginger bread and hot chocolate. Don’t paint Lent on my wall if we’re seriously supposed to rejoice in the birth of the Lord! GLORIA! Rejoice! A savior has been born to you! But the more Rahel told me about Severe Mercy, the more I realized that yes, this challenge could be really good.
I stopped, downloaded the book onto Kindle (I prefer this to Audible as I can highlight the text I find relevant and add notes afterwards. Some people don’t like the Siri voice, but I don’t care) and had time to immerse myself in Severe Mercy for the next 5 hours. Since I drove a total of 3,000 miles by car on the fundraising trip, it wasnt too long before I had read the entire book. Rahel was right. It was really great. Two young people, Sheldon and Davy, who share their common disbelief. But also their love for poetry, for sailing, for everything beautiful. A romantic love that was second to none. At the same time, there was something toxic. A sailing ship in the Bahamas. A friendship with CS Lewis. An impressive correspondence with him. The Japanese attack on Hawaii. Studying at Oxford. Conversion to the faith. A third person in the covenant. Her self offering and death shortly afterwards. Barely 40. His realization, one dare not say it, that this was a grace. Everything cries out: No! It can’t be like this! Her husband wrote the book. Severe Mercy.
I had to remember Edith Stein, once again. Each year from 1939 until 1943, on the feast of the Epiphany, she gave a series of talks to her fellow Carmelite sisters on the meaning of the Christmas mystery. She pointed out our romanticization of the Advent season. That is not all bad. On the contrary. It points to the anticipation of the coming Messiah and what we are promised – as CS Lewis wrote to Sheldon: “If you are really a product of a materialistic universe, how is it that you don’t feel at home there? Do fish complain that the sea is wet? Or, if they did, would that fact itself not strongly suggest that they had not always been, or would not always be, pure aquatic creatures?” Advent should awaken a longing in us. That is good. So is anticipation. Just as the vastness of Montana awakens the longing that comes with the destination.
At the same time, we should not forget the other aspect of John 3:16. This refers to the second part of “So God so loved the world … that he gave His only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life.” Stein suggests that the Christmas mystery also includes this aspect. The light came into the world, but people loved the darkness more than the light. (Jn 3,19) He came to his own. But His own did not receive Him. (Jn 1,11) He came, he gave himself. The grace of Christmas wants to be given abundantly. Yet it requires the willingness to receive. Especially when the gift has the quality of being hard and challenging. And yet, perhaps it is this gift that is so special. Because it can free us from that, which binds and enslaves. From everything that keeps us clinging to our egos.
Sheldon Vanauken’s Severe Mercy is the impressive story of a love that is beautiful, but also somehow sick, that needs cleansing and experiences it. And as a result, a deep joy arises that is no longer of this world. This is exactly what Advent is all about. To prepare ourselves for the grace of Christmas. For the King who is coming. For severe mercy. That is why it is not a light read, because it goes deep.
In this spirit, we cordially invite you to take part in the Hallow Challenge this Advent season. Monday to Wednesday we will read from the book and reflect on it. On Thursdays, testimonies will be read. On Fridays a special guest will speak on the topic, Saturday music will be presented to uplift our hearts and deepen our longing for the birth of the Savior. And on Sundays, we will hear a homily from us at the John Paul II. Center here in Vienna (in the German version of Hallow) but it will also relate to the theme. We have four weeks of Advent. Each week there is a “sub-theme”: Encounter. Conversion. Surrender and abandonment. Triumph. I would like to invite you to join us!
Have a blessed Advent!
Fr. George LC
