Over the Christmas break, I finally managed to read Dag Hammarskjold’s book, Markings. It has been on my “to read list” for a while. Hammerskjold was the second Secretary General of the United Nations, and as I read his writings he comes across as a driven man, who set very high standards for himself. However, amidst the political turbulence of the Cold War and the violent birth of new nations in the post-colonial era, he sought constantly to keep his inner life centred in God. He wrote in his diary in 1958:
 
So shall the world be created each morning anew, forgiven – in Thee, by Thee. (163)

I imagine him writing those words while preparing to face another day of international negotiations, and to me, after all the tragedy and violence of 2024, those words of hope hold healing power. But it was not a smooth path for Hammerskjold, and I am again touched as he mentions a few pages later his troubled sleep:
 
You wake from dreams of doom and – for a moment- you know: beyond all the noise and gestures, the only real thing, love’s calm unwavering flame in the half-light of an early dawn. (166)

As you enter this new year of 2025, may you, like Hammerskjold, sense the freshness of God’s forgiveness creating “each morning anew”, and may you centre yourself in the solace of “the only real thing, love’s calm unwavering flame”.

Brian Holliday
Anam Cara for the Guiding Committee   
                                                                                            Photo by Hannah Tims on Unsplash