“God does not die on the day when we cease to believe in a personal deity, but we die on the day when our lives cease to be illumined by the steady radiance, renewed daily, of a wonder, the source of which is beyond all reason.” –Dag Hammarskjold

Sometimes I use an online resource, the Mission of St. Clare, as my guide in praying the Daily Office. (As a rule I don’t think that expedience and efficiency are good criteria to bring to one’s prayer time, but when you’re having “one of those mornings” and then you finally get the kids out the door and have a moment to yourself and fully intend to settle down to prayer, only to have it hit you that you left your Prayer Book and Bible in the trunk of your husband’s car–long story, don’t ask–having a place to turn online is a wonderful thing!)

Anyway, according to the Mission St. Clare website the calendar for today asks us to remember Dag Hammarskjold. This was new to me, and everywhere else I look lists September 18 as the feast of Edward Bouverie Pusey, a towering figure in Anglican history and a leader of the Oxford Movement. I’m sure this calendar confusion results from one of those obscure Episcopal customs that I just haven’t sorted out yet (and equally sure that someone out there will hasten to enlighten me) but it got me to thinking that (a) a whole lot of people probably don’t know that Episcopalians have their own calendar of saints and (b) a lot of people my age or younger probably aren’t too sure who Dag Hammarskjold is.

So, to Hammarskjold first: a Secretary General of the United Nations and winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, he died in a plane crash on this day in 1961 (he was in the Congo trying to negotiate a peace deal after civil war broke out there). While his actions during his lifetime to support and spread peace were enough to make him a truly notable figure on the world stage, his spiritual writings, published posthumously in the book Markings, have gained him an even more enduring reputation. He is a wonderful example of someone whose faith shaped his life, and whose commitment to live out that faith led him into a deep engagement with the political sphere. As such, he seems a perfect person to highlight on this Civil Religion forum, whether or not this is really his day on the calendar.

Next, Wikipedia has a good article on the Episcopal Calendar of Saints. It reads in part

The Episcopal Church does not canonize individuals, holding instead that all baptized Christians are saints of God and have the potential to be examples of faith to others. Episcopalians pray for each other and for all Christians as members of the Communion of Saints, including both the living and the dead, since all are in the hands of God. With this understanding, a wide variety of Christians from various denominations and traditions are thought of as “saints” in the Episcopal Church, such as Martin Luther and Augustine of Canterbury. Others recognized as “saints,” while not of major ecclesiastical significance, are rather examples of holding moral positions that may have compromised their acceptance by society at the time they lived. Such “saints” include William Wilberforce and Elizabeth Cady Stanton, for example.

Finally, you might enjoy the prayer for Dag Hammarskjold included in this morning’s Office:

Heavenly Father, who has taught us that the peacemakers shall be called the children of God: Grant that, like your servant Dag Hamarskjold, we may always seek to live at peace with our neighbors, and to reconcile those living in strife and enmity; so that in this we may follow in the footsteps of your beloved Son Jesus Christ our Lord; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

Photo: UN/DPI