Arms of Deliverance by Tricia N. Goyer

Author:Tricia N. Goyer [Goyer, Tricia]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-1-57567-485-8
Publisher: Moody Publishers
Published: 2006-08-26T04:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

Katrine spotted Anneliese sitting as still as a statue at the front of the small chapel. Though they’d been more like acquaintances then friends, Katrine felt Anneliese would need extra support during her child’s naming ceremony, especially since these would be her last moments with the baby.

Frau Schmidt sat on one side of the young mother, an SS officer and his wife on the other. The Nazi flag hung over a small altar with a cushioned cradle, still empty. Next to the cradle stood a higher-ranking SS officer in full military dress. He held a small oak box in his hands.

Katrine’s blood ran cold as the man’s eyes followed her into the room. She looked away, focusing instead on the dozens of candles that lined the altar—their light flickering on the framed photos of Himmler and Hitler, proving this was indeed a supreme rite.

As she strode to the pews behind Anneliese and sat, she couldn’t help but think back to the naming ceremonies that took place in the Jewish Quarter of Prague. Held eight days after a child was born, the observance was a time for the family to gather together to celebrate the new life, to dedicate the child to God, and to perform the ceremony of circumcision. In the silence, she closed her eyes and imagined her father’s prayer over Anneliese’s infant….

Creator of the Universe, may it be Thy gracious will to regard and accept this naming ceremony as if I were bringing this baby before Thy glorious throne. And may Thou, in Thy abundant mercy, through Thy holy angels, give a pure and holy heart to …

The prayer in Katrine’s mind was interrupted by a baby’s cry as he was carried into the room, wrapped in a white blanket, and laid before the altar.

The man at the front spoke. “Welcome to the Geburtsfeier, the naming ceremony of the child of Officer and Frau Kaufmann. In my hands I hold this oak box, used to illustrate the thousand-year destiny of the Reich. Who presents this child for naming?”

The officer and his wife rose and strode to the front of the room. Then together they descended to their knees before Anneliese’s baby.

“We do,” they spoke in unison.

“Very good. Do you have a special prayer or blessing over this child?”

“I do,” the woman said, pulling a slip of paper from her jacket pocket. “It is a poem for such an occasion.” The woman cleared her throat and began.

“Now I live in you.

You shall and will live on

In times I will not see.

How wonderful that is!

It is as wonderful as in the old sagas,

When each tribe strove

To ensure its bloodline did not perish.

“Still, you are yet small.

How could you know

That you are a branch on a large tree!

But the day will come

When I must tell you

That not only you,

But your fathers also will be judged by your deeds.

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