Secretary General of the United Nations (1905-1961)
On September 18, 1961, a plane crash in central Africa (most likely an assassination) took the life of Dag Hammarskjöld, secretary general of the United Nations, who was engaged in a peacekeeping mission in the Congo. He was universally mourned as a man who combined the roles of public servant and global leader. Only after his death did the world learn of the private faith that had guided his public role. The publication of his spiritual journal, Markings, disclosed what he called the story “of my negotiations with myself and with God.” It revealed his lifelong struggle with God, Christ, and such issues as the relation between faith and duty, self-doubt and pride, and the deep isolation that was the price of his vocation. In short phrases, he wrestled with the concrete issues posed by his path in life: “Do not seek death. Death will find you. But seek the road which makes death a fulfillment.”
Hammarskjöld came from a wealthy Swedish family. Yet he was drawn to public service. He was an example of that rare person for whom public service is not simply a career or a means to power but a religious vocation, a way of being faithful to God. The consummate diplomat, few of his friends had any notion of his religious preoccupations. Though there is no reason to believe he had any special presentiment of his death, it is clear that he lived day by day in a conscious confrontation with the Absolute. In his death the world lost a great servant of peace. But clearly he had found a road that makes death a fulfillment.
“The best and most wonderful thing that can happen to you in this life is that you should be silent and let God work and speak.” –Dag Hammarskjöld
