This year's Veteran's day with its ring of "the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month", the Armistice that ended "the War to end all Wars", Pearl Harbor, the Arizona, the shrinking number of WWII veterans,'the 60 anniversary of the armistice ending the Korean Conflict, efforts to rehabilitate the more recent veterans of Viet Nam, the Gulf War, Iraq and Afghanistan, falls on the Memorial of St. Martin of Tours, himself a veteran of the Roman army. Encountering a beggar, he took his sword and cut his cloak in half, to help the beggar keep warm. The beggar turned out to be Jesus himself. Martin then left the army, became a monk, a bishop and a great defender of the faith and advocate of the poor. His zeal combined with his gentle spirit of compassion sheds a guiding light on our times.
Peace is always the goal of war, but war is never pretty, and doesn't seem to bring about lasting peace unless a spirit of forgiveness and compassion fills the hearts of governments, soldiers and citizens. We admire and honor those who have served our country, without whose sacrifice we would not be able to live the ideals set forth by our Founding Fathers. We continue to see young men and women serving their country with that same sense of sacrifice and dedication, and when they come home, continuing to serve their fellow soldiers and citizens with equal zeal and self-sacrifice. We pray for those who have served, given their lives and are serving now; we pray also for the grace of conversion that turned the soldier Martin into the monk and saint, to touch our governments and bring an end to war.
Bro. Rene
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment