Happy Memorial Day
Posted by Rebecca Teti in Family on Monday, May 25, 2009 1:00 PM
I wanted to share with you some advice a Navy chaplain serving at our parish once gave to kids at a school mass on the Friday before Memorial Day.
(I liked it so much I wrote it down.)
He asked the students to sit for a few moments before he gave the final blessing, and then told them:
I know you’re not sorry to have a day off on Monday, and I hope you enjoy the weekend, but I also hope you’ll remember that you sit untroubled at mass and in peace at a Catholic school because millions of members of the Armed Forces have been willing to fight for your freedom, and many thousands are fighting for you now in the War on Terror.
You do not fear being kidnapped, being sold into slavery, being killed for your faith. These aren’t stories, horrors from the past, but things that happen to Christians routinely in South America, in the Middle East, in Africa. But not to you. So I hope you are grateful, and I hope on Monday you will do three things:
* Pray for the souls of those who gave their lives in service of our country and its freedom.
* Pray for those in harm’s way right now.
* Remember that each of us is called to serve. Not everyone is called to the military, but you should think—right now—what can I do to make my family, my school, my community, the world, a better place?
How do you observe Memorial Day?
Parades? Picnics? BBQs? What does your town do to honor the fallen?
We usually attend Mass and later go the National Memorial Day parade, which is amazing. Representatives from every war our nation has ever fought parade (some of them represented by actors, obviously: not too many Spanish-American war vets available). But it’s especially moving to see the number of World War II Vets who make it every year; and the climax is getting to honor returned Vets from Iraq & Afghanistan, to whom the crowd pays loud tribute.
P.S. If you have some time, this is one of the most moving essays for Memorial Day I’ve ever read. It’s contemporary. (Be warned, however, that if you go exploring the site, sometimes it’s not entirely “safe” for this audience.)
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