22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time
August 27, 2022
Catholic War Veterans Convention
Introduction
I am delighted to be with you this afternoon to celebrate Holy Mass and to share in the festivities that will follow. This gives me an opportunity to thank you and all those you represent for your service to our beloved country, the United State of America and for your fidelity to the Roman Catholic Church and to its teachings. It is an honor to be in your presence.
All of you are veterans of the Armed Forces and many of you have seen combat in various foreign wars in this century and in the last. Perhaps there are some World War II Veterans with us today. My father served in the Navy on an LST near Okinawa during World War II. His ship was loaded with ammunition and was attacked by a kamikaze. The dive-bomber, probably a Zero, narrowly missed Dad’s ship and that is why I am able to be with you this afternoon! May God give eternal rest and joy to my dear Father’s valiant soul!
Taking Mount Zion by Storm
When I first looked at today’s Scripture readings, my heart sank. It’s not that there is anything wrong with them – they are, after all, the Word of God! it’s just that these readings are all about meekness and humility, qualities which many people don’t associate with military service, especially combat. After I thought about it a while, however, I came to see that these readings shed a lot of light on your experiences as members of the military. I may not get all the details right, but please know that my heart is in the right place!
But let’s first begin with that second reading from the Letter to the Hebrews, because that short passage lays out for us what true victory really is, and also, how we “win through to absolute victory”, as FDR put it in his Day of Infamy speech. The hill we have to take is neither Bunker Hill nor Hill 609 in Tunisia in WW II, nor any of the mountainous regions in Afghanistan, none of those. Nor is the hill we have to take Mt. Sinai, that place where Moses encountered God amid the earthquakes, blazing fires, darkness, gloom, and the sound of the trumpet. No, the hill we are to take is Mt. Zion, not the earthly Jerusalem, but the heavenly Jerusalem where Christ is seated at the right hand of the Father.
Who is preventing us from climbing that hill and planting our flag there? Not the Lord who want us to be saved – but rather our ancient enemy, the devil, as well as the allurements of this world, and our own weakness. The battle between good and evil, sin and grace is being waged right now – it is playing out in current events and in it is playing out in our hearts. What is the strategy for winning that battle? Whose blood will win the victory? The Letter to the Hebrews gives us an unequivocal answer. The blood of Christ, shed for our salvation, will win the day for us. It is Christ who has conquered sin and death and if we wish to win the victory we must acknowledge him as our leader and participate in his life and mission, principally through the Eucharist but also by an active life of faith. We are, after all, currently members of what is called “the Church Militant” – and victory means becoming members of “the Church triumphant” in heaven. May we help one another “win through to absolute victory”!
Humility
Now let’s turn to those readings that pertain to humility – to Sirach who tells us ‘to perform our tasks in meekness’ so as to win God’s favor. That same reading also advises us that ‘the greater you are, the more you will humble yourself.” Jesus picks up on that theme in today’s Gospel where he teaches us two things: First, if we want the ultimate “promotion”, namely, to become a saint and to occupy a seat of honor at the heavenly banquet, we need to act humbly now, in this world, in our present circumstances. Second, if we want to be win recognition in the heavenly kingdom, we need to reach out to the lowly, to those who cannot pay us back.
So if the reading from Hebrews shows us what victory is like, the reading from Sirach and the passage from Luke’s Gospel show us what kind of leaders we need to be attain that victory – how we must act and what we must be like. Here I hope to show three ways these readings have relevance to your experience as Catholic veterans of the military services.
First, in any combat situation, there has to be teamwork, and teamwork requires humility and discipline. Each member of a combat unit has to know where they should be and how to follow orders. If members of a company decide on their own where to position themselves, it is likely that the battle will be lost. So too, attaining the victory of heaven requires teamwork, for we are saved, not merely as individuals but rather as members of a community. That is why, as members of the Church, we should not be preening our feathers but instead looking out for one another, trying to help one another to salvation, and not worried at all about power or influence or recognition.
Second, true leaders are not timid or cowardly, but they are humble whereas prideful leaders can lead their troops into disaster. I just finished reading a book entitled Nimitz at War which chronicles how Admiral Nimitz discharged his duties in WW II as Commander in Chief of the U.S. Pacific Fleet. The author, Craig Symonds, shows how Admiral Nimitz exercised restraint in dealing with his imperious boss, Admiral Ernest King – but also in dealing with his own subordinates, many of whom were strong personalities. Nimitz was no shrinking violet but he had the capacity to listen, to admit his errors, and to learn from experience, his own and those of others. And this in contrast to other military leaders in the Pacific theatre who seemed to be excessively interested in self-promotion on the way to victory. In the harsh light of history, Nimitz, while not perfect, looks good. The exercise of leadership whether in society, the Church or your own fraternal ranks demands a healthy dose of humility – humility and greatness really are linked – both in military history and in the kingdom of God!
Third, Jesus warns against doing good only for those who can pay us back. Just so, the greatest heroes are those who did the right thing not to win recognition but rather out of a love for their country, a self-sacrificing love that did not count the cost. Those who attempt to be heroes to win recognition are not true heroes, for they are seeking to promote themselves not giving themselves to the cause. At the heart of the Christian life is a self-sacrificing love even greater than the most noble valor of any battlefield in history. I refer, of course, to the self-sacrificing love of Jesus, our Redeemer, who laid down his life so that you and I might have life and have it to the full. St. Paul tells us elsewhere that Jesus humbled himself, accepting death, even death on a cross, and for that reason he is highly exalted as Lord and Savior. That is how we are to be as members of the Church, as those who belong to Christ, and that is what it will take for you and I to win through to absolute victory.
May God bless us and keep us always in his love.