SERVING GOD AND COUNTRY

A REFLECTION FOR THE 22ND SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST

The idea of rendering unto Caesar the things that are Caesar’s finds its ultimate purpose in the sacrifice of serving in the nation’s military.  Our President’s highest office is that of Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, and his most important role is the defence of the nation against foreign foes.  It is not a job, obviously, that can be done by one man.  The President has help in this most noble of tasks from the members of the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines and Coastguard.  Together, they work at every moment of every day to keep us all safe.

There can be no higher calling in the secular world than service to one’s nation.  It means the sacrifice of time spent far away from our families, hardship in sometimes unimaginably terrible conditions, exposure to danger, mutilation, and even death.  To lay down our lives in defence of our homeland—this is the ultimate sacrifice.  Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori—"It is a sweet and honorable thing to die for one’s country.”  Tomorrow is Veterans Day, and we honor those who survived their military service.  These are the men and women who were prepared to fight so that we would not have to fight, to die so that we might live.  And here we are today, alive and well, utterly complacent in the luxuries and well-being that a loving God has bestowed upon us, and that our veterans protected with their lives.  If we are smug, let us thank them that we are able to be smug.  We thank them for their service, and we do so from the bottom of our hearts.  Let us honor our veterans tomorrow by truly appreciating the good things their sacrifice has allowed us to have, and by doing what we can to protect these same good things for our children.

In Europe, November 11^th is Armistice Day, this year the 101^st anniversary since the signing of the Armistice that ended the First World War, at the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month.  Today, it feels as though we once again stand at that eleventh hour, when future possibilities are viewed with trepidation rather than hope, and our smugness is disturbed by fears of things to come.  Like all men before us, we turn our hearts to God at such a time.  As we walk forward into the darkness, we reach out, hoping to touch the hand of God that will lead us with strength and confidence.  And that is as it should be.  The eleventh hour it may be, but if our souls are pure, the coming hour of midnight is not something we should fear.  When it strikes its solemn toll, it is nothing more than the announcement that Christ is come for us, taking us with one hand, and pointing forward with the other towards the shining light of his kingdom.  

So when all is dark, remember that the light is nigh.  During the years after the fall of man, it seemed that darkness was once again upon the face of the deep.  But in the midst of this darkness, at midnight at the end of the twelfth and last month of the year, came the Light of the World, born in a stable in Bethlehem.  This Infant is our light today, the hope of the future and the hope of man.  We stand ready to serve in the army of the Church Militant, we are prepared to do battle, to fight and to die in the service of Christ our King.  We will not be stopped from rendering unto God the things that are God’s.