Veterans Day - Dedicated to All Who Served and Saint Thecla School 8th Graders Who Prayed a Special Mass for Vets

This is the day the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it.

"I am a soldier of Christ and it is not lawful for me to fight," the fourth-century Martin, born in present day Hungary said as his regiment battled with barbarian invaders, achives show. Catholics celebrate his feast day along with Veterans Day today.

Martin of Tours, later ordained a bishop in the fourth century, was required by law to enter the Roman army at 15. He resisted this fate and was inducted in chains. His conversion to Christianity came later.

The tale is told of a him using his sword to divide his cloak to give to a shivering beggar. That night he dreamed he was Jesus wearing that part of the cloak he gave away. The next morning, he resolved to be baptized.

This Veterans Day remembers personnel who serve to defend and protect. Many men and women have been in the service in this nation throughout recorded history.

Among them is my brother, Lucas Ventline, who served in the U.S. Army in Vietnam where he died during the TET offensive in 1968. That year witnessed the death of Robert Kennedy, Trappist monk Father Thomas Merton, Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and more. It marked the beginning of the so-called women's movement.

This fresh day to breathe again is a good one to lift my heart and mind in prayer to the Maker for men and women who have served well.

"There can be no question tht unless war is abolished the world will remain constantly in a state of madness and desperation in which, because of the immense destructive power of modern weapons, the danger of catastrophe will be imminent and probably at every moment everywhere," Trappist monk Father Thomas Merton noted. He goes on to say that unless we tend to this task now that we cooperate with the destructive forces that "are leading inexorably
to war."

A blessed and fruitful Veterans Day! (And sweet memories of the Mass of St. Thecla Catholic School 8th grade students, parents and teachers in Clinton Township, MI., for all veterans, inlcuding my own brother, Vietnam '68, deceased, Spec. 5 Lucas Ventline, Nov. 9th).

+ Our help is in the Name of the Lord who made heaven and earth!

- Father Ventline