This Veterans Day is no ordinary celebration in honor of all Veterans. It is one-hundred years ago on the eleventh day, the eleventh month at the eleventh hour in 1918 that the Armistice was signed between the allies and Germany bringing the end of the World War. Of course, it wasn’t called World War I because they did not know that twenty years later there would be an ever greater war than the first. The British called it “The Great War.” In the United States, before we entered the war we called it “The European War.” France called it “La Der des Ders” “The last of the Last (Wars).” Once the U.S. entered the war we began to call it a World War. Woodrow Wilson in 1919 on the first anniversary referred to World War I as the “The War to end all wars.” Little did we know human nature.
On the El Comino I met several Germans who were hiking. In conversations we held over food and drinks they were clear to make sure that all non-Germans understood beyond a shadow of a doubt that the troubles of the world wars were not due to the Germans, but the Nazi Party. Many knew what was happening was wrong and people were led by fear and were blinded to the truth by what they were told by the Nazi Party. They were afraid to go against the throngs of people who were cheering on the party to victory.
One hundred years has passed since the signing of the Armistice to end that Great War, and we look back and to honor the many Veterans who have served our country in many necessary and unnecessary wars. We offer at each of our Masses this weekend a special blessing for all those who served. At the same time, I remember as a teenager being glued to the tv as we all watched the historic visit of the first Pope to come to the United States. Pope (now Saint) Paul VI shouted in his visit to the United Nations, “No more war, war never again!” It was a message received with mixed reviews because we were cranking up the war in Viet Nam. He was not afraid to speak the Gospel message of “Peace to people of Good Will” and call the world back to Gospel values.
I invite all to not let this Veterans Day simply be a “day off” for some, but an opportunity to reflect on the meaning of these hundredth anniversaries and where we are as individuals and nations in efforts to bring the peace of Christ to all.