I’ve been a catholic layman since my grandma told me to attend “doctrina” as a child, so I have some understanding of the rituals and ceremonies of the Catholic church. So, thinking about it, I wonder what I would say to the parish if I became a priest and gave my homily for the first time. It’s kind of like being a new sheriff in town, so I guess it would go something like this…

“Thank you for the mighty fine welcome. Since this is my first homily, I need to clear up some things and lay down the law. This is a church building, meaning this is where the church, meaning YOU, meets to worship. In front of the church is the altar where we priest celebrate Mass, and by the altar is where the Blessed Sacrament is located. By this, it means that JESUS IS ALIVE in the Holy Eucharist, so act with reverence and don’t be playin’ around!

Now, when you come inside, be here with a Christian attitude. You’re coming to praise and worship the Lord Jesus as we celebrate the last supper with Him. It’s like a banquet where you come dressed in your Sunday best. If your best is a suit and tie, so be it. In other words, wear appropriate clothing. No t-shirts or blue jeans or girls wearing party dresses for night clubbing. Before you sit down in the pew, kneel or bow before the altar. You’re actually acknowledging His presence.

Pray before the Mass so you can be in the spirit.  If you need to talk to somebody, do it outside or in the vestibule. If you need to greet people, that’s where you should do so. That’s why it was built. Once inside, your gabbing would be botherin’ people in prayer. And for you parishioners who come in late – for Pete’s sake, don’t go into the crying room. That’s where the parents are with babies who can’t stop crying. Hightail it out of there!

During the Mass, I expect everyone to follow the Mass with the Missalette. However, when the lector is reading the Word, I expect you to listen rather than checking to see if they make a mistake. There are prayers before, during and after the Mass. I expect everybody to pray together in one voice. The same with the choir. When they sing, it’s actually a prayer that you should also be singin’. That’s why we offer you a song book. If you can’t sing, hum along!

There’s a part of the Mass that you must take seriously. That’s the Apostles Creed, the Credo or the “I believe”. That is important because it’s the essence of our belief. It clearly states what the Catholic church believes. So, take it to heart. The part where it says to bow, do so in respect.

When receiving the Communion host, bow before His presence and receive the host in your hand or on your tongue. No sign of the cross, no kneeling. The same when receiving the blood of Christ. Don’t come down the aisle with your arms a-swinging or your hands in your pocket. This is a solemn occasion where you are receiving the Blessed Sacrament. Now make sure your conscious is clear and in the spirit. Confession before mass is good for your soul.

I expect the ushers to greet you and bid you welcome. They should stand in the rear of the church to assist any parishioner who is having problems. They will ask members of the parish if they would take the offering to the priest. Sometime later they will hand you a church bulletin. Make my day and read it. There are announcements of future activities that you need to be aware of.

Here in the church, we have ministers to assist me in the liturgy. We also have ministers to go visit the sick and homebound. Also, youth ministers. They are an extension of the church. If you have the calling to become one, please see me. We always need new people and new manpower. Join the Knights of Columbus. They are the ones I go to for projects that need to get done. We will always have need of the ladies to help with things that are required for preparation on special days of observance. Let’s be clear. All men and women are needed in every aspect of church activities!

After the Mass, be respectful and let me leave the altar before you make a mad dash for the door. If you must leave before the mass has ended, leave quietly. There are others still in prayer. You might wait until the choir finishes the closing hymn. Again, you should be singin’ or humming along.

Now, to end my homily… Jesus loves you! Amen”

I remember a quote from a book or was it from a movie? Anyway, a captain on a ship that delivered troops into combat said, “where did we get these men who willingly sacrifice their lives on the battlefield?”

Way back during the American revolution, people might ask that same question. Men facing death going face to face with the enemy only twenty or fifty feet from each other. Some lived, some died. The survivors were classified as veterans of the revolution and recognized as such. They went on to raise families in a new nation and create what we have now. 

In 1812, we fought the British again and even while their armies were here burning the White House and fighting in New Orleans, the war had been over because we had signed a peace treaty with England. We didn’t get the word until way after Americans had died. Those that lived have become veterans of that war.

American have fought the Indian wars, the Spanish American war and the 1st and 2^nd World War. Throughout those war, Americans suffered. Not only did they suffered the ravages of war but what it cost them in limbs lost, mental and physical grief from seeing what men could do to men during combat.

In the front lines of combat, men get used to getting shot at and adapt to their surroundings. However, those men in the rear echelon who support the troops even in their supposed comfort zone were inflicted by sabotage, infiltration of enemy personnel to assassinate or by artillery fire. In the battle of the bulge, my uncle Ismael was a baker who was taken out of the kitchen and became a rifleman. He was wounded and suffered for his wounds throughout his lifetime.

In a different battlefield, the sea, Navy men were subject to instantaneous death by other ships, submarine torpedoes and also airplanes. It only took one bomb to obliterate a ship with all its cargo and sailors. Those that survived were either blown into the sea or escaped by abandoning the ship.

In Korea, US Army soldiers and Marines suffered the ill effects of the peninsula with its tall hills, cold weather, sickness from the diseases brought on by vermin. Those who survived that conflict remember the weather more than the combat. In the air, the US Air Force was pounding the enemy in their entrenched positions. Sometimes they got shot down and captured. There were no partisan’s units or friendly villagers to help them. They were on their own. They became POWs and were not released until after the armistice. Some never came back.

During the Vietnam war, men were exposed to a different type of combat. There was no front. Everywhere you were in was a combat zone, even in a base camp you were subjected to rocket fire, Viet Cong infiltration, mortar fire and snipers. You were never safe. Some of those who came back incurred mental illness by witnessing various atrocities committed by the enemy. Even some of us were forever damaged by our own government when they were using Agent Orange for defoliation against the enemy. 

Come to the present where our troops are engaged in a desert war against an unseen or undefined enemy where religion is in the forefront of this conflict. Our troops have sustained more mutilation of limbs due to IEDs. Living in a desert environment is difficult. You have the enemy to contend with who may pop up at any time and the weather. Hot during the day and cold at night.

All these wars and conflicts have many things in common. Regardless of the constant battles, each of us have gone through a myriad of suffering – lack of food, lack of sleep, when to rest and recuperate, looking after each other. At that crucial time, we were not patriots, we were survivors. And today, we are the walking wounded in spirit because we didn’t die with our comrades.

WE ARE VETERANS!