November 10th is an important day for each and every person who wore the uniform of the United States Marine Corps. This year we celebrate the 242nd birthday of the Marine Corps. Created by the Continental Congress on November 10, 1775 each man and woman who has worn the Eagle, Globe and Anchor and has served our country follows in a long and storied tradition.
The Commandant of the Marine Corps. General Robert B. Neller, wrote this as part of his message this year, “Today, as we celebrate our 242nd birthday, we must remember who we are, where we came from, and why we’re here.“ As we remember this Veterans Day weekend the service of so many we may reflect on those three basic blessings we share as we serve.
God calls us to be of service to one another in love, respect and honor, and praying and contemplating the “who we are, where we came from, and why we’re here” should help us to orientate ourselves to the greater good, the growing in holiness and the strengthening of community which is always the foundation of our faith. The Commandant’s words were not anything new or deeply insightful rather they are meant to help us refocus and recall the who, where and the why of life and service.
As a Marine we were reminded constantly of who we were, it was literally drilled into our hearts and minds in bootcamp and then continually celebrated throughout the years of service. It was a reminder of those who had served, sacrificed and died in dedicating themselves to the truth of freedom and the desire for a better world and how we were called to follow them. We may take this as a faith challenge too. Do we know who we are as children of God? Do we know the stories and blessings of those who have walked before us in faith? And it’s not just the big one like St. Francis of Assisi or our current Pope who took his name for the great saint, but more importantly it is knowing the people around us, who built our parishes, who nurtured our faith and who sacrificed through their gifts to help us live as children of God. As a priest, one of my greatest joys is sitting a listening to the stories of the “old guys” as they talk about their experience and share the stories of their “old guys”…the connection of the “who.” Our challenge in this busy and fractured world is to take time to listen this weekend to God speaking through others of the who we are in life.
The struggles, the battles the triumphs and failures all make up the “where” of life. Where did we come from…it is easy to read the history book, the time line but true where is the hopes and dreams of life and service. As we listened and learned from the stories of “who we are” we saw in them the desires for a greater good. The stories and the women and men behind them were never perfect and their faults and sins were real but the underlying dream of love, hope and justice are always at the center of the dream. It is the trust in the betterment of the lives of all even when our sins seem to cause hurt and injury to others. As people of faith we should always seek to build upon the “where we came from” trusting in the foundation of the Church set by Jesus Christ. It is in the “stone rejected” where we discover the “where” of our call to mission. In a world where faith is often discounted and seen as “silly” or “superstitious” we strive to witness to the truth or as Fr. James Keller M.M. wrote, “The big battle of our day is over man—the worth of man. It is a battle for man’s soul. Are you doing as much to reach all men with truth of their divine origin as are those who deny God and are striving to eliminate all knowledge of Him from the face of the earth?” (p 77 from “Light in the Darkness” by Fr. Jonathan Morris) When we know our “who” and our “where” we then truly discover our “why”.
The “why” is the reality of sacrifice in the service of the greater good. In the Marine Corps we had this simple phrase drilled into us, “God, Country and Corps.” The truth that if we serve God fully and truly, to “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.“ (Mt. 22:37) in all that we do then our serving of Country and Corps will always bring truth and justice in our actions. If we choose to serve the “why” in this way then Church, community and world naturally fall in the second, “Love your neighbor as yourself.” (Mt 22:39) What other “why” do we need?

Today we pray for all those who have served our country and today carry the joys and sorrows of this service. We pray for those who suffer from PTSD that we may reach out to them in healing and grace through our Lord Jesus Christ.
God Bless
Fr. Mark

ps. Happy birthday to all the “devil dogs, jarheads and leathernecks”