Remembering Those that Gave All

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ Jesus,

This Monday is Memorial Day. This is a very special day during which we honor and remember our fellow Americans who gave their lives fighting on behalf of our Nation. It is difficult to know the greatness of the debt we owe to our fallen soldiers. We have many freedoms, privileges and blessings that we enjoy on a daily basis because of their choice to sacrifice their lives. The least we can do, I think, is to understand Memorial Day better and to pray for our brothers and sisters who sacrificed so much for us.

Here is a brief history of this day taken from www.usmemorialday.org:

“Memorial Day started off as a somber day of remembrance; a day when Americans went to cemeteries and placed flags or flowers on the graves of our war dead. It was a day to remember ancestors, family members, and loved ones who gave the ultimate sacrifice.

But now, too many people “celebrate” the day without more than a casual thought to the purpose and meaning of the day. How do we honor the 1.8 million that gave their life for America since 1775? How do we thank them for their sacrifice? We believe Memorial Day is one day to remember.

Memorial Day, originally called Decoration Day, is a day of remembrance for those who have died in service of the United States of America. Over two dozen cities and towns claim to be the birthplace of Memorial Day. While Waterloo N.Y. was officially declared the birthplace of Memorial Day by President Lyndon Johnson in May 1966, it’s difficult to prove conclusively the origins of the day.

Regardless of the exact date or location of its origins, one thing is clear – Memorial Day was borne out of the Civil War and a desire to honor our dead. It was officially proclaimed on 5 May 1868 by General John Logan, national commander of the Grand Army of the Republic, in his General Order No. 11. “The 30th of May, 1868, is designated for the purpose of strewing with flowers, or otherwise decorating the graves of comrades who died in defense of their country during the late rebellion, and whose bodies now lie in al-most every city, village and hamlet churchyard in the land,” he pro-claimed. The date of Decoration Day, as he called it, was chosen because it wasn’t the anniversary of any particular battle.

On the first Decoration Day, General James Garfield made a speech at Arlington National Cemetery, and 5,000 participants decorated the graves of the 20,000 Union and Confederate soldiers buried there.

The first state to officially recognize the holiday was New York in 1873. By 1890 it was recognized by all of the northern states. The South refused to acknowledge the day, honoring their dead on separate days until after World War I (when the holiday changed from honoring just those who died fighting in the Civil War to honoring Americans who died fighting in any war). It is now celebrated in almost every state on the last Monday in May with Congressional passage of the National Holiday Act of 1971…

In 1915, inspired by the poem “In Flanders Fields,” Moina Michael replied with her own poem: We cherish too, the Poppy red, That grows on fields where valor led, It seems to signal to the skies, That

blood of heroes never dies. She then conceived of an idea to wear red poppies on Memorial day in honor of those who died serving the nation during war. She was the first to wear one, and sold poppies to her friends and co-workers with the money going to benefit servicemen in need. Later a Madam Guerin from France was visiting the United States and learned of this new custom started by Ms. Michael. When she returned to France she made artificial red poppies to raise money for war orphaned children and widowed women. This tradition spread to other countries. In 1921, the Franco-American Children’s League sold poppies nationally to benefit war orphans of France and Belgium. The League disbanded a year later and Madam Guerin approached the VFW for help.

Shortly before Memorial Day in 1922 the VFW became the first veterans’ organization to nationally sell poppies. Two years later their ‘Buddy’ Poppy program was selling artificial poppies made by disabled veterans. In 1948 the US Post Office honored Ms. Michael for her role in founding the National Poppy movement by issuing a red 3 cent postage stamp with her likeness on it.”

In 2000, a government resolution was passed to promote a ‘National Moment of Remembrance’ for our fallen soldiers. The designated time for the remembrance is 3:00pm local time, throughout our country. This moment was designated “to voluntarily and informally ob-serve in their own way a Moment of Remembrance and Respect, pausing from whatever they are doing for a moment of silence or listening to ‘Taps’.”

This practice is a commendable way for us to join with many others in a concrete act of honoring and remembering our fallen soldiers.

I encourage all our parishioners to make time for Holy Mass on Memorial Day. Please see in this bulletin the various times for Holy Mass!

Through the intercession of Mary, the Queen of Heaven, St. Joseph, St. Michael and St. Paul, may God bless all our parishioners and, in a special way, all those serve our country as soldiers, police, fire fighters, and emergency responders!

In Christ through Mary,

Fr. Kasel