Catholic Fire

Not only is it Veteran's day today, but it is the memorial of St. Martin of Tours, a soldier in the "Army of God" who is the patron saint of soldiers. Saint Martin was born to pagan parents in Hungary. When he was fifteen years old, he was enrolled in the Roman armies and went to serve in Gaul, the land he was predestined to evangelize one day. The most famous episode of this period in his life is his meeting with a poor man almost naked in the dead of winter, and trembling with cold. Martin did not have a penny to give him, but he remembered the text of the Gospel: “I was naked, and you clothed Me.” “My friend,” he said, “I have nothing but my weapons and my garments.” And taking up his sword, he divided his cloak into two parts and gave one to the beggar. The following night he saw Jesus Christ in a dream, clothed with this half-cloak and saying to His Angels: “It is Martin, still a catechumen, who covered Me.” Soon afterwards he was baptized. Charity...

On the eleventh hour of the eleventh day in the eleventh month of the year 1918, an armistice was signed, ending the "war to end all wars." November 11 was set aside as Armistice Day in the United States to remember the sacrifices that men and women made during the war in order to ensure a lasting peace. In 1938 Congress voted Armistice Day as a legal holiday, but World War II began the following year. Armistice Day was still observed after the end of the Second World War. In 1953 townspeople in Emporia, Kansas called the holiday Veterans' Day in gratitude to the veterans in their town. Soon after, Congress passed a bill renaming the national holiday to Veterans' Day. Today, we remember those who have served for our country in the armed forces in our prayers. Thank you, veterans, for serving our country and protecting our freedoms! I am especially thankful to those in my own family who have served in the Armed Forces -- my dad, my brother, and my sister. My...

As the country gets ready to celebrate our veterans, a senior pentagon analyst responsible for locating the remains of Korean War troops missing in action said there is a "better than even chance" that the body of Medal of Honor recipient Father Emil Kapaun will be found buried in a national cemetery in Hawaii, according to award-winning journalist Roy Wenzl, coauthor of THE MIRACLE OF FATHER KAPAUN, published by Ignatius Press. In a recent story for The Wichita Eagle, "Pentagon analyst thinks there's a chance the body of Emil Kapaun could be found," Wenzl wrote that friends of Kapaun's who were prisoners of war say Chinese Army guards buried Kapaun in a shallow unmarked grave after he died of starvation and disease in a North Korean prison camp in May 1951. The assumption since then by the Army has always been that Kapaun's remains are still there. But Pentagon analyst Philip O'Brien, an authority on Korean War soldiers missing in action, sa...

We ask for blessings on all those who have served their country in the armed forces. We ask for healing for the veterans who have been wounded, in body and soul, in conflicts around the globe. We pray especially for the young men and women, in the thousands, who are coming home from Iraq with injured bodies and traumatized spirits. Bring solace to them, O Lord; may we pray for them when they cannot pray. We ask for, echoing John Paul II, an end to wars and the dawning of a new era of peace, As a way to honor all the veterans of past wars. Have mercy on all our veterans from World War II, Korea, Vietnam, Iraq, Bring peace to their hearts and peace to the regions they fought in. Bless all the soldiers who served in non-combative posts; May their calling to service continue in their lives in many positive ways. Give us all the creative vision to see a world which, grown weary with fighting, Moves to affirming the life of every human being and so moves beyond war. Hear our prayer, O Prince...

Some veterans bear visible signs of their service: a missing limb, a jagged scar, a certain look in the eye. Others may carry the evidence inside them: a pin holding a bone together, a piece of shrapnel in the leg - or perhaps another sort of inner steel: the soul's ally forged in the refinery of adversity. Except in parades, however, the men and women who have kept America safe wear no badge or emblem.You can't tell a vet just by looking. He is the cop on the beat who spent six months in Saudi Arabia sweating two gallons a day making sure the armored personnel carriers didn't run out of fuel. He is the barroom loudmouth, dumber than five wooden planks, whose overgrown frat-boy behavior is outweighed a hundred times in the cosmic scales by four hours of exquisite bravery near the 38 th parallel. She - or he - is the nurse who fought against futility and went to sleep sobbing every night for two solid years in Da Nang . He is the POW who went away one person and came back ...

On the eleventh hour of the eleventh day in the eleventh month of the year 1918, an armistice was signed, ending the "war to end all wars." November 11 was set aside as Armistice Day in the United States to remember the sacrifices that men and women made during the war in order to ensure a lasting peace. In 1938 Congress voted Armistice Day as a legal holiday, but World War II began the following year. Armistice Day was still observed after the end of the Second World War. In 1953 townspeople in Emporia, Kansas called the holiday Veterans' Day in gratitude to the veterans in their town. Soon after, Congress passed a bill renaming the national holiday to Veterans' Day. Today, we remember those who have served for our country in the armed forces in our prayers. For more information, read about Veteran's Day. Whitney Houston: Battle Hymn Of The Republic