Thursday, November 2, 2017

The Commemoration of All the Faithful Departed (All Souls)

"Though I walk in the valley of darkness, I fear no evil, for you are with me." In just over a week, we will enter into the final year of the centennial of the First World War. There is much we can learn from that conflict, particularly about the dangers of tribalism. But more importantly, we have an obligation to love our brothers and sisters who walked into some very dark valleys. For myself, my thoughts will be with those who fought on the Gallipoli Peninsula in 1915, a campaign that has long moved me. It is a true example of the pointless, asininity of warfare. Yet also one that highlights the nobility, even beauty, of courage and sacrifice. The paradox of war is that conflict showcases both the worst and the best of what it means to be human. And perhaps nothing sums up the latter better than the words of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk welcoming his former enemies and their loved ones back to the battlefields:

Those heroes that shed their blood and lost their lives … You are now lying in the soil of a friendly country. Therefore rest in peace. There is no difference between the Johnnies and the Mehmets to us where they lie side by side here in this country of ours … You, the mothers, who sent their sons from far away countries wipe away your tears; your sons are now lying in our bosom and are in peace. After having lost their lives on this land they have become our sons as well.

Let us pray that all who endured the Great War, whichever side they were on, might know "goodness and kindness" and that they "shall dwell in the house of the LORD for years to come." Amen.