Isn’t my planning just brilliant?  I mean what could be better than Fr. David L. Arnoldt, an Army Veteran, celebrating Mass for you on Veterans Day.  I am grateful for his friendship and his willingness to fill in for me.  We are grateful for his many years of service to our country as an Army Chaplain.  Our Faith Community is grateful to all those men and women who are serving or have served in the Armed Forces. They have sacrificed their time, talent and treasured moments with their families to secure our freedom, especially, the freedom to practice our faith. This freedom does not come without cost.
 
The annual celebration of Veterans Day on November 11th invites us to remember the men and women who have put themselves in harm’s way to defend our way of life and the values we hold dear. We owe a tremendous debt of gratitude to those killed in the line of duty, those still suffering from the effects of their generous response to the Nation’s call, and, of course, everyone who has retired from active duty.
 
Let us remember those who have sacrificed so much to serve our Country. Let us keep them all in our prayers, on Veterans Day and always.
 
Dear Lord,
Today we honor our veterans, worthy men and women who gave their best when they were called upon to serve and protect their country.
 
We pray that you will bless them for their unselfish service in the continual struggle to preserve our freedoms, our safety, and our country’s heritage, for all of us.
 
Bless them abundantly for the hardships they faced, for the sacrifices they made for their many different contributions to America’s victories over tyranny and oppression.
 
We respect them, we thank them, we honor them, we are proud of them. We pray that you will watch over these special people and bless them with peace and happiness through Christ our Lord.  Amen!  
As was mentioned in last week’s bulletin, working together for the common good is a step towards reaching our goal of engendering a deeper sense of belonging with each other in our faith family.  This week the following projects can use your help.
1.         11/11 after Mass      Box of Joy Project                  Joann Naylor – team leader
2.         11/17 at 10am         19th St. Dune Planting         Sean Gillen – team leader  
As I mentioned before I left on vacation, I am greatly disappointed that our friends next door at the Chapel by the Sea won’t be joining us for the Ecumenical Thanksgiving Service next Sunday.  If you have friends who belong to that congregation, let them know we’d love for them to join us and really don’t understand why they are shunning their Christian neighbors.  I think most of our Evangelical friends would say that it is not a good thing for Christianity, after all the Bible calls for followers of Jesus to be “completely one.”
 
There are some of us who remember that the idea that Catholics and Protestants would get together to cooperate on anything was almost unheard of before the 1960s.  We do not need to revert to those dark days here on Tybee.   Gathering in Thanksgiving for all the ways the good Lord has blessed us, is one of the better ways to deepen our sense of Christian unity.  I hope you will join with me in doing that next Sunday at 6pm.  I will return from my vacation just in time for the Thanksgiving Service and I will be taking names.  So, be there. And if a grateful heart for all of God’s blessings is not enough to get you there, I hear Mary Chapin and the Women’s Club with the help Frank Kelly are planning a great reception for after the service.

Fr. Jerry Ragan