The Old and New Fire

72 years after the end of the Second World War, we entered a WWII museum in Boston. We brothers studying humanities were privileged to spend one day of our summer course visiting this largest of personal collections of memorabilia from that era. We were allowed to touch most of the items on display. I picked up an old chaplain helmet and looked at a mass kit from the war.
As we passed through the museum, we were reminded on one hand of the horrors of war and the devastation it brings, while on the other hand of the glories of battle and of the heroism that arose in good men’s hearts.
I was particularly moved by a letter from a young American soldier to his mother. It was filled with sentiments of gratitude and love for her, as well as a deep patriotism and a selfless desire to give his life for what he believed in.
I left the museum with a firsthand experience of “the times that try men’s souls.” It helped me to reflect on my own life. I am not in a physical war, but are there still ideals of heroic self giving still present in my heart? Do I live my daily activities with the intensity that I ought?
I pray that the memories of these heroes of the 1940s might not be forgotten, but that they may stir us to a greater level of generosity with others, and especially with our God and the needs of his Kingdom.