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THE CATHOLIC I hS^v S%n

ALL THROUGH THE YEARS

BY

THE REV.
J.
HUGH O’DONNELL. CS.C.

P 4^5

The fifth in a series of addresses under the general title of “Hail,

Holy Queen,’’ delivered in the Catholic Hour, broadcast by the National

Broadcasting Company in cooperation with the National Council of
. Catholic Men on May 26, 1946, by the Rev. J. Hugh O’Donnell, C.S.C.,
President of the University of Notre Dame. After the series has been

concluded on the radio, it will be made available in one pamphlet.

tmmsMwm

National Council of Catholic Men

Washington, D. C.



ALL THROUGH THE YEARS

It was here in Chicago, at a

recent luncheon for General

George C. Kenny that this inci-

dent occurred. One of the guests
s

began to praise him for his re-

sourceful leadership as com-

mander of our air forces in the

southwest Pacific during World

War II. '‘Now stop that,” said

General Kenny, who is modest

and refreshingly frank. "If you

want to give credit where credit

is due, throw your bouquets at

that young colonel over there. Pll

tell you about just one of the

great deeds that he and other

American boys like him per-

formed.” The colonel was Jock

Henebry, and the General told

his story.

"One day I sent out a recon-

naissance plane because I needed

information about what the Japs

were doing in Borneo. The pilot

soon came back saying that the

weather was so bad that obser-

vations were impossible. Colonel

Henebry, who was on my staff,

knew that the information was

indispensable. He picked a crew

and got a two-engined plane

ready. Although it was only a

reconnaissance flight, I noticed

he had four 500-pound bombs in

the bays. I was going to say

something, but didn't. And I'm

\

glad I didn’t, because this is

what happened.

"Colonel Henebry flew to Bor-

neo through all that bad weather,

diving down through the low

ceiling to make his observations.

Then he went up above the fog

and headed for home. As the

weather began to clear, he saw

below him k Japanese merchant

ship escorted by two destroyers.

"
'There really must be some-

thing in that ship when they

send two destroyers along with

it,' said Henebry over the inter-

communications system. 'Let’s go

down and see if we can drop one

of these bombs into it. The

General doesn’t like Jap ships in

the neighborhood.’ The plane

swooped down to within fifty feet

of the water and roared in at the

merchant ship. The bombardier

scored a perfect hit, which blew

the ship up. They then sank the

destroyers. Again they started

for home, with one bomb left. On

the way they saw a 10,000-ton

tanker. Down went Henebry

again to sink the tanker with his

last bomb.

"By this time the plane had

suffered some anti-aircraft fire,

“and Henebry was having trouble

with one of the motors. Never-

theless, as the plane passed a

Jap-held island, a machine gun-



ner spotted eight Jap planes on

the ground.

'Hey, Colonel,’ he called, -'the

General doesn’t like Jap planes

around here, either. Let me show

you what I can do with some

50-mm shells.’ Henebry swerved

over to the island, made a pass

or two over the planes and left

all eight of them and the hangers

in flames. When he landed at the

home base, his own, plane was so

battered that I ordered it to the

junk heap.”

General Kenny concluded

:

"Would you have any trouble

judging the value of a boy who

goes out on a mission like that

and brings his plane and his crew

back safely, although there were

real difficulties?”

But the General forgot to add

that on Colonel Henebry’s plane

were lettered the words "Notre

Dame de la Victoire”—Our Lady
of Victory—and that in the cock-
pit was a medallion of the

Blessed Virgin Mary.

Only God and His Blessed

Mother know how many boys had

recourse to her during the war.

She was their hope, their

strength, and their unfailing

comfort. In the light of their ex-

ample, who are we to be dis-

couraged in this troubled period?

Let us derive inspiration from

their faith in her and turn to

Mary, our hope, as we attack the

problems confronting the post-

war world. She is our hope, too.

True hope is based on faith in

God, because the principal object

of hope is happiness, not in this

world, but in the next
;
that is, in

seeing God in the Beatific Vision

for all eternity. That is why in

our earthly struggle for exist-

ence we should raise our sights

heavenward. But too many of us

isolate this faith and put religion

in one tiny compartment of our

lives, instead of letting it per-

meate our whole lives. Perhaps

we think of religion in the morn-

ing and evening, but for the rest

of the day, and of the week as

well, it is muted—except for an
hour on Sunday. I do not suggest

that we wear r>ur religion on our

coat lapels as we go into the

market place, or to the bridge

table, because that is the way of

the Pharisees and Sadducees.

But we should try to integrate

our religion with our daily lives

so that we may keep the first and

greatest commandment, "Thou

shalt love the Lord thy God,” as

we strive to fulfill the second of

the great commandments, to love

"thy neighbor as thyself” {Luke

10:27). This means that we

should be considerate, kindly,

forgiving and forbearing. If we

practice these virtues, we shall

fulfill the law and gain God’s

blessing. We shall become more



God-minded in a world that has

grown atom-niinded. By oc-

casional meditation on other-

worldliness we can bomb our-

selves out of concentration on

this-worldliness.

This, in brief, is what faith

teaches us. And from this faith

flows a radiant hope that gives

us a true perspective of the

“glory and blessedness of the

things to come.” As Monsignor

Ronald Knox says in God and the

Atom: “Where there is belief in

God's existence, there must be

belief in His assistance as well;

hope is the natural food of

faith.”*

• The world today needs such a

concept of hope based on faith.

The aftermath of a great war

has brought with it uncertainty

the unrest. Without the steady-

ing influence of hope, nerves be-

come frayed, phobias are multi-

plied, and messianic complexes

develop that make one think with

Hamlet that “the time is out of

joint.” The end is useless de-

spair, the escape of the coward.

What is needed is a touch of

humor based on faith in the di-

vine. If one has this faith, he

can profitably reflect on the

words of Thomas Moore:

“This world is all a passing show.

* God and the Atom, p. 54, Sheed

and Ward

For man’s illusion given.

The smiles of joy, the tears of

woe.

Deceitful shine, deceitful flow

—

There’s nothing true but

Heaven.”*

If we evaluate the things of

this life in the light of the life to

come, as faith teaches, a radiant

hope will follow, a hope that will

enable us to accept with a Christ-

like spirit whatever this life may

bring so that it will put to flight

every thought of disappointment

and despair. The measuring rod

of this hope is eternity. And we

turn to Mary, our hope glorified,

for the necessary help and

strength.

A beautiful illustration of

hope based on faith is the story

of St. Monica and her son St.

Augustine who, after a youth of

license and heresy, became one of

the Fathers of the Church. St.

Augustine tells us that “my

mother ceased not in all the

hours of her prayers to bewail

me in God’s sight.”t After al-

most nine years her prayers were

answered, and shortly before her

last illness and death, mother and

son talked together of happiness

in the next life. Monica said:

“Son, for my part, there is noth-

* 'This World is All a Passing

Show”

t Confessions of St. Augustine,

Book 3, Chap. 11



ing now in this life that gives me

any delight. . . . One thing there

was for which I did desire to stay

a little longer in this life, which

was that I might see thee a

'Christian Catholic before I died.

And my God hath granted me

this more abundantly, in that I

see thee now despising all earth-

ly felicity, entirely devoted to

His service. What have I now to

do here?''§ Such is hope based

on faith—that “hope which is the
natural food of faith.''

What an inspiration St. Mon-

ica's faith is, and how richly it

was rewarded ! And what a con-

solation the story of her life

should be for all of us, especially

for the fathers and mothers

whose sons and daughters, some-

what bemused by the temper of

the times, are inclined to be way-

ward. When St. Monica inter-

ceded for her son, the Blessed

Mother heard her prayers. She

hears the prayers of other moth-

ers who have recourse to her and

ask her to enfold their children

within her protecting mantle.

Mary, who is the Mother of

Sorrows, is also the hope of all

who are in pain, of all who have

known suffering. Mary is the

hope of the ' war veterans who

still lie in the hospitals. Truly,

§ Confeasions of St. Augustine,

Book 9, Chap. 10

gentlemen, you have your Gol-

gotha, as Our ' Savior and His

Blessed Mother had theirs. But

remember that, the same Mary

who stood at the foot of the

Cross on Calvary will help you to

bear your cross. Your future

may be spiritually rich if you

look beyond earth to your true

home in heaven, to life eternal.

In the rosary of the years that

lie ahead, Mary is your hope.

Mary is the hope of youth, and

youth is the hope of the world. If

I might offer just a word of ad-

vice to young men and women

whose lives are before them, it

would be this: Do not let any-

body tell you that you are part of

a lost generation. That catch

phrase is nonsense. It is defeat-

ist; as a matter of fact, it is

pagan. No generation has ever

been lost since Christ redeemed

man on Calvary—unless its mem-
bers made up their minds that

they wanted to be lost.

There is hope for the world,

now torn by a basic conflict be-

tween the forces of God and the

forces of anti-God. On the one

side are those who believe in God

the Creator. They accept the

natural law which has its source

in God the Supreme Lawgiver.

They recognize as flowing from

that law the natural rights of

persons; and they acknowledge



the inherent dignity and integ-

rity of the human person because

of God-given rights. On the other

side are the forces of material-

ism which see man as an animal

knowing neither God nor basic

morality. Materialism builds a

bleak world of totalitarianism in

which man exists for the state,

and not the state for man as

man's agent for the protection of

God's gifts of life, liberty, and

the pursuit of happiness. This is

the world of state-ism — the
world of Nazi Germany, Fascist

Italy, and Communist Russia.

But there is hope for Russia,

and the hope is Mary who at

Fatima, in Portugal, in 1917,

asked for the consecration to her

Immaculate Heart and for Com-

munion of reparation on the first

Saturday of each month. 'Tf my

requests are heard," said Our

Lady of Fatima, “Russia will be

converted and there will be

peace
;

otherwise, great errors

will spread through the world,

causing wars and persecutions

against the Church; the good

will suffer martyrdom, and the

Holy Father will have to suffer

much. Different nations will be

destroyed, but in the end my Im-

maculate Heart will triumph.

The Holy Father will consecrate

Russia to me and she shall be

converted, and an era of peace

will be granted to humanity."*

There is hope for all the people

of the world. Already there are

signs that a purely sensate cul-

ture has run its course, as larger

and larger numbers of men and

women, having found within

man-made ideologies nothing but

frustration and despair, turn

from the worship of the things

of the world to the all-important

things of the spirit. Basically,

the return to religion may be

attributed in no small measure

to the need of a nation and the

people who constitute it, to have

an anchor. Or, as St. Augustine

put it sixteen centuries ago, “Our

heart is restless, 0 God, until it

finds peace in Thee." And Mary,

our help through the years, can

lead us to the Source of peace

and contentment, providing we

seek her help and intercession.

So America, to your knees to

pray that the spiritual awaken-

ing which has begun may become

in the fullest sense a spiritual

renaissance.

America, to your knees to pray

through the medium of the

family rosary that Mary will

bring us closer to the imperative

need of God in our daily lives.

America, to your knees that

* Fatima, Jlope of the World, Mc-

Grath



with the recognition of God, His

anger may be stayed, and that

through fidelity to His moral law,

this restless, confused world may

have a cessation from pain,

strife, and international wars.

We weave all our hopes into

the mantle of Mary, as it was so

beautifully expressed by G. K.

Chesterton in his inspiring poem,

The Arena:

''I have seen, where a strange
'

country

Opened its secret plains about me

One great golden dome stands

lonely with its golden image,

one

Seen afar, in strange fulfillment.

Through the sunlit Indian sum-

mer

That Apocalyptic portent that

has clothed her with the sun . .

“Queen of Death and Life Un-

dying

Those about to live salute thee

Not the crawlers with the cattle;

looking deathward with the

swine.

Put the shout upon the moun-

tains

Of the men that live forever

V/ho are free of all things living

but a Child; and He was

thine.’’

Mary is our hope, all through

the years.



THE CATHOLIC HOUR
1930—Seventeenth Year—1946

The nationwide Catholic Hour was inaugurated on

March 2, 1930, by the National Council of Catholic Men

in cooperation with the National Broadcasting Company

and its associated stations. Radio facilities are provided

by NBC and the stations associated with it; the pro-
gram is arranged and produced by NCCM.

The Catholic Hour was begun on a network of 22

stations, and now carries its message of Catholic truth

on each Sunday of the year through a number of sta-

tions varying from 90 to 110, situated in 40 states, the

District of Columbia, and Hawaii. Consisting usually

of an address, mainly expository, by one or another of

America's leading Catholic preachers—^though some-
times of talks by laymen, sometimes of dramatizations

—and of sacred music provided by a volunteer choir,
the Catholic Hour has distinguished itself as one of the

most popular and extensive religious broadcasts in the

world. An average of 100,000 audience letters a year,
about twenty per cent of which come from listeners of

other faiths, gives some indication of its popularity and

influence.

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