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MAIL-CALL

Father Lawrence F. Schott

Diocesan Military Deputy

Second Edition 1 0,000

OUR SUNDAY VISITOR LIBRARY

HUNTINGTON, INDIANA

Published In the U. S. A.

April 3, 1946

By

OUR SUNDAY VISITOR PRESS
HUNTINGTON, INDIANA



Imprimatur:

*b JOHN FRANCIS NOLL,

Bishop of Fort Wayne

Nihil Obstat:

REV. T. E. DILLON

Censor Librorum



Table Of Contents

Introduction

He Is There! 7

Who Is This Christ? 9

Real Religion 11

Here It Is 13

Your Commanding Officer 15

Front-Page News 17

Identify Yourself 19

The “Makins” Of Man 21

The Beginning 23

Superman 25

Through These Gates 27

A Good Confession , r 29

Emergencies Happen! 31

Be Busy With Christ! 33

Make A Touch! 35

To Marry Or Not To Marry—Now? 37
The Answer ! 39

The Bridge Between 41

The Fight Is On 43

Here's Your Life! 45

The Enemy! 47

Your Score With God! 49

“Come In, God" 51

What's In A Name? 53

Not An Endurance Contest! 55

You've Got A Boss 57



There’s A Right Way! : 59

See God! 61

His And Yours! 63

You Are On Guard! 65

Believe It! 67

Here’s The Explanation! 69

Build A New World! 71

It Belongs To Us ! 73

Through This Door! 75

What’s Next? 77

Make Your Reservation Now 79

Skip It! 81

Keep This Line, Short 83

“There’s A Time To Be Silent” 85

You Need A Valid Excuse 87

“Today’s Job” 89

Happy Days Are Here Again! 91

Speak Up, Men 93



Introduction

POST-WAR EDITION

It was a genuine pleasure to learn that so many servicemen

were interested in “Mail Call” that their requests have already

exhausted the first edition. Now, many of you will have been dis-

charged and returned to civilian life. The eternal truths pre-

sented in these letters do not change. The edifice of your spiritual

life must still be built and enlarged and remodeled. It is true the

danger of a sudden and heroic death is more remote in your civilian

pursuits, but living a good life still requires great courage, con-

stant effort, and repeated instruction.

The bulletins and their spiritual substance will be helpful to

the working man who labors shoulder to shoulder with so many fel-

low employees—each can apply them to his personal campaign for
holiness. You will want to know Christ and His Church better;

for all must live closer to God if the peace we are building is to

be sanctified and made permanent. These letters are only the

introduction to the storehouse which is the Church—you have the
invitation to join those working for God, because they love Him,

and loving Him because they are beginning to know Him. To have

been the medium of introduction between God and one soul is re-

ward enough for any man, and bounteous recompense for this as-

signment of love.

FATHER SCHOTT





He Is There!

Since most families have been

torn apart by the exigencies of

war, and the mutual helpfulness

which comes from such intimac-

ies is a thing of the past, many

are experiencing a frustration

and a loneliness that they never

thought possible. The usual sup-

ports of family and friendship

have been destroyed and men are

“on their own,” This sense of

hopelessness would never come

to a man who has trained him-
self to remember the abiding

presence of God everywhere. No
matter where we are, He is
there! The Holy Scripture as-

sures us:

“If I ascend into Heaven, thou

art there
;
if I descend into Hell,

thou art present. If I take my
wings early in the morning, and

dwell in the uttermost parts of

the sea: even there also is Thy

hand leading me: and Thy hand

shall hold me. And I said: per-
haps darkness shall cover me:

and night shall be my light in
my pleasures. But darkness
shall not be dark to thee, and

night shall be light as the day:

the darkness thereof and the

light thereof are alike to thee.”
—Ps. 138, 8.

Therefore, God rides the air-

ways with our brave pilots and

crews; God scrapes the ocean's

floor with our submarines; He
is in Iceland and Alaska and in

Australia and the South Pacific;

He is on every fighting front and

on every outlook post; He is in

every tank and He marches with

every infantry man; He is on
guard with the anti-aircraft

gunners and He patrols with the

coast guards. He is with the

hale and hearty as they perform

their heroic herculean tasks; He

is at the bedside of the sick and

wounded and the dying. He is

in the Induction and Reception

Centers; He is in our National

Cemeteries. He boards the train

and rides to our unknown des-

tination; He accompanies us in-

to the crowded transport ships;

He sails with every convoy; He

arrives at every A.P.O. address;

His presence takes away the bit-

terness of farewell in every

home port, and it is the friendly

greeting in every foreign base

—there is no camp where He is
not the real Commanding Offi-

cer. God is where you were,

where you are now, and where

you are going to be. God is with

the war-workers crowding our

factory lines and assembly
plants; He is with the families

whom we left; He is with our
friends scattered over the globe;

He is with us—He is God!
God Is Not Blind!

One of the most comforting

and at the same time, one of the

most disturbing convictions is

to know that God is not only

present but that He sees us.

When we are alone and we are
tempted to break the Command-



8 MAIL-CALL

ments, God sees us
;
when we are

with a gang encouraging each

other to forget our consciences

and grab the present moment’s

promise of unlawful pleasure,

God sees us; when we sin, God

sees us; when we repent, God

sees us
;
when it’s deepest night,

God sees us
;
when it’s sunny

noon, God sees us. God sees us

reading this Bulletin; He sees

us throw it away because it

bothers us; He sees us meditate

on it because it encourages us

—

God sees us!

God Is Not A Helpless Old
Grandmother In A Rocking Chair

God is not simply present as a

bystander
;
He is with us because

He wants to participate in our
every thought, word, and act.

He assures us of His constant

help.

‘

“Ask, and it shall be given

you; seek and you shall find;

knock, and it shall be open to

you. For everyone who asks,

receives
;
and he who seeks, finds

;

and to him who knocks, it shall

be open.”

—

Matt. 7, 7.

“Come to Me, all you who la-

bor and are burdened, and I will

give you rest,”

—

Matt. 11, 28.

Our failures are our own. God

will accomplish through us, un-

less we prevent Him, all those

things which are for our ulti-

mate betterment. The limita-

tions which are upon us in no

way impede God—He is all-pow-
erful. The only break, which

can occur in the chain, must be

manufactured by us. We can
refuse God’s help and we can

make ourselves unworthy of it.

We can shackle God’s hands or
we can accept His proffered as-

sistance.

We Are Never Alone Or Helpless!
God

,
Everywhere

,
Sees Us And

Helps Us!



Who Is This Christ?

The world is again admitting

its failure. The wars and de-

vastation, ruthlessness and carn-

age which now engulf so many

countries give testimony that

men have failed to order things

properly. The guilt is with man-

kind—God has done more than
His share to safeguard human

beings but His directions have

been refused. Christ, the Son

of God, came to teach men how

to live and how to die success-

fully, but His admonitions are

not heeded. The coming of

Christ and the system He taught

—Christianity—should have and
would have avoided all these

needless horrors but man would

not accept His teachings.

There can be no doubt in any

reasoning man’s mind that

Christ was God.

1) Christ Claimed To Be God.

2) Christ Proved His Claim.

His Claims—The charge on
which Christ was brought to the

Supreme Court of the Jews to

be tried was because He claimed

Divine Honors. This was an of-

fense punished by death and yet

when the Judge (Caiphas) de-

manded of Christ, “I adjure thee

by the living God, that thou tell

us if thou be Christ the Son of

God,” (Matt. 26; 63) Christ’s

clear and convincing answer was,

“Thou hast said it.” In our idiom

it would be equivalent to saying,

“I certainly am what you have

just said.”

a) His Teachings—He fore-
told accurately the future—His
sagacity was admitted to be di-

vine.

b) His Miracles—He cured
instantaneously—He raised the
dead to life—He arose on the
third day as He foretold.

c) His Church—The institu-
tion He founded has been pre-
served intact throughout all the

ravages of centuries.

Christ Is God and Therefore

Christianity Is Divine

The reason why Christianity

has not been effective is because

through the weakness of its nom-

inal adherents it lacks its full

natural attractiveness and its

ability to accomplish its purpose.

It is not Christianity that has

been found wanting but the

weakness of so-called Christians

has failed men.

Where Have These Christians

Failed?

1) They made of Christianity

a religion to suit themselves.

They
“
toned it down” and “ex-

plained it away” until they had

made a convenient religious pat-

tern. This manufactured “Chris-

tianity” did not intrude itself

into their lives but left them free

to think and to act according to

their own desires. (Many Ser-

vicemen lived this sort of re-

ligion during their civilian days

—some are still trying to get



10 MAIL-CALL

along on it, but as they approach

the fighting fronts they know

that they are “playing for keeps”

and their religion must be real

or they are already beaten.)

2) There were those, too, who

gave out a false picture of Chris

-

tian virtues . These he-men en-

visioned religious virtues as

weaknesses, lack of backbone and

red blood—something all right
for women and children and oc-

casional Sundays and weddings

and funerals. This condition was

probably introduced by those who

wear their religion on their coat

sleeves, for everyone to admire

and practice except themselves.

The effort for a real religious life

challenges the best that the

strongest man can give. Chris-

tian virtues are not easy—the
best proof of this is to try them.

3) Another reason for the

eclipse of Christianity is the at-

mosphere of materialism in

which most of the world is

plunged. If material things are

as important as people tried to

make them, then spiritual things

are a waste of time. You can’t

ride two horses at the same time

—you must make a choice. The
way you practice your religion
shows your choice!

How long is it since you have
done something to proclaim

Christ and Christianity to the

men with whom you live? Does
your language show your bud-

dies that Christ is God? Do
your actions demonstrate that

Christ's commandments are real?

Take your stand now with

Christ—He will never let you
down—everything else fails at
some time as you have already

found out

.



Real Religion

We hear constantly that the
men of the fighting fronts are

religious. What does this mean ?

Being religious fundamentally

means
,
recognizing that God ex-

ists and that every man has a

soul; and then realizing the de-

pendence of the one on the other.

Reason tells us that there is

Someone who has made all things

that are made. Reason tells us

that there is something in us

when we are alive “that makes

us tick”—the soul. Reason pro-
claims the dependence of the soul

upon Him Who gave her life.

The acknowledgment of such de-

pendence and its attendant im-

plications is basically religion.

So,
(

One's As Good As Another

V

In any camp in the land, you

will hear any evening, “One re-

ligion is as good as another, as

long as you are sincere. After

all, we are all serving the same

God. It's not important what

you believe as long as you lead

a good life.” Why should one re-

ligion he as good as another? We

discriminate, after consulting

authorities, in investing our

money, choosing carefully that

which seems best. Why would

such choice he out of place in

religion?

There is only one God to be

served, that is true, but did it

ever occur that possibly just be-

cause of this fact there is only

one way in which to serve that

one God? Those who do not ad-

mit that beliefs rule life do not

know what they are talking

about. Catholics believe Christ

is present in the Most Blessed

Sacrament
;
non-Catholics do not.

Catholics adore the Most Blessed

Sacrament; non-Catholics do not.

Non-Catholics think they have a

right personally to interpret the

Bible; Catholics do not. Non-

Catholics read the Bible and

draw their own conclusions

;

Catholics go to the authoritative

interpreter—the Church—a n d
accept her decisions.

In other words, beliefs shape

and mold actions; as we believe,

so we act . It should be obvious
to any thinking person that these

contradictory statements can-

not both be the expression of

the one true God. If the one
is true, the other is false . The

spirit of charity prompts us to

respect the opinions of all ser-

lious-minded men, but it would

be a misguided motive which

would encourage us to accept as

true that which is contrary to

what we know to be true. We
respect the seriousness of such

misinformed people but we con-
demn the untruthfulness of their
doctrines. We are intolerant,
yes, for us 2 plus 2 equals 4 al-

ways and everywhere, and Christ
is present in the Most Blessed

Sacrament, always and every-

where, and founded His own, one

particular Church.



12 MAIL-CALL

Credentials

Every ambassador who pre-

sents himself must give faithful

evidence of his authenticity.

The Catholic Church points with

pride to the distinguishing char-

acteristics which mark her ex-

clusive title of the Christ-found-

ed Church.

The Catholic Church is one in

doctrine and one in government .

All Catholics believe the same

doctrines and recognize the same

ruling head. Christ could teach

only one doctrine . It is insult-

ing to a man’s intelligence to

think that mutually contradict-

ory doctrines can both be Christ-

given. Government by one head

is a natural safeguard set up by

Christ to preserve and perpet-

uate His unity of doctrine.

The Catholic Church is pro-

ductive of holiness. Saints live

in every generation and are ad-

mitted to be so by contemporaries

and by successors. Christ's

Church was established as a lad-

der to God . It does give san-

ctity to those who climb up its

well-worn rungs.

The Catholic Church traces its

origin directly to Christ through

His nearest associates—t h e
Apostles. There are no other or-

ganizations still existing that

were present and founded at that

time. The apostolicity of the

Church is so apparent, simply

because Christ intended that it

should be one of those tell-tale

evidences of recognizing His

Church.

The Catholic Church is spread

throughout the world. A God-
given religion must be adaptable

to all peoples of all nations . The

Catholic is at home everywhere

—he is truly Catholic, a world-
wide citizen. Our Catholic Ser-

vicemen have found Catholics

everywhere.

The Catholic Church is the

Church of Christ. Do you ap-

preciate your heritage? We re-
spect those who practice their

religion according to the light

of their own consciences— we
are tolerant and patient with all

misinformation, but we are and

we must remain intolerant of

error.



Here

It is the common experience

of each one of us that our ten-

dencies are always downwards;

although we know that we are

composed of body and soul, of

matter and spirit, we quickly

learn that the pull is mostly in

one direction. We knew the rea-
son for this condition when we

came to realize that our spirit-

ual nature had been mortally

wounded in the Original Sin of

our first parents and we were

destined to limp through life.

The only cure for this lopsided

constitution of ours is to rein-

force and strengthen the spirit-

ual element in us. The only

method by which this can be

accomplished is by the infusion

of God's grace into our souls.

The chief way which God has ar-

ranged for doing this is through

His Church. God was well aware

of our weakness and He knew

He would have to come to our

aid, so He devised a means by

which His strength could always

be drawn upon when we needed

Him. The only time we ever

get into trouble is when we for-

get or we fail to use this supply

of God’s strength, God’s grace,

which Christ has earned for us

and dispenses through the me-

dium of His Church.

Christ's Church—Your Church
Christ founded a distinct so-

ciety which He called His Church.

("I will build my church,” Matt.
16:18). Christ intended that this

It Is

living organization should teach

his doctrines, govern its mem-

bers, and sanctify all people.

This Is Christ's Church!

Teachings:

“All power in heaven and on

earth has been given to me. Go,

therefore, and make disciples of

all nations, . . . teaching them to

observe all that I have command-

ed you; and behold, I am with

you all days, even unto the con-

summation of the world.” Matt.

28: 19.

Christ speaks as God and gives

the order to teach all His doc-

trines and promises to be associ-

ated with His Church until the

end of the world. Christ demands

that people assent to His Church.

“He that believeth not shall be

condemned.” Mark 16:16.

Governing

:

“Amen, I say to you, whatso-

ever you bind on earth shall be

bound also in heaven, and what-

soever you loose on earth shall

be loosed also in heaven.” Matt.

18:18.

Christ’s Church is the boss and

her powers are binding on earth

and in heaven; she is a real or-

ganization with authoritative

power and not a loosely knit

group because of a friendly mu-

tual interest.

Sanctifying:

Christ gave to His Church

Seven Sacraments—seven chan-
nels by which His grace would



14 MAIL-CALL

be distributed to needy men.

Only Christ’s Church would have

those seven sacraments for it

was He who endowed her, and

where these seven sacraments

are not present there is no

Church of Christ. The Church

is similar to a large filling sta-

tion which has been erected

along life’s highway to meet our

needs as our spiritual motors

stop or run dry. We can always
have our tanks filled to overflow-

ing if we choose—we can never
exhaust the supply, but we can

thoughtlessly refuse the help.

As our Army advances on all

battlefronts of the world we are

becoming increasingly aware of

the importance of keeping the

road open to our supplies and

keeping it short . The same tac-

tics will mean victory on the

spiritual front, an open and

a short line to the supply of

God’s grace so that we can make

frequent and unimpeded trips to

our source of supplies—Christ’s
Church . Weary and struggling

man must come to learn again of
this font of God’s help. Every

Catholic, wherever he be, must

realize the priceless possession

which is his in the Church. The

flood gates of God’s grace are

always ready to engulf us if we

open our souls to welcome it. The

sacraments are so many faucets

to convey this spiritual gas to

our weak motors
;
if we are stall-

ed along the road we have chosen

this position. Let us look to

our souls and charge them with

the spiritual grace which Christ

offers constantly through His

Church—your Church.



Your Commanding Officer

When you entered the Service,

one of the first things that im-

pressed you was the unquestion-

ed obedience everyone gave to

his superiors. In every real

organization there must be the

power of imposing a command

and a punishment for those who

break the laws. A Catholic is
taught unqualified obedience to

his Church so this ought not to

be too difficult for you. A Cath-
olic may fail at times to comply

with the Church's commands, but

that is only a testification of per-

sonal human weakness—there is
no question of the Church's pow-

er to command. This ability to

govern is one of the necessary

constitutive elements of the

Church of Christ; if it were ab-

sent it would imply that an in-

telligent God has failed to prop-

erly equip His agency—the
Church.

Who Is Your Boss?

There is so much talk about

freedom today that many people

have come to think that this

means absence of authority. A
moment's thought will convince

anyone that we must always sub-

mit to one authority or another.

Msgr. Sheen has put it well when

he remarks: “The real problem

is not whether we will accept

law and authority
,

but rather,

which law and authority we will

accept. Even though this is a

free country, I find that if I do

not obey the authority of the

warden; if I do not accept the

authority of the pure-food com-

mission, then I shall have to ac-

cept the authority of an under-

taker; if I do not accept the

authority of the traffic lights, I

shall have to accept the authority

of a jailer." Applying this reas-

oning to religious matters, if I

do not accept the authority of

the Church, I must accept the

authority of private opinion. We
are not free from authority—

we are only free to comply with
authority.

The Church Has Authority

For a society to be effective

it must have a definite purpose,

proper and proportionate means

to achieve that end, and adequate

authority to bind the members
of the society. Eternal life is

the purpose of the Church; grace

and the sacraments are the pro-

portionate means, and the hier-

archical administration under

the direction of the Holy Father,

is the authoritative element.

When it pleased Christ to unite
in a society all who believed in
Him, He was bound to provide
that society with the authority

necessary for the accomplish-

ment of its work. In other words,
Christ was bound to appoint

leaders invested with the triple

power, legislative, judicial and

executive; for such a society al-

ways implies law, and law im-
plies the right to judge its

guilty transgressors and the



16 MAIL-CALL

right to impose penalties. This

actual grant of power is narrat-

ed in the Gospels (St. Matt. XVI,

16, and St. John XXI, 15). In

addition, the conduct of the Ap-

ostles and their successors in-

dicates the constant use of such

authoritative power, viz., mak-

ing laws, pronouncing judgments

and inflicting penalties.

Has The Church Obedience?

We must obey not only those
mandates of the Church which

please us—we must obey all her
commands. This does not de-

mand a blind allegiance; it does

presuppose a reasoned conviction

of Christ's establishment and

complete endowment of His

Church. Pope Leo XIII said in

one of his letters, “The Church

has received from Her Founder,
since Her very origin

, all that

She requires for the pursuing of

Her Divine mission across the

changeable ocean of human af-
fairs

."
(Au Milieu des Sollici-

tudes.) As far as we are con-
cerned, it is a question of obe-

dience. Many contemporary
writers have said this in one way

or another. One of them says,

substantially, the very heart and

soul of true religion is obedience.

The world went from God by dis-

obedience and the road back is

to retrace our steps by obedience.

Make your actions testify to

your respect for the Church's

authority. Be at Mass every

Sunday. Your real commanding

officer has given the order—
give Him your obedience.



Front-Page News

A Catholic could properly be
defined as, “a baptized Christian

who is subject to the pope.” This

bond with the Holy Father is an

ultimate and decisive indication

of Catholicism. History records

how the Church's enemies have

derisively dubbed Catholics, “pa-

pists.” The importance of the

Papacy can not be over-estimat-

ed; it is the cornerstone which so

many builders have rejected as
they constructed their dream

castles.

“Thou Art Peter”

The story of the appointment

of Peter as the first Pope is well

known. It is narrated in St.

Matt . 16, Christ has just inquir-

ed of the Apostles what the peo-

ple thought of Him. In answer,

He received many confusing

opinions. Not satisfied with these

retorts, He asks again, “But
whom do you say that I am?”
Peter answered immediately,

“Thou are Christ, the Son of the

living God.” And then Christ
uttered those ponderous words,

“Blessed art thou
,
Simon Bar-

Jona, because flesh and blood

hath not revealed it to thee
,
but

My Father Who is in Heaven

.

And I say to thee
,
that thou art

Peter: and upon this rock 1 Ivill

build My Church and the gazes
of hell shall not prevail against

it. And 1 will give to thee the
keys to the Kingdom of Heaven

,

and whatsoever thou shalt bind

upon earth
,
it shall be bound al-

so in Heaven
,
and whatsoever

thou shalt loose upon earth
,

it

shall be loosed also in Heaven”

Christ promises to give Peter

full and complete power and cer-

tainly we can expect God to keep

His promise. The actual fulfill-

ment of the promise is recorded

in St. John
,

21. Christ asked

Peter three times, “lovest thou

Me more than these?” Peter as-
sures Him of his love, then

Christ commands the first and

second times, “feed My lambs;”
the third time He directs, “feed
My sheep” In other words, all
My disciples and all My follow-

ers are entrusted to you.

Peter Used This Power

One needs only to read the

Acts of the Apostles to witness

the active jurisdiction of Peter.

Who preached first and baptized
the believers? Who of the apos-
tles worked the first miracle?

Who ruled the first heretic?
Who received the first pagan in-
to the Church? Who headed
the first apostolic council? Peter

is the answer to all these ques-

tions. He both claimed and ex-
ercised the supreme power of the

Church.

Either—Or
We argue, if Christ was not

God then He was either the
greatest imposter the world has

ever known or a madman. Obvi-

ously, Christ cannot have been a



18 MAIL-CAUi

good man if His claim of divinity

was a lie. Similarly, we argue,

if the Pope is not the Vicar of

Christ on earth then he is the

greatest scoundrel that lives.

There is no middle way. We
cannot look upon the Pope as a

trusted spiritual guide and then

deny his right to exact obedience

of all Christians in matters of

faith and morals. The truth is,

he does demand such obedience,

and this is either because Christ

so directed him, or he is the

most unscrupulous imposter that

lives. Even his enemies would

deny this horn of the necessary

dilemma, so the Holy Father

must be the Vicar of Christ.

Christ intended His Church for

all men of every generation. The

ultimate power of government

was to be transmitted from the

first head, Peter, to all those who

would hold that position. So it

has been for almost twenty cen-

turies and so it will be.

Does it seem unreasonable then

to see the deep reverence, the

dutiful loyalty
,

the filial obedi-

ence paid by every genuine Cath-

olic to the Pope ? Even the non-

Catholic historian Macauley pays

almost a prophetic tribute, “The

proudest royal houses are but of

yesterday, when compared with

the line of the Supreme Pontiffs

. . . She (the Papacy) saw the

commencement of all the gov-

ernments and of all the

ecclesiastical establishments that

now exist in the world; and we

feel no assurance that she is not

destined to see the end of them

all. She was great and respected

before the Saxon had set foot in

Britain, before the Frank had

passed the Rhine, when Grecian

eloquence still flourished in Anti-

och, when idols were still wor-

shipped in the temple of Mecca,

and she may still exist in un-

diminished vigor when some

traveler from New Zealand shall,
in the midst of a vast solitude,

take his stand on a broken arch

of London Bridge to sketch the

ruins of St. Paul's.”



Identify

From the first day that you

enter the Service you are being

called out and being recognized.

It is critically important to our

country that you and your un-

doubted patriotism may always

be known. You are proud to

stand forth and be counted as a

loyal American—a member and
a supporter of the greatest na-

tion in the world. You will never

permit anyone to doubt your al-

legiance for a moment; you will

quickly speak up if anyone ques-

tions your faithfulness; you are

an American and you want the

world to know it!

Is your Catholicity of less im-

portance than your American-

ism

?

Are you ashamed of being a

Catholic?

It happens so often that Cath-

olic men in the Service keep quiet

about their religion—they never
speak of it—their actions are
no different than those of their

non-Catholic comrades — they
fear to be thought peculiar. Men
know each other for months and

associate and recreate together

constantly, and yet they avoid

any mention of their religion.

Why all this secrecy?

Is your Religion something to

hide?

Is your brand of Religion the

kind that withers and dies when

exposed to the air?

Yourself

It Takes A “He-Man”

We live in a world where it's
not quite the proper thing to be

religious; queer people are re-

ligious—religion is one of those
things that makes people odd.

It’s not to our credit that such

an atmosphere is true of our

day, and you can put it down

now that it's not for such things

that your comrades are out there

fighting and dying right this

moment. To the men who have

been “out there” Religion Is Real

and they are going to keep it

real, those who come back.

What You Would Expect

You would think that man

who had been chosen to serve

God in the Catholic Faith would

be eternally grateful for this

gift. He was baptized, most

likely, as a babe and received

God's grace into his soul. When

he was able to distinguish right

from wrong, he went to confes-

sion and his sins were removed;

a short time later into that sin-

free soul came Jesus Christ in

Holy Communion. When temp-

tations became more intense an-

other Sacrament, Confirmation,

made him still stronger and more

able to resist these attacks; he

knows that when he takes on the

duties of a married man the

Sacrament of Matrimony will

enable him to accomplish this

difficult task; and when his day

of accounting comes, a final



20 MAIL-CALL

anointing and flood of God’s

grace will help him enter etern-

ity. These are the realizations

that every Catholic man should

carry with him every wakeful

moment.

Why should he not be happy
at the great gifts God has given

him?

Why should he hide them and

pretend they do not belong to

him?

The Real McCoy

A genuine Catholice service-
man allows others to see and ap-

preciate the beauty and the

strength of his religion. He

makes it his first business to

find the priest and inquire the

time of Confession and Sunday

Mass—when a new man comes
to camp he investigates and gives

him the information. He will

show his religion by his respect

for the name of Jesus Christ

even if he is the only one in a

company or even in a whole di-

vision who respects that name

—

even when there are only men

around; his religious convictions

will be seen in his thoughts,

words anrl actions in regard to

purity in spite of all the cam-

paigns to change his mind and

make him one more of those with

“barnyard morals.” His religious

training will have taught him

the sinfulness of excess in drink-

ing, etc.—his religion has given
him a way of life and he’s going

to live it—that’s the real Cath-
olic.

His example helps many a

weak man and informs many a

confused comrade—He's a dyna-
mo from which living current

lights the drab days of ordinary

existence—He's brilliant with
God's grace and that will not be

“blacked out
”



The "Makins" Of Man
One of the most devastating

errors of the pre-war generation

was that men were getting bet-

ter and better. There was no

particular reason for this con-

tinual improvement
,

except the

popular fallacy that an advance

in years must mean progress in

virtue

.

The argument in sup-

port of this contention sounded

something like this—the more
years men lived, the more men

would learn about living and con-

sequently they must live better

than ever before and would go

on and on and possibly within

our lives they would reach per-

fection. How rosy and false
these dreams were is only too

evident as we contemplate and

prosecute the most ruthless and

most universal war in which men

have ever been engaged. There

was something radically vjrong

with the whole idea that human-

ity was progressively virtuous

.

The foundations of this house

which civilization was building

was not the granite of truth but

the worm-eaten and corroded

support of oft-repeated false-

hood.

It is true that man can be “a
little less than an angel,” but

this is not the result of an acci-

dent but it is the product of skill-

ful planning and of constant

effort. The important realiza-

tion that can come to men is

that they are not as God orig-

inally intended that they should

be. God created man with defi-

nite prerogatives beyond his nat-

ural constitution: He had God-

like qualities which almost touch-

ed Heaven.

These spiritual advantages and

supernatural qualities were a gift

of the Creator to the first cre-

ated man. It was God’s inten-

tion that every man born into

the world would have these en-

dowments, but the first man,

Adam, acting as the Head of the

human race, rejected these gifts

when he committed Original Sin.

It is this first serious transgres-

sion of God's laws which wound-

ed and weakened our human na-

ture.

After Adam, we are all a fallen

race, and we share in his punish-

ment as we would have partici-

pated in his strength had he re-

mained faithful. It doesn’t

help to argue that we had no

personal responsibility in the

sin of Adam and therefore ought
to have no personal guilt. For

just as we, by birth, become a

member of a certain race, or

family, or nation, so too, we,

by human birth, become a mem-

ber of humanity with its restric-

tions. We may rise from this
position later in life, but our

birth determines our beginnings.

Spiritually, too, we may extricate

ourselves from the spiritual bon-



22 MAIL-CALL

dage of original sin and grow to

the promised stature of the im-

age of God, but we must start

with the serious handicap of

Original Sin.

Modern men have chosen to

disregard original sin. It was

not a very pleasant thing, so it

was discarded. This would have

been quite comfortable only it

did not work. Arguing similarly,

we might do away with filling

our car with gas, because it is

certainly very difficult and un-

handy. We must accept the con-
stitutional rules which run our

machines
,
and ive must admit the

constitutional condition of men .

Our human nature has been vi-

tiated by Original Sin which is

our common heritage. This is

why there is the constant strug-

gle within us between virtue and

vice. There is never an endur-

ing tranquillity because the as-

sertiveness of our fallen nature

is restive—the pull-down is much
stronger than the pull-up. Men,

left to themselves, will not grow

to grace towards Heaven but will

grow to grass on earth.

You can’t depend on yourself

too much; you have a limp and

will always have it. Original

Sin mortally wounded you , and

there must always he a rec-

ognized weakness in you. You

can compensate for this wound

and overcome some of its effects,

but this is not done by denying

its existence. We get nowhere by
playing the proverbial ostrich.

We are born with Original Sin;
Baptism cleanses the soul from

its stain; the effects of this re-

jection of God are always with

us in the constant battle between

the natural and the supernat-

ural. We will be good if we
conquer the bad that is in us and

not because we have lived long

with this wickedness. Our coun-

try will be good when its citi-

zens are good, but no one can be

good until he admits that he is

naturally bad and that he must

constantly fight to be good.

This Fight can he won in the

briefest honest life; it can he

lost in the longest blind life!



The Beginning

Many Christians have been

living lives divorced from God.

It was much more convenient to

float with the current of mate-

rialism that surrounded us than

to buck the tide and keep climb-

ing towards God. The world

went adrift because those who

should have served as the an-

chors failed in their jobs. Men

were attempting to be satisfied

with the natural. Defeat was

inevitable! Man is composed of

body and soul, and it is the su-

pernature alone which can put

him at ease. Life must he lived

on the' supernatural plane if it

is to be complete—half measures
will not %vork—we've found that
out from hitter experience .

The Church follows her sons

wherever they go — Catholic
Chaplains are on every fighting

front. There is only one reason

for this faithful shepherding of

n the flock of Christ and that is

because priests are able to bring

the Sacraments to men’s souls.

The Priest is the channel chosen

by God to convey the grace of

the Sacraments to souls. It is

true God did not need to use

priests for this task but He chose

to so arrange it, and we must

abide by His decision. A priest
has been near us since the day

of our birth, and it is our fervent

prayer that a priest will attend

us on our death beds. Use the

priest while he is near and then

you need not worry about the

future—the great High Priest
will care for that.

True To Your Heritage

When we were baptized we

were made Children of God. This

is the most stupendous event of

our lives. Previous to our re-

ception of this sacrament we

were immeshed in the sin of our

First Parents—we were outside
the friendship of God; at Bap-

tism we were adopted hy God—
we had the green light to go

right through to Him . This is
not a free use of words, but it is

the soberest fact. Once Original

Sin had been removed by the

sacrament, God’s grace flooded

our souls and He claimed us for

His own. We would belong to
Him as long as the life-line of

God’s grace was not cut by se-

rious sin. We would live the
supernatural life God had des-

tined for us here, as long as

this freedom from mortal sin

continued; at death this super-

natural life would continue with

a keener realization and appre-

ciation because we would no

longer be hampered by our earth-

ly bodies. The supernatural

would come into its own, and the

natural would not chain it down

to earth.

Put your finger on the spot!

Most of the trouble in this world

is because men have forgotten

their destiny—men have tried to



24 MAIL-CALL

be content with the natural when

it is only the supernatural which

can satisfy—men were trying
to escape their family tie with

God.

We are God's children
,
wheth-

er we like it or not and whether

we acknowledge it or not. We
can be happy and really success-

ful only in this intimacy with

God. Mortal sin sabotages hu-

manity for it breaks the con-

tact of a human being with his

only source of supplies. We be-
long to God, and we cannot

escape Him even if we wanted to.
Servicemen—These Are The

Questions:

1)

Have I been living on the nat-

ural or supernatural plane?

2) Am I in mortal sin or in the
grace of God?

3) Do I act as if I belonged to

God?

4) Do I realize that I, a Child

of God, am responsible to
Him for my every thought,
word and act?

5) Has today been lived in the

presence and company of

God?

If the other days of this year

are to be for God, for His Vic-

tory and my own victory, if this

year is to be the beginning of

the Victory Years, then today

and I must be spent with God,

in His grace and friendship!



Superman

We Americans have cultivated
the habit of using the supplies

at hand and not bothering too

much about our resources. There

was always more than we needed;

we never thought of the tomor-

rows. Acute need has taught us

not only to generously grasp and

sate ourselves today, but we be-

gin to understand that we must

investigate our resources and

envision future needs. A sim-
ilar attitude of mind prevailed

in our spiritual lives; many were

living lives of spiritual penury

and want when, if they had fall-

en back on the supplies stored

up in their souls they might have

travelled the highroad of God's

grace instead of the surface ex-

istence which quickly fails them.

The Hidden Treasure

At baptism we become “chil-

dren of God." This was to be

only a beginning, but many have

seemed to be content to remain

children. God's plan was dif-

ferent. As we grew up the Sac-

rament of Confirmation was be-

stowed upon us. We were ma-
turing, and appropriate and

necessary graces were deposited

in our souls. The importance of

the occasion was shown by the

fact that a Bishop, with the full-

ness of the priesthood upon him,

came to confer this sacrament.

Elaborate ritual and the impres-

sive liturgy of the Church join-

ed hands to make unforgettable

this moment of our spiritual ma-
jority. We were now adults in
the Church of Christ; we were no
longer just childish members; we
were fighting soldiers in the

army of Christ. This was Con-
firmation Day, and the strength

commensurate with our new
tasks and opportunities came at
this special visit of the Holy

Ghost to take possession of our

souls. We were ready for the
fight!

It’s In Us—What Has Come Out
Of Us?

How long has it been since you
thought about these special Con-

firmation graces? Have you be-
stirred them, cultivated them,

used them, or have you been con-

tent to let them slough off

through the pagan environment

in which we live? The problem of
living as a Christian is particu-

larly difficult because of the non-

Christian world which surrounds

us, and many of our failures are
due to the forgetfulness of the

courageous graces which are

banked in the souls of the Con-

firmed.

There Is Power To Burn In You!

There is an axiom in the spir-

itual life that God always gives

us the strength necessary to per-

form any task He has intended

for us. It is the will of God, our

salvation, and in Confirmation

we are made strong to achieve



26 MAIL-CALL

this salvation as an adult in our

modern world and in our present

circumstances . If there is a fail-

ure, it cannot be attributed to

God—he has done His part. If
there be a failure, it is wholly

ours, and there will be dismal

failures unless we support our-

selves, and lean on the strength

of God which He has made avail-

able for us.

You Must Be A Superman!

Supernatural means something

more than natural; a man must

be more than mere man, he must

be a superman, and this extra

something is the grace of God

when it is put to work. Look deep

into your heart, and recognize

again the accolade of Confirma-

tion graces; the spirit of Wis-

dom, of Understanding, of Coun-

sel, of Fortitude, of Knowledge,

of Piety, and of Fear of the

Lord. These were the special

gifts that the Holy Ghost

brought with Himself to your

soul. How long have they re-
mained dormant in your keep-

ing? Put them into action! You

received your citizenship papers

in the Kingdom of Christ when

you were baptized—you were
enlisted and commissioned in His

army when you were confirmed

—you are equipped, you must
fight, or you are a traitor to

Christ's cause!

Be a superman in this spir-

itual struggle by using the su-

pernatural equipment in the am-

munition cache of graces in your

confirmed soul .



Through These Gates

With the advance of aviation

we’re beginning to realize better

what it means to live in one’s

element. We understand now
that there is instant death for

us if we get beyond the oxygen

belt in the upper strata of, the

atmosphere. We cannot breathe,
we cannot exist without oxygen.

It would be a great help to us

if we could as easily see the ef-

fects of mortal sin in a soul. The

grace of God—freedom from
mortal sin, is as necessary for

the life of the soul as oxygen is

necessary for the body; the soul

dies outside its element. Com-

manding Officers have some idea

of this truth. They frequently

request every Catholic man in

their outfits to go to Confession

as they prepare to move into

battle so that they will have the

courage that they have witnessed

in those who have just received

this sacrament. It is the testi-

mony of our fighting fronts that

there is no fear of physical death

in those who are free from spir-

itual death .

We Make Mistakes

It is a characteristic of hu-

man beings that we often fail to

do those things which we know

are correct—knowledge is no
definite guarantee of proper con-

duct. It is a part of the per-

sonal history of each one of us

that we have had failures like

the rest of humanity. God knew

this weakness of our make-up,

and He arranged that we might

correct our errors and profit

from our mistakes. Christ in-

stituted the Sacrament of Pen-

ance so that men might not be

the victims of their own fool-

ishness and frailty.

Enemies Of God To Friends Of

God

Penance is the one sacrament

which, is administered as a judi-

cial process—a priest acts as a
judge on the sins which the peni-

tent makes known to him. Christ

delegated His power of forgiv-

ing and of retaining sins to His

apostles and to their successors,

the priests. The sinner takes a

very active part in this Sacra-

ment, for by Contrition, he rec-

ognizes the gravity of his offense

against God and wills to avoid

this sin in the future; in Con-

fession, he submits his sins to

the priest’s judgment; and by

the satisfaction, he accepts the

imposed penance and he makes

the recompense demanded by the

judge. The road of friendship

of God must be made at the

stations—Contrition, Confession,
Satisfaction, and Absolution.

Don't Worry About God!

Penance affects the soul and

not the body. Contrition is a

product of the will and it does

not change one external circum-

stance. The drunkard does not



28 MAIL-CALL

lose his taste for liquor, or the

lustful dull his appetite of the

flesh. The same temptations

will exist and the same weak-

nesses are present in the sin-

ner; the only change is in the

soul. Future sins may happen,

but they do not affect the genu-

ine contrition of the previous

confessions—forgiven sins are
destroyed and cannot be resur-

rected.

Confessing our sins hurts our

pride
,
hut it helps our humility.

It rarely occurs to a Catholic to

cheat in confession, because it

brings no relief
;
in fact he com-

mits spiritual suicide. All we

need do is tell our sins simply,

nakedly, truthfully; not exag-

gerating them, minimizing them,

excusing or explaining them

away. After we have made a

reasonably diligent search (not a

torturing self-analysis) and told

our sins honestly with sufficient

frankness—we need have no
further concern; the ultimate

responsibility is the priest’s, if

he needs to know anything more

he will ask! Satisfaction for sin

is just another evidence of God’s

liberality—there is nothing that
we can do which will compensate

the injury offered to God by

sin. It is only God’s generous

acceptance that takes the trifling

penance imposed by the confes-

sor and gives it such value, and

not the quality or quantity of

the work itself. Most people try

to perform their penance before

their next confession, but fail-

ure would not bring back the

sins, although we might thereby

be guilty of a new sin of negli-

gence.

The Absolution of the priest

must be given to every truly

penitent sinner who approaches

the Sacrament—this is some-
thing you need not trouble your

mind about in the least; it's the

priest's joy to welcome a re-

turned sinner in God's name.

Here we have the ladder out

of the mire of sin to the eternal

battlements of heaven; here is

release from slavery, here is

friendship with God, here is life

for the soul—here is the gate of
heaven

—

open it frequently and

walk in!

It will always remain a mys-

tery how sinners can pass by

the gates of the kingdom of

heaven and prefer to remain in

sin! Refusal of confession by

sinners is a deliberate choice to

refuse God admittance to our

souls and our lives.



A Good Confession
When we shut God out of our

lives, then we experience the

only real tragedy we shall ever

know. When our soul is a cap-

tive of mortal sin, then we have

accepted defeat. The mortal

sinner is the most abject failure

in the world; he has severed the

life-line of God’s grace to his

soul; he has sold out his price-

less soul for the mortal sin which

possesses it.

Break The Bonds And Breathe

Again!

Christ knew that men were

weak and would fall into serious

sin and so He instituted and left

for our use the Sacrament of

Penance. Catholics can break

the chains of sin which tie down

their souls, if they will but make

a good Confession. In the midst

of the most cruel war, peace

comes to the soul that has wel-

comed the return of God to it.

Men in the service—any priest
vnll hear your confession, any

time!

There is nothing to prevent

any man from the reception of

this Sacrament, except his own

personal refusal. There will be

some who claim a language hand-

icap; this is a purely and imag-

inary difficulty. Follow these

suggestions and you will make a

good Confession:

Before: Examine Your Con-

science—Make a true appraisal
of your thoughts, words and ac-

tions, neither excusing or im-

puting false motives; ascertain

the approximate number of

times; be honest with yourself

and with God.

During: 1) Tell the priest Hovj

long it has been since your last

good Confession .

2) Tell your sins in English,

you know them best that way;

call them by the names you know,

the priest will understand. If

you want the Confessor to help

you, ask his assistance; all that

he is, all that experience and

study have made him, all that

prayer and God’s grace has in-

spired him, all the knowledge of

his own sinfulness and God’s

mercy, all admiration for your

courage in overcoming your nat-

ural embarrassment, all these

qualities are associated in the

person of your priest—confes-
sor—use him and all that he is.

3) After the priest has as-

signed your penance, make your

act of contrition . You may say it
in any language in which you

know it. God understands all

languages. The words are not so

important, but the contrition, the

sorrow for sin, which must ac-

company the confession is abso-

lutely essential—no sin can be
forgiven unless we are sorry for

it!

If you do not know an Act of

Contrition in any language and

time permits you will find this



30 MAIL-CALL

form helpful

—

“0 my God, I am

heartily sorry for having offend-

ed you, because I dread the loss

of heaven and the pains of hell,

but most of all because these sins

offend You Who are so good and

deserving of all my love . I firm-

ly resolve until the help of Your

grace to confess my sins, to do

penance, and to amend my life .

Amen”

After: As soon as possible say

the prayers or do the good work

which has been given you as a

penance (it should be completed

before your next Confession)

;

this Penance has a very special

value because of its association

with the Sacrament.

Two Considerations Which Help!

God made it that way! The

reason we must tell our sins to

the priest is because he is no

mind-reader. Christ gave to His

priest a conditional grant of pow-

er to absolve from sin
;
the priest

must make a judgment in each

case “to bind or to loose,” and

he can weigh the case only after

the penitent has told him his

sins.

Everybody is ashamed! When

we narrate our sins to the priest

—a fellow human being—we are
embarrassed. This is natural

and helps our humility and en-

courages our contrition. Then,

too, once a sin has been told it

becomes a sin confessed, and we

can be proud of the courage

which prompted us to use this

Sacrament. This is the order,

this is the way:

—

Sin—Committed
Sin—Confessed

Sin—Repented
Sin—Absolved

Sin—Forgiven!



Emergencies Happen!

Many servicemen ask for in-

struction in the Act of Perfect

Contrition. I am fully aware of

the cause of this questioning,

but it might easily have its ur-

gency in the realization of many

that the fighting fronts are just

around the corner. When a man

is getting ready for that final

inspection he polishes up all his

equipment—when a man is an-
ticipating death and judgment

he looks to all the spiritual aids

of which he has ever heard.

Most men know now that they

cannot depend on the assistance

of a Chaplain at the last moment.

There are not enough Chaplains

to go around and even if one is

fortunate enough to have one

with his outfit, he cannot spend

a long time with one man for

others need him too. There will

hardly be time before our death

for an adequate confession, even

if there should be a priest avail-

able. What can a man do for

himself in these circumstances?

The wisdom of God has fore-

seen all eventualities; He knew

our helplessness at- this awful

moment; He made it possible for

us to help ourselves. The Perfect

Act of Contrition is the life-pre-

server that is thrown by a loving

God to a man drowning in sin .
We do not need to wait until we
are in actual physical danger to

use this life-preserver; we ought

to use it the moment we have al-

lowed ourselves to be in spiritual

danger. The moment we have
fallen into sin and realize what

has happened—that moment we
ought to elicit the most perfect

Act of Contrition of which we
are capable.

Sin is an offense against God—
Contrition is genuine sorrow

for that offense—Perfect Con-
trition is prompted solely by our

realization of the goodness of the

God Whom we have offended.
When other motives, for ex-

ample, loss of heaven and fear

of hell, etc., join our sorrow, then

we have imperfect Contrition, or
attrition. Attrition plus the Sac-

rament of Penance is the normal

means for a Catholic to rid him-
self of his sins—Perfect Con-
trition with the promise of Con-

fession is the extraordinary

means of removing sin from
souls—it’s the best we can do at
the moment.

Perfect Contrition destroys sin

directly, although it carries with

it the obligation of future Con-

fession as soon as possible. Per-

fect Contrition turns from sin
in disgust because we have of-
fended God Who is so good. We
may not feel the sorrow in the
least—feelings have nothing to
do with the conviction and choice

of our wills. To say and mean,
“0 my God I am sorry for hav-
ing offended You Who are so
good” is a Perfect Act of Con-



32 MAIL-CALL

trition. No set form of words

is necessary to express our real

sorrow, a very brief ejaculation

may readily contain all the neces-

sary elements, as long as its

motives are genuine, as for ex-

ample the cry, "My Lord and My
God” wrung from a heart con-

scious of its failures and of God's

goodness. However, many men

have asked for a set form of the

Act of Perfect Contrition which

they might commit to memory

and use frequently. Many men

have found this Act of Contri-

tion helpful—learn it—use it

—

you will have it when you need

it.

"0 my God
,
I am sorry that

I have sinned against you, for

you are so good; 1 will never

commit these sins again . I firm-

ly resolve with the help of Your

Grace, to confess my sins, to do
penance, and to amend my life ”

Amen .
Use this Act of Contrition

whenever you offend the good

God, because you love Him. At

least say it each evening before

you fall off to sleep. Whenever

you are in danger have this Act

of Contrition on your lips and

in your hearts. When any buddy

is dying say this Act of Contri-

tion with Him, whisper it into

the ear of those who are ap-

parently unconscious.

Know it—Love it—Use it!
Save Souls through it!

The key of Heaven—Perfect
Contrition!



Be Busy With Christ!

We know that Jesus Christ is
God and therefore that there are

no limits to His power. We are
aware that Jesus Christ was

man and as such lived and died

on this earth. What we should

never have known, unless we

were told, was that Jesus Christ

so loved His fellow men that

He chose to employ His Godly

power so that He might remain

forever on earth with His weak

brothers.

Belief in the real presence of

Christ in the Blessed Sacrament

is the distinguishing mark of

the genuine Catholic .

We may talk of fatiguing la-
bors undertaken solely for the

glory of God
;
we may accept suf-

fering and hardship and poverty

and dishonor to emulate the Mas-

ter; we may be internationally

famous for our works of kind-

ness and charity; we may

spend ourselves completely in the

works of God, yet all these are a

complete waste of time unless

they are all inaugurated, car-

ried on, and completed in rela-

tion to Christ's dwelling in our

midst.

Christ came into the world and

has never departed from it !

—

He deliberately chose the low-

ly appearance of bread and wine

so that he would not frighten

us away. He knew how narrow

these human minds of ours are,

and that when He would demand

that we receive Him as food it
would unduly tax our credulity

unless He retained the appear-

ances of food. Thus at the Last

Supper He became bread and

wine (as far as externals were

concerned) by His command

“This is My Body—this is My
Blood."

And so as long as there are
priests to continue His directions

and celebrate Mass
,
there will be

Christ Who is food and drink for
His people . The early Christians

understood this; they received

Christ in Holy Communion at

daily Mass. It was left for a

proud and haughty people to re-

fuse the proffered assistance of

Christ and to rediscover our ut-

ter helplessness without Him.

Once more a distraught and war-

torn world is admitting the com-

plete failure of its vaunted pow-

ers. Something is missing and

that something is Jesus Christ.

He has been the lonely Christ

of the Tabernacle, but He has

not been the busy Christ of the

office, of the factory, of the mill,

of the mine, of the kitchen, of

the camp, of the ball room, of

the amusement park. Those

whom He has trusted to bring
Him to these places have refused

His Command—He has remained
the Prisoner of the Tabernacle.



84 MAIL-CALL

There are some who have not

failed Christ. There are over

100,000 Servicemen who are re-

ceiving Him in Holy Communion

every day—they are parading
Him in their barracks and on the

fields of battle.

There is the soldier and his

wife who both receive Holy Com-

munion each morning at 7 o'clock

so that they can spend this time

together with Christ.

There are the few on the

Home Front who welcome Christ

regularly in their hearts and

show Him to their neighbors as
they work and play.

There must be many, many

more who will join this marching

army of Christ-Receivers and

Christ-Paraders before this be-

comes a Christ's World.

Our plea to all Servicemen is

—Receive Holy Communion as
often as you go to Mass. Build

up your spirituality now for the

difficult and dangerous days

ahead ! Put Christ in your heart

and lean on Him! It is either

forge ahead because Christ

strengthens our weakness, or it

is the betrayal of Christ with

the pleasure kiss of words with-

out action. If America is to

accomplish her destiny, the

Americans must be powerful by

the power which Christ alone

imbues. It must be Christ in us

Who prevails or we fail—Amer-
icans dare not be Christ-less!

Meet Christ and your family

and friends at the Communion

railing!



Make A Touch!
Every Catholic must attend

Mass every Sunday and Holy

Day. Sickness or an important

duty from which you cannot be

excused are the only legitimate

reasons for absence from Mass.

The Serviceman, who under-

stands, will want to attend Mass

as often as possible; that's why

many of these men are now get-

ting to daily Mass—they want
to recharge their souls—they
want to touch God.

The Mass Is Not An Endurance
Contest!

Those who think that atten-

dance at Mass is simply the act

of spending a half-hour in a

particular church and going

through a series of motions do

not know what the Mass is. The

Mass must be understood and

participated in, if it is to be

what Almighty God intended it

should be when He instituted it.

The Mass Is A Sacrifice!

We hear a great deal about
sacrifice during these war days,

and it is not difficult for us to

understand that when we give

up our money, our comforts, our

lives or whatever we hold dear

for some noble purpose, we are

making a sacrifice . This reason-

ing is only an indication of the

real meaning of this word. Orig-

inally to sacrifice (sacer and

facere) signified to make some-

thing sacred. This “sacredizing”

was accomplished by setting this

thing aside and reserving it for

a holy purpose. Strictly speaking

a sacrifice from the beginning

meant the careful choice of a

sensible gift (one that could be

seen and felt) and the public

offering of it to God by an au-

thorized agent (the priest) and

the consumption or destruction

of it to testify to God's dominion

over His creatures. The Mass

fulfills all these requirements, for

the bread and wine which are

clearly evident to all, are espe-

cially set aside and ceremonious-

ly offered by a priest to Almighty

God
;
as the Mass progresses the

consumption of these gifts is ac-

complished and the Creator's

supremacy is acknowledged.

Man's Way!

Until the 16th century no re-

ligion had ever been conceived

without the idea of the sacri-

ficial ceremony within it. There

is every evidence today that an

effort is being made to re-intro-

duce this element in the groups

where it had been outlawed be-

cause of its associations. To of-

fer a sacrifice is man's one meth-

od of proper expression to his

God. It is the way of human na-

ture, of men, to demonstrate out-

wardly what is felt in the heart.

And so the Catholic offers the

Sacrifice of the Mass to God be-

cause he feels the obligation of

sending an expression of his



36 MAILhCALL

heartfelt convictions to his Cre-

ator.

Because God is so good in

Himself, we want to praise Him.

(We always congratulate the one

who is good at sports, etc.,—in
fact we join in the presentation

of a trophy to him.)

Because God has been so good

to us, we want to express our

gratitude. (We don’t just say

“thank you” to one who has done

a kindness for us, we like to give

them a box of candy or a foun-

tain pen.)

Because we have not been good

to God, we want to show our sor-

row. (We are often not satisfied

with an apology to an offended

friend, we prefer to give a gift

as a concrete expression of our

repentance.)

Because we want to be good,

we ask favors from God. (It is

a human habit to make a peti-

tion by giving a present, viz.,

—

the politicians’ cigars.)

All these duties we owe to God

(adoration, thanksgiving, re-

pentance, petition) and must be

given expression not only in

words but in deeds. We must
show by what we do that we

adore and thank God and that

we are repentant and petition

Him . These are the things that

a Catholic does in a human way

in his offering of the Sacrifice

of the Mass. God does not need

the Mass, but we need to express

what we think and know of God.

Use the Mass, frequently, to say,

“I adore and thank God and I

am sorry for offending Him and

I ask His constant assistance.”

TJse the Mass to touch God!



To Marry Or Not To Marry—Now?
Since the exodus of service-

men overseas has been so accel-

erated, everyday’s mail contains

this question, “Should I get mar-

ried now?” Young people, both

men and women, faced with a

lengthy military service are per-

plexed as they try intelligently

to plan their lives. The impor-

tance of this answer cannot be

overemphasized—it is not an
overstatement to say that in all

probability your spiritual and

temporal welfare will be deter-

mined by the correct solution of

this query. There is no set an-

swer which will hold in all cases

;

every situation is different and

your best method of procedure is

to visit a priest and discuss

frankly your personal problem

and its ramifications with him.

There are, however, a few broad

outlines which might help you

clarify your thinking.

There are many prudent people

who will say that now is not the

time to be married. Many good

reasons can be given to support

this opinion.

1.

There can be little or no

family life after marriage and

most likely for some time to

come. It is no help to either hus-

band or wife to begin the inti-

macies of married life and then

suddenly to have them broken

asunder by the necessary separa-

tions which military service de-

mands. This enforced break-up

of family life is one of the grav-

est moral perils induced by the

war.

2. How shall their children be
cared for and supported? If the

wife must work to earn her live-

lihood, what will happen when

her motherhood makes it impos-

sible for her to retain her job?

3. It’s an emotional approach

to say that by getting married,

one feels that he has something

real to fight for and something

valuable to return to after the

war. Genuine love is not de-

stroyed by a few months of de-

lay; all history is filled with ex-

amples in which marriages had

to be postponed because of de-

mands of something bigger than

the individuals, viz., a career,

scholarship, sickness, etc.

Father Gartland, succinctly

gives this very good advice, when

it can be followed

:

“Fight First—Marry Later.”
There are cases where it may

seem best to marry now. These

thoughts should be carefully con-

sidered before the decision is

reached

:

1. Hoio long have you known

the girl? How frequently have

you been in her company? Is she

from the old home town? Is she

of your social level? Does she

know what you look like in civil-

ian clothes or has she been cap-

tivated by a uniform? Do you

know each other’s families? Is



38 MAIL-CALL

she a Catholic with a knowledge

of the perpetuity (no-divorce)

of marriage? Is she the person

with whom you want to spend

the rest of your life? Is she the

person whom you want to moth-

er your sons and daughters? Will

she help you and your children

to save your souls?

2. How much in love are you

?

Can you be in each other's com-

pany without becoming the vic-

tims of your passions and per-

mitting your association to de-

scend to a sinful plane? Is sin

a regular part of every party?

Are you demanding the privi-

leges of married life and cheap-

ening and destroying your love

for each other?

These questions are by no

means exhaustive, but are mere-

ly indicative of the lines of

thought which must present

themselves to prudent persons

before they assume the awful

responsibility of marriage in

wartime. You will easily under-

stand that much more remains

to be said on the subject, but

you must take the initiative to

investigate your own situation.

Your chaplain, your pastor, any

priest with whom you can be
most frank and confidential, will

be happy to place himself and his

priesthood at your disposal. Your

parents will be able to give you

the accumulated advice of years

of married life.

Use your priests—use your
parents! Pray to God and He will

strengthen your decision!



The Answer!
We would say a word to you

about the marriage privileges.

Many men are shocked when they
enter the service, at the atti-

tude of their buddies towards

sex. Ignorance and misinforma-

tion may excuse some, but every
Catholic man should know the
place of sex in God’s plan. Don’t

accept the unreal and distorted

imagination of your irreligious

comrades
; any priest will be

happy to answer frankly and

completely any honest question
on this subject. You have to
know

,
hut he sure that your

knowledge is correct
, for only

“the pure of heart will see God.”

Sex has almost become a man-
ia in our day. It is the constant

subject of conversation
;
it forms

the theme for almost every nov-
el, play, and movie. It has been

magnified to such a degree that

it seems to be an obsession for
many. This is to be expected
for as Monsignor Sheen reminds
us: “Think about your mouth
for five minutes

, and you nave an
undue concentration of saliva .
Think about your heart for five
minutes

,
and you ivill believe you

have heart trouble . Stand on a
stage and think about your
hands

, and they will begin to feel
as big as hams . The balance and
equilibrium of the whole system
is disturbed when an organ is
isolated from its function in the
whole organism

, or divorced from

its higher purpose
”
Consequent-

ly those who are always talking,
reading, and thinking about sex
are apt to be prepossessed by it.

There is probably no subject
about which so much misinfor-
mation is broadcast as about sex,
and yet our attitude to it is like-
ly to determine our attitude to
nearly everything else. There is
a natural reticence (modesty)

about this subject; however,

there is no one more anxious
than the Church that a correct
knowledge of it should be given
to every person. It is only when
this function is isolated from the
personality and separated from
its purpose that it assumes a
position out-of-proportion to its

proper place.

Sex is one of the powers with
which God has endowed the body.
A distinct pleasure has been at-
tached to it because God was an-
xious that men should properly
employ its functions. Man is by
nature selfish, and he would not
have been anxious to cooperate
with the Creator in peopling the

earth if a great enticement had
not been held out to him.

When God placed upon man-
kind the terrible responsibility

for human life—this participa-
tion in His power of creation—
He knew that He was fearfully
burdening men and women. To
bring children into the world, to



40 MAIL-CALL

assume the responsibility for

their eternal destiny
,

to suffer

as mothers have to suffer and to

make the sacrifices that fathers

have to make
,
well, it was asking

a great deal and God never asks

without giving abundantly in re-

turn.

The whole source of much of

the trouble in today's world is

that men are seeking to have

this pleasure without accepting

the obligations—they are steal-
ing that which does not belong

to them and degrading one of

the most beautiful things of life

to a selfish means of pleasure.

The Church Looks At Souls

It is often said in derision that

the Church is too much concerned

with spiritualities, souls, etc.,

and has its head in the clouds.

The real secret is that because

the Church loves souls so much

She stands alone in Her

high regard for the bodies of

men—for She respects the bodies
that shelter those souls and that

shelter, too, the life germ of un-

born races. Our Bodies carry

germs to which God may some-

day unite immortal souls as He

united our souls to the germs

carried in the bodies of our fa-

thers and mothers. Yes, every

woman's body is meant to be the

sanctuary of souls; every man's

body carries a life germ, to which

may someday be united an im-

mortal spirit•

All this is to be brought about

through the intimacy and sanc-

tity of marriage. Sex, then,

rightly employed is not some-

thing sordid or impure; why it

makes us sharers in the creative

power of God. The purpose of

the Sixth Commandment and the

Ninth Commandment is simply

to assist stumbling men to bridle

this great power and to restrain

the inordinate advances of sel-

fish men, so that reason may rule

instead of passion.

The sex instinct itself is na-

tural and therefore sinless, as

sinless as hunger and thirst. It

is the instrument under Provi-

dence for the propagation and

perpetuation of the race. It is

only when reason is forced to

abdicate and lust is enthroned

that the power ive have to peo-

ple heaven becomes for us a per-

sonal ability to people hell.



The Bridge Between

With the constantly mounting

casualty lists it is necessary for

us all to face death and under-

stand its purpose in God's plans.

This critical moment is the one

time we stand alone before the

Divine Judge. Preparation for

dying has more than usual in-

terest for us now. Christ,

through the medium of the

Church, would follow us even to

the abyss and beyond—He has
given us a Sacrament that

bridges the gap between life and

death and life-eternal. It's con-

soling for us to know of the care

that God would exercise for us

at this awful moment; it is most

practical for us to understand

this last anointing—Extreme
Unction . It is only in the clear

and truthful presentation of

these facts that the constant

“courting of death” by our Chap-

lains at the fighting fronts takes

on real meaning. Our priests

will venture any danger, so that

they might accompany a man

through these perilous moments

and extend to him the helping

hand prepared by God's provi-

dence and established by Jesus

Christ for them. Here is the

touch of the Divine, and no one

should be deprived of its

strength.

Father Walter Farrell, O.P.,

in his Companion to the Summa ,
Vol. IV, has told the whole story.

He says, “Extreme Unction is

another of those divinely in-

stituted sluice gates which man
has only to throw open to have

his soul flooded by the living

waters of divine life.

“The dying man is at the end
of his resources. This prayer,

which is the form of the sacra-

ment is a supporting arm raising

him from the pillow that he

might accept the divine draught.

He is slipping out of the arms
of his mother, the Church, and in

that prayer there are all good

wishes and pent-up love that is

too deep to find more lengthy ex-

pression. The priest says : ‘May

God by this anointing and His

loving mercy pardon you what-

ever by sight, hearing, smell,

taste, word, touch or step, you

have done amiss,' anointing each

of the members of the body as

he says the appropriate words.

“It is a simple ceremony, a

matter of a few moments. It is

not unlike a Pullman porter's

personal pride in his passengers'

appearance as he fusses about,

brushing shoes, coats, hats,

straightening things so that

everyone will be in perfect order

when the train pulls in. Its

simplicity suggests the little, in-

significant touches that love

prompts when it wants its loved

one to look his best; like a moth-

er's last moment poking, pull-

ing, arranging of a child's clothes

before entering the oH home-



42 MAIL-CALL

stead with its eagle-eyed in-

spection.

“As a matter of fact, the sim-

ile of a mother and her last-

minute arrangement of a child's

clothing is a quite accurate pic-

ture of the primary effects of

the sacrament of Extreme Unc-

tion. It is not primarily ordered

to reconciliation of a rebel with

God nor to the resurrection of

a man from the dead; it is to re-

move the slightest smudge from

the face of a man's soul, to as-

sure his mother, the Church, that

the garments of his soul are

spotless, that his robes hang

just right, most becomingly.

Mother Church is preparing to

introduce her child to the an-

cestral mansion, the home of

her forefathers, and she insists,

lovingly, on her child looking

its best.

“However, Extreme Unction is

ready for whatever it may find

in the soul. It is never caught

unawares.

“Coming upon mortal sin in

the soul of a dying man, it gets

in its destructive blows, not

accidentally or indirectly, but

with the efficiency of a detective

who carries his gun even when

off duty. Extreme Unction has

hidden powers designed especial-

ly for this; its purpose, you see,

is to prepare a man to meet his

God, to groom the soul of a man

for entry into the kingdom of

heaven, however much groom-

ing be necessary."

From these conclusions it must

be apparent how important this

Sacrament is to a world that is

sending its Youth so regularly

to the portals of death. It must

not be left to chance—our re-
ception of this great Sacrament.

We must be able to depend on
each other to procure for us the

inestimable advantage of re-

ceiving Extreme Unction when

we are in danger of death. God's

helping hand is reaching out gen-

erously to our dying men and

women. May our human hands

assist in bringing God's inner-

vating touch to weak and weary

souls.



The Fight Is On
Only soldiers of Christ fight

temptations: Traitors give up

without a battle!

1) Everyone living is tempted

.

You have not been picked out

and made the special target of

the devil; you are simply shar-

ing in the heritage of human na-

ture.

2) No temptation is ever a sin.

No matter how long it lasts or

how strong it may become, temp-

tation and sin are two entirely

different things.

3) God never permits us to be

tempted beyond our strength.

When St. Paul complained about

the terrible temptations which

constantly harrassed him, Al-

mighty God answered him: “My

grace is sufficient for thee.”

Tempting

1) The invitation. Something

evil is presented as something

good. This may occur accident-

ally, or it may happen because of

some action that is necessary.

There is no sinfulness as long as

this suggestion to evil takes place

without wilful provocation.

2) The Pleasure. Our bodies

are so closely knit together, that

a mere suggestion in the mind is

enough to cause a sensible de-

light. This experience is not

sinful as long as it is not willed;

feelings are not sins.

3) The Choice. The only force

which can make a temptation in-

to sin is the deliberate choice and

approval of it by the will. Your

consent begets a sin
, and the

guilt is immediately attached to

the soul
;
the outward act is only

an expression of the interior

choice. The sin is that you have

chosen that which offends God.

Whence

1) The World. God is outlawed
by the world and a constant

struggle goes on between these

two forces. Look at the maga-

zines and books, the shows and

movies of today’s world and you

see the overthrow of all that

Christian morality holds dear;

you see the sponsorship in them

of the things that seek to de-

throne God.

2) The Flesh. Man’s first state

of perfection was mortally

wounded by Original Sin. The
great gifts of God were thrown

back into His face, and we all
have been forced to live without

the helps He intended for us.
This intense spiritual weakness,

abetted by induced physical se-

ductions, has paved the pleasure

road to hell with beguiling prom-

ises, (always promises) of hap-

piness ahead.

3) The Devil. Satan hates good

men for he knows they will take
his place eternally with God. He
still retains all the shrewdness

with which he was originally en-

dowed, and he devotes his exist-

ence to devising cunning means



44 MAIL-CALL

which will prevent men from

coming to heaven.

Why

1) Proving our souls. It's only

when something has been put to

a test that its true merit can be

judged. Metal must be refined

by fire that the dross may be

removed. In the designs of Prov-

idence this same method of prob-

ing is employed to examine our

protestations of love and loy-

alty.

2) Progress in sanctity . There

is nothing that will so readily

destroy self-pity and pride and

cultivate humility as a serious

temptation. Humility is the cor-

nerstone of sanctity, and it is

often forged on the anvil of

temptation. Also, every tempta-

tion put to rout is a new declara-

tion of our allegiance and love of

God.

3) Penance for sins. Atone-

ment must be made, either in this

life or the next, for every sin

committed. Divine justice must

be satisfied. Ample opportunity is

offered many times in the strug-

gles against temptations to com-

pensate in our small way for the

injury afflicted.

Conquer

1) Be calm. Have no fear that

you will be overcome by the temp-

tation. You are the only one who

can make the choice, and no one

can force a bad decision on you.

2) Be circumspect. The best

attack is often a retreat from the

field of battle, with new plans

executed with the help of the

Confessor, and new ammunition

brought into play through the

use of prayer and the Sacra-

ments.

3) Be confident. Any person

might be beaten if he depended

on himself, but no person can be

harmed who cooperates with the

grace which God willingly gives

to all who seek it.



Here's Your Life!

There are many things that

surprise a man when he enters

the Service and one of the most

startling experiences is the prev-

alence of sin. Many men seek-

ing sin—men boasting of sin—
men unashamed of sin—this con-
dition is difficult for many of

our boys to understand . The an-

swer is a triple one.

1) Many men perform sinful

acts because they do not know

any better . Ignorance will ex-

cuse many from sinful guilt. Be

fair and don’t blame men too

easily—they may never have had
the advantage of your training

and education. God will never

condemn a man for something

which he had no opportunity to

know. You can often “wise-up”

such a fellow, and he will be

grateful to you for the rest of

his life.

2) We are born inclined to

sin—we have a wounded human
nature. In Adam’s serious re-

bellion against God we all had

a share for he is the father of

the whole human race. (We take

the name and the classification

of our families when we are born

into them—ive are given their
limitations and advantages auto-

matically. Coming from the

family of human beings we were

marked with the characteristics

of its father (Adam), and we

are restrained by its inherent

weaknesses.) Adam’s sin of

pride, avarice and disobedience

becomes our inheritance through

our reception of human nature.
This Original Sin of the head

of the human race is ours, and
we must understand it so that
we may not be destroyed by sur-
prise. Original Sin is not a

personal sin insofar that we
have not committed it personally,

but it is a family sin which we
contracted by becoming a mem-
ber of the human race. The hu-
man race suffered because of
this sin and was left wounded.

The extra endowments
#
which

God had granted in Original
Justice (immortality, immunity

from suffering and death, etc.)

were removed. Our human na-
ture was left naked to fight its
battle of coordinating the var-

ious conflicting elements (spir-

ituality vs. materiality) which

make up man. The fight goes
on constantly, and it is only the

participation in the life of God
(grace) which gives the edge

of supremacy to the spiritual na-

ture of man. We are born now
with leanings away from God

—

we are always inclined towards
sin. The perfect balance in our
animal and rational natures was

destroyed, and they are perpetu-

ally at war. The only thing which

throws the balance toumrds God

is the pull of His grace. The only

cure for the infection is a reach-

ing up and a leaning upon the



46 MAIL-CALL

outstretched hand of God. The

seeds of civil war were planted

within us when we shared in

human nature and Original Sin.

3) The devil is nobody*s fool—
he is very active and he is al-

ways promoting sin—that's his
business. Don't discount the

devil; he is much more clever

than we are and he is much

stronger than we are naturally

—it is only through the super-

natural help of God's grace that

the devil can be tamed and put

in his place and held there. The

devil is always “on the make"

for sin, and it is up to us to

break him down.

Servicemen, here are some of

the explanations for the sin that

surrounds you—they are not ex-
cuses but they are aids to under-

standing the life in which you

now live. God has not “left us

orphans," and we can handle -all

the occasions that arise—a temp-
tation can never overpower us

unless we are willing to “sell

out" to it—to contract the guilt
of a sin we must deliberately

choose it.

Help yourself and your bud-

dies by making at least your en-

vironment
, free from serious

sin!



The Enemy!

Our greatest enemy is an in-

sidious one whom most pepole
do not recognize. The power of

this enemy is gigantic
,
he is al-

ways fatal
,
he withers that upon

which he breathes
y
he kills that

which he touches. He is always

disguised, if he carried his true

colors he would always be put

to rout, but he is much too clever

for that. His greatest advantage

is always to appear as something

other than what he really is.

More people have been fooled by

him than by all the other coun-

terfeits in the world put to-

gether. He is deadly in critical

times like the present. He saps

the very life’s blood from us

Americans and from our coun-

try. This traitorous enemy is

mortal sin. We must ferret him
out and crush him every time his

head is raised. We dare not let
ourselves open for the devastat-

ing blow which he always wields,

if we are unprepared for his

attack.

Recognize a mortal sin! A
mortal sin must be a grievous

matter!

It must be a serious matter;

it can’t be a trifle of any kind.

If you willingly take the life of

an innocent person, if you would

steal another man’s wife or prop-

erty, if you ruin a comrade’s

reputation, if you, through your

own fault, miss Sunday Mass, if

you violate the purity of your

own body or that of any one else,
if you destroy your reason

through excessive drinking, if

you deny God, abuse Him or His
name, if you break any Com-
mandment in a serious way, you
have the “makings” for a mor-
tal sin.

A mortal sin must have suffi-
cient reflection!

You know what you are doing.
It’s no surprise attack, your edu-

cation and training have pre-

pared you to recognize this evil

when it came along. It did not
happen “before you knew what
was coming off,” you had re-
flected upon it, you had thought

about it, you knew, you under-

stood.

A mortal sin must have full
consent of the will!

The temptation can come about
a serious matter, and you are
fully aware of the grievousness
of the unsought invitation to
evil, and it stays with you, and
you can’t seem to get rid of it
. . . there is no mortal sin as

long as your will has not con-

sented. (The fact is that you
earn God’s grace for the fight

you put up; if the devil finds

that you always take a partic-
ular temptation and throw it
back in his face and merit some
grace for the battle, he grows
weary of the attack and calls off
his dogs.) If you are partially
asleen you cannot have full con-



48 MAIL-CALL

sent of the will ; you cannot have

any sin until you have deliberate-

ly chosen with a definite yes, the

serious evil which has been sug-

gested.

All three factors, serious mat-

ter, full awareness

,

and deliber-

ate choice must be true at the

same time about the same thing

before there exists a mortal sin

;

if anyone of them or any part

of them is absent, there is no

mortal sin .

In God's Eyes!

A mortal sin kills the soul and
makes us God's enemy. Just as

an electric light bulb is dark

and worthless and dead until the

wire connecting the current is

attached to it, so the soul with-

out God's grace (in mortal sin)

is dark and lifeless. The mortal

sinner refuses his allegiance to

his Creator; he is absent with-

out leave from his Commanding

Officer—God . He must return to
duty or be judged and punished

as the traitor he is.

In Our Own Eyes, If They Are

Open!

Mortal sin seems to promise

us happiness ! However it is only

a fantasy. We are not speaking

here of pleasure or momentary

satisfaction, but of genuine hap-

piness. Remember that the hu-

man race has been seriously sin-
ning note for thousands of years;

men and women have tried every

conceivable sin and yet not one

person in all those centuries has

ever achieved happiness through

sin . In view of this historical

fact it is rather presumptuous

to think that we would be the

first to do what no other person

in the history of the world has

done. This apparent happiness

is only a trick of the devil which

he uses as bait!

Mortal sin seems to give free-

dom! We Americans are most
chary of liberty—it is one of the
things we are fighting for! The

trouble arises from confusing

liberty with license, however lib-

erty is doing what we ought to

do, whereas license is doing what

we are able to do without any

reference to its morality. These

addicts of false freedom start oif

with loud voice proclaiming their

freedom, when actually in time

they are chained slaves no long-

er able to refuse the temptations

to habitual sins which they have

fostered.



Your Score With God!

We are told that one of the

greatest difficulties about the

Sacrament of Penance is the Ex-

amination of Conscience. Many

times a strong man fears this

ordeal because of a mistaken no-

tice of what he is to do.

Mortal Sin

Three things must all be true

about a sin before it is mortal

—

if any one of them is wanting,

it is only a venial sin.

Grievous Matter—something
serious, it cannot be a trifle.

Sufficient Reflection—you must
be able to recognize the sin.

Full consent of the will—you
must make a deliberate choice

of the sin.

Every offense must be weighed

in these scales, after it has been

decided what Commandment has

been broken.

The Commandments of God!

1. Have you willfully encour-

aged doubts against your faith;

have you studied your religion;

have you participated in non-

Catholic religious services; have

you prayed regularly or are you

depending on some magic to save

your soul?

2. Has your speech shown re-

spect for the name of God or

blasphemed (insulted) Him;

have you called God to witness

an untruth
;

have you cursed

(wished evil to) anyone; have

you kept your solemn promises

to God?

3. Have you properly attended

an entire Mass on Sunday and

Holydays?

4. Have you shown love, re-

spect, and obedience for your

parents and superiors?

5. Have you ruined your health

by excessive drinking or eating;

have you promoted quarrels, hat-

reds, enmities, or fighting?

6-

9. Have you guarded jealous-

ly the great power of becoming

parents which God has loaned to

you? Because of the seriousness

of this tremendous trust every

immodest thought, word (stories

and songs) and action is grievous

matter.

7-

10. Have you taken any-

thing belonging to another
;
have

you returned the stolen article;

do you pay your debts, return

things found to the owners,

cheated or envied the good for-

tune of others?

8. Do you lie; did you judge

others rashly; did you repair

the damage done to their char-

acter?

The Commandments Of The

Church!

The Church commands us to

fast (those over 21 to eat only

one full meal) on certain days and

to abstain (eat no meat) on Fri-

days and other set days. He who

does not receive the Sacraments

of Penance and Holy Communion

at least once a year has cut

himself adrift from the Church,



50 MAIL-CALL

The Church has charge of the

Sacraments. The Sacrament of

Marriage must be performed ac-

cording to the laws of the Church

—a priest must witness the mar-
riage of a Catholic.

The Capital Sins!

The Capital Sins are pride

(exaggerated ego), covetousness

(unreasonable attraction to ma-

terial things), lust (disorderly

sex instinct), envy, (sorrow at

others success), gluttony, (ex-

cessive eating or drinking),

anger, (unreasonable inclina-

tion to revenge), and sloth (neg-

lect of our duty.)

Take your score and present it

frankly and fully to your con-

fessor. Be sorry because these

sins offend God; absolution and

forgiveness are always forthcom-

ing. Do not allow shame and

false self-respect to rob you of

the peace of a good, pure con-

science. Do a thorough job

—

your Confession is as good as

your preparation for it has made

it!



"Come In, God"

It seems from the letters that

we receive from the Servicemen

that our greatest help that we

can give at this moment is to

furnish a comprehensive “ex-

amination of conscience,” or as

one Marine puts it “tell us the

things that are wrong with us

all and in a way that we will

recognize what you are talking

about.”

When we speak of an examina-

tion of our conscience we usual-

ly mean an orderly review of our

conduct in relation to the Com-

mandments of God and the Pre-

cepts of "the Church.

God’s first commandment

seems far removed from service-

men—it stresses the existence of
God and the special place we

must reserve for Him in our

lives. The first part of this Com-

mandment is emphasized by the

men who are in the field when

they testify “that there are no

atheists (deniers of God) in the

foxholes or in the cockpits of

our fighting ships.” These men

know there is a God—they have
touched Him, and they have seen

Him operate.

The greatest task facing most

servicemen is to make God the

Stranger—God the Friend. God
always remains the same so the

change must be effected in our-

selves. We must approach God
differently, we must come to

know Him intimately, we must
familiarize ourselves with God.

We come to know God better
by prayer. Sometimes men in

the service grpw ashamed of

praying because they think it is

a sign of weakness. (It is true

—

it is a sign of weakness—it is
the open confession that we hu-

man beings are frail and need

God). On the other hand it takes

a great deal more courage to

kneel down and say your night

prayers in a crowded barracks

than in the privacy of your room

back home. Many men have

testified that they got their faith

and the necessary strength from

seeing some sturdy comrade pub-

licly pray each night in spite of

the chatter, wisecracks, and vul-

garities that surrounded him.

“If he can do it, so can I.” This

encouragement has started many

a soul back to God.

Tie Your Day Up With God!

At reveille: The moment you

jump out of bed and start dress-

ing, “think of God and say a

word to Him.” Offer Him every-
thing you will do that day, all

your thoughts, words, and ac-

tions. That will help you to make

them worthy of His acceptance.

During the day: When you are

about to tackle a particularly

tough assignment, call in God to

give you a bit of a boost. When

you come to your meals, (even

if it is only ration K) thank God



52 MAIL-CALL

for His supplies and ask His

blessing.

At night: A review of the day,
see where the failures happened

and why they happened—ask
God’s pardon, say your Act of

Contrition paying particular at-

tention to “heartily sorry for

having offended You who art so

good” and “I firmly resolve to

confess my sins, and to amend
my life.”

After they get into their bunks

many servicemen take their ro-

sary is finished and that’s all-

saying it. This practice takes

care of their thoughts and keeps

their minds away from the “bar-

racks-talk.” Our Blessed Mother

is glad to hear from them and

anxious to help them fight for

her special virtue of purity.

Many fall asleep before the Ro-

sary is finished and that’s all

right with God, (there is an old

tradition that the angels take

up where we leave off and finish

the rosary.)

Some men will make the Sta-

tions of the Cross which they did

not have the opportunity of do-

ing in a Chapel that day, by

holding the Crucifix of their Ro-

sary which has been especially

blessed for this purpose and say-

ing 20 Our Fathers, Hail Marys

and Glory be to the Fathers. (If

anyone does not have a rosary or

a crucifix with this special “Sta-

tion Blessing” on it, we shall be

happy to send them one if they

will write and request it.)

In this manner the whole day

can be sanctified; you are com-

plying with Christ’s command of

“Pray always” and you are lay-

ing in a supply of spiritual

strength that will take care of

you under any circumstances. A
serviceman who prays is one of

God’s servicemen—He will never

let you down.

Think of God, say a word to

Him—that's praying . “Pray Al-
ways.”



What's !n

Those with whom you live are

a cross-section of the world,

called from every sort of home

and from all types of work, the

educated and the unlettered; the

perverted and the good ; the

honest and decent, and the wick-

ed and decadent—these are your
barracks-mates and mess-mates.

Their language expresses their

thoughts and their training. You

can judge a man by his speech!

Are We A Christian Nation

?

When you listen to the “bar-

racks-talk” would you believe

that Americans believed Jesus

Christ is their God? If you are

looking for excuses they are

easy to find, as for example bad

habits or faulty training. How-

ever, is there ever reason enough

for a man-of-God to excuse the

constant abuse of God's name?

You would not permit the name

of a friend or a buddy to be in-

sulted. Any red-blooded man

would fight, if the name of his

mother, his wife, or the woman

he loves, is cheapened or held up

for ridicule or insult. A weak
and indirect insinuation often is

sufficient cause to draw blood.

How can it be then that we are

so patient and long-suffering

when the name of our God is

abused and insulted? Is it that

we love God less, or not at all?

There can be no denying the fact

that frequently curses and oaths

A Name?
and vulgarities fill the mouths

of many of those with whom we

associate. These “weak-sisters”

are not the real patriots. True

Americans respect the name of

their God, and they do not water

down their courage by cowardly

abuses of God's name. Respect

for God means respect for His

name—love for God means love
for His name!

Must We Take It?

We do not permit the repeated
and continued insulting of the

name of anyone whom we cher-
ish. No one has the cause or the

right to constantly bandy about

and trifle with the name of

Jesus Christ ; He is our God! We
must first worship His name our-

selves and then we must demand

reverence for the Sacred name

from those with whom we asso-
ciate. You may be assured that

he who insults the name of God

will not be a dependable friend

of yours in time of a crisis; he

shows the yellow streak every

time he stains his lips with the

Holy Name; in addition he con-

fesses his ignorance, for he

knows not what to say so he bor-

rows what he believes is a dis-

play of manliness and stumbles

into a sinful insult to God's

name. No officer and no enlisted

man has the right to abuse God;

no true American will be asso-

ciated with these vile-mouthed

braggarts!



54 MAIL-CALL

Let Others Know!

Your attitude to the Holy

Name and your conduct towards

those who abuse this Sacred

Name will be more effective than

all the sermons in the world.

Men may kid you at first, (it

helps pass the time) but soon

there comes a realization within

them that they can trust the

man who keeps faith with his

God. Help each other by pro-

tecting God’s name, so that

through that Holy Name by
which all men are to be saved,

our country may be preserved.



Not An Endurance Contest!

In an examination of con-

science servicemen are apt to

pass by the first three Command-

ments rapidly with the attitude

that they refer little to them. We
have seen already how prominent

a place the first and second com-

mandments hold in our lives with

their demands for respect for

God and for His name. We must
express our reverence and love of

God even more definitely and

thus the third Commandment

with its obligation of Sunday

Mass. The Church has sought to

follow her men and has given

permission for Evening Mass for

servicemen
;

thousands of men

(who would never have thought

of it at home) are gathering

around the altar each day. The

minimum is the Church’s demand

for Sunday Mass. All branches

of the Service have regulations

that a serviceman should be giv-

en the opportunity of attending

Mass; hardly any duty (outside

of the theater of war) is so es-

sential that it cannot be post-

poned for a short time or ar-

ranged to be covered by someone

else, so that a man can go to
Mass.

Sunday!

“Remember thou keep holy the

Sabbath Day” is the concise way

in which God made known His in-

tentions. It is very reasonable

that part of each week should be

devoted to praising and thanking

God from Whom all things come.

Sunday was chosen by the Apos-

tles instead of the Sabbath to

distinguish this new religion

from the old, and because Christ

rose from the dead and the Holy

Ghost descended upon the Apos-

tles on a Sunday.

To keep Sunday holy we must

do two things :

—

1. Abstain from servile works,

that is all unnecessary physical

work, it makes no difference if

one is paid for it or not.

2. Practice the duties of your

religion : this means primarily

attendance at Mass.

We as Catholics, following
Christ, believe and teach, that the

Mass is the Sacrifice of the Body

and Blood of Jesus Christ of-

fered on our altar under the ap-

pearance of bread and wine , in

commemoration of the Sacrifice

of the Cross . We further say that
the Sacrifice of the Mass and of

the Cross are Identical because

the sacrificial gift—Christ, and
the sacrificing Priest—Christ,
are the same in both. The Mass

brings Calvary to us. To assist

at Mass is to stand by the Cross

of Christ. The Church, realizing

the magnitude of the Mass, was

moved to insist that her children

must participate in this sacrifice

every Sunday and Holyday. This

definite legislation was necessary

simply because men had grown

to love ease and self to such an



MAIL-CALL56

extent that they would not accept

their obligation. To clear their

vision and to return true values

to their rightful place the Church

had to insist on a minimum re-

quirement. Once a person re

-

alizes what a Mass is, no com-

mand is needed. When Christ

comes to die for us we will be

there to share His suffering with

Him.

A One-Way Ticket

The Scriptures are filled with

accounts of God's mercy to sin-

ners
;
however there is a striking

distinction to be noticed. When

the bad angels refused to wor-

ship God with their “we will not

serve," He punished them im-

mediately by thrusting them into

hell for this deliberate grievous

sin. God is merciful to those who

have fallen into impurity, drunk-

enness, sloth, etc., although they

are grievous offenses against

Him, but He knows that they

are often sins of weakness, of

passion. God did not give the

rebel angels another chance and

He is inclined to limit the

chances of those who miss Mass

for this seems to be a deliberate

affront against God tantamount

to saying “we will not serve you

by attending Mass."

It is the testimony of experi-

ence, times without number, that

missing Mass is the pafent-sin

of losing one's faith. If you could

ask the inhabitants of hell what

was the secret of their downfall,

the majority would admit that it

was this sin. The deliberateness

of it makes true contrition very

difficult to obtain. God pities

weakness, but He hates rebellion.

Mass every Sunday and Holy-

day!



You've Got A Boss
Servicemen live by authority.

When larger groups of people

are living in close companion-

ship, it is very necessary that

the roads on which they travel

be clearly marked. The life-line

of authority is one of the first

things that a new serviceman

learns; he must respect and obey

his superiors. In time of war it

is almost a blind obedience which

is demanded because of the need

for prompt and unhesitating

movements. The root of all au-

thority is in the fourth com-

mandment — those who have
faithfully obeyed the authority

of the home have no trouble

obeying the authority of the

camp. The spoiled weakling is

set for a rude awakening and

some difficult days. In the Ser-

vice, men are forced to obey, for

such obedience is necessary to

the proper prosecution of the

war. It may well be that now

since you have left home the

duty to your parents takes on a

new perspective. You never out-

grow your obligations to those

who brought you into this world,

and if you really learn to ap-

preciate them you will have no

trouble now respecting the au-

thority vested in your superiors.

God speaks of honor for our

parents in the Fourth Com-

mandment. The honor we owe

our parents demands from us

reverence
,

love and obedience

.

The reasons for this are obvious,

for next to God a man must

thank his father and mother for

the life of his body. Such was

God’s way of welding the whole

human race into a family.

Reverence—It is a truism that
we revere those from whom we

receive benefits. The great gift

of existence came from God

through our parents and that is

why they have been commis-

sioned by Him with certain

rights and authority so that they

might be responsible for that

with which He entrusted them.

In many ways we can show our

reverence to our parents as re-

ceiving their corrections willing-

ly
,
by excusing and hiding their

faults and by always speaking

well of them.

Love—He who has respect for
his parents will also love them.

Gratitude demands love and we

can show this proper affection

by being patient with our par-

ents
,
by trying to please them by

helping them especially in their

old age
,
and by praying for them.

Have You Written To Your

Parents Recently

?

—Regularly

?

Obey—He who has respect and
bve for his parents, will obey

them and he will do this for his

own good. Parents have learned

many things in the hard school

of experience, and they are an-

xious to protect their children

from making mistakes. Their



m MAIL-CALL

counsel is usually very safe and

should be followed. Reverence

and love for father and mother

never ceases but obedience ad-

mits of limitations. When a child

has established himself indepen-

dently and has moved from the

parental home after his 21st

birthday, then the obligation of

obedience is not as strict as be-

fore, but the dutiful child will

always hold the advice of his

parents in high regard.

Every serviceman must obey

those who have authority over

him—a refusal is punished rap-
idly and severely. Disobedience

of any kind is a sin, but dis-

obedience in the Service carries

additional guilt for it impedes

the war effort. The person who

issues the command assumes full

responsibility for the action!

Honor Your Parents!—

Honor Your Superiors !

—

and you will honor God from

whom all legitimate authority

comes and to whom all who exer-

cise authority must be respons-

ible.



There's A Right Way!
In an examination of con-

science there is one command-

ment that is regularly passed by

quickly. This is the Fifth Com-

mandment which says, “Thou

shalt not kill.” There is no ques-

tion of taking another person’s

life in most minds for they

understand that in a just war

this may be the only means of

defending our own lives, and in

the case of an unjust aggressor

the right to life can be lost. The

reason for the careless investiga-

tion of this commandment arises

from the fact that people forget

that anything which may wil-

fully abuse the health of the

body can be a violation of this

commandment

.

Our reason was

given to us to direct our care of

our bodies and our souls. When

our reason is gone then we are

left to be the game of every

passing mood and every violent

suggestion. Reason is our safe-

guard and when this protection

is removed, we are pushovers for

any prompting of our lower

natures.

Drunkenness has always been

associated with armies. Some

people are of the opinion that all

servicemen are “drunks.” The

truth is that a very small per-

centage of our servicemen will

permit their reason to be stolen

by intoxicants. Now that so
many young boys are entering

the Service there might be a

danger that they might be con-

fused about this matter, so we

shall speak of it clearly.

Drinking in itself is no sin.

This has always been the teach-

ing of the Catholic Church. The

excess of drinking , like any other

abuse, is sinful. The degree of

sinfulness depends on our wilful-

ness. Because excessive drinking

of intoxicants removes our rea-

son, it is easy to understand that

this condition will lead to other

serious sins.

With reason gone, man is left

the victim of his animality which

is all that remains. With our

animal nature predominant and

no reason to assert itself and

safeguard us, it is but natural

that sins of impurity are en-

couraged if an opportunity pre-

sents itself. When the flesh pre-

dominates and reason is clouded

or obliterated theft man will seek

to satisfy the promptings of his

flesh. What may have started

out to be a pleasant party of

sociality ends by becoming an

orgy of sinfulness which will

stain and may easily ruin all

chances for happily married life

in the future. A terrible toll to
pay so that others may think

that we are “good fellows.”

If you know or suspect that

you cannot stop drinking with-

out going to excess, then you

must forbid yourself to evei



60 MAIL-CALL

start drinking . The capacities

of men are different; you know

yourself well enough never to

venture out beyond your depth.

Don't think you are a magician

who can start a fire in a dry

woods and get away with less

than a forest conflagration.

Accidents happen, it is true, but

only a fool will play with the

fire that he knows will destroy

him.

Everyone admires the man

who recognizes his weakness and

refuses all intoxicants—he is a
man . It takes more genuine

courage to say no to the gang

than to “just go along" with the

crowd. There are those heroes,

too, who say, no, simply to make

the sacrifice and to encourage

others who may be weak and

need the companionship of ex-

ample to make this difficult de-

cision. (If you have found that

you need assistance to bolster

your strength, the best sugges-

tion is to tap frequently the

reservoir of God’s grace, con-

tained in the Sacraments of

Penance and Holy Communion,

and you will find the help you

need).

Charles Lamb has left us a

memorable expression which

should deter any man from be-

coming a victim of intoxicants.

He says:

“Could the youth (to whom I
speak) to whom the flavor of his
first drink is delicious as the

opening scenes of life—look into
my desolation and be made to
understand what a dreary thing

it is when a man shall feel him-

self going down a precipice with

open eyes and a passive will; to

see his destruction and have no

power to stop it, and yet to feel

it all the way emanating from

himself
;

to perceive all good-

ness emptied out of him, and yet

not be able to forget a time

when it was otherwise; to bear

about the piteous spectacle of

his own self-ruin; could he see

my fevered eye—feverish with
last night’s drinking, and fever-

ish—looking for this last night’s
repetition of the folly;—it were
enough to make him dash the

sparkling beverage to the earth

in all of its mounting temptation

and to clasp his teeth against

it."

Need more testimony he offer-

ed? I think not . Total absti-

nence is the only security.



See God!

The most difficult detail as-

signed to a modern serviceman

is to guard inviolate his purity.

War has always had a tendency

to tear the natural safeguards

of morality down, and in a pagan

age like our own catastrophe has

many helpmates. The Sixth

Commandment has always been

a stumbling block for the human

race—-there is a great deal of
confusion about it because of

ignorance and misinformation.

Tho Church is most anxious that

you would understand—ask the

priest, he will be happy to ex-

plain everything for you.

Tomorrow’s Fathers!

The power of sex which God

has placed in each man is to

make you able to be a father in

the tomorrow. Many men make

this mistake of thinking that

their sexual power belongs to

them simply because God has ap-

pointed them to guard it. When

you put your money in the bank

you do not give it to the banker,

you simply deposit it for safe-

keeping so that it may bear in-

terest in due time. If the bank-

er were to take your money and

spend it, you would raise a riot,

for it does not belong to him, it

belongs to you. Sex is God's

power which He has deposited in

men with the provision that it

bear interest in the manner He
has outlined. We are only the
bankers of this ability to be-

come fathers—we do not own it
—God owns it and sets down the
rules for its uses. Many of the

troubles arise from the miscon-

ception of men who argue that

their bodies are their own, and

they can do what they want with

them. We are only the bankers
—we are not the owners .

As usual, God has been very

kind and He has attached great

pleasure to the sexual intimacy

which generates children. God

loves life and He wanted many

souls to share heaven with Him,

so He did everything to encour-

age new souls to be born. How-

ever, He did not want these

children to be deprived of the

assistance of their home and

parents and thus the sexual in-

timacy was to be restricted only

to the marriage state. When a
man and women participate in

this marriage intimacy, they

say to each other, “You are the

only person I really love; you

are the only one whom I want
to be the parent of my children."
—This is the unity of genuine
marriage—this is the “one flesh"
by which the Scriptures refer to

matrimony.

Immodest thoughts
,

impure

thoughts, flesh thoughts, will

come to you as long as there is

flesh on your bones. If you put

up a battle to control your

thoughts, there is no sin, no mat-



MAIL-CALL62

ter how long the fight lasts or

how intense it becomes. The

fact is that you get some grace

for the battle.

Immodest Speech

,

dirty stories

come from sewer minds. The

humor never excuses the dirt.

Hanging a mortal sin on the soul

of a friend is a costly way to

provoke a laugh. The tongue

which cradles the Eucharistic

Christ in Holy Communion

should not chisel a hole in hell

for an acquaintance.

Immodest Actions, with or

without an accomplice, are de-

liberate thefts of God's power

and rights. Because of the seri-

ous consequences, any such

extra-marital act is a mortal sin.

There are not two sets of moral

laws, one for men and one for

women; both are bound by the

same law. No one wants a

second-hand love or a soiled love.

Marriage intimacy need not al-

ways produce children, it has

other purposes, the fostering of

a mutual love and the satisfying

of the sexual appetite, but these

are only extras which a gener-

ous God has attached to the abil-

ity to cooperate with Him in

bringing others into this world.

Nature reeks her own vengeance

on those who make a plaything

of God's greatest trust—you can
see the results of this sin in any

hospital.

Keep on constant watch, never

lower your guard, call in Jesus

Christ—in Holy Communion, so
that you can protect your purity,

—your stake in tomorrow's
world—in tomorrow's heaven.



His And Yours!
When Almighty God gave the

7th Commandment, “Thou shalt

not steal” He already indicated

that a man has a right to own

things. No one can steal some-

thing from a verson unless that

person really owns that thing

.

This commandment refutes those

who assert that “all things be-

long to all men.” It is a natural

reaction for a man to be more

careful of his own possessions

than of those things which are

common property—Be it ever so
humble and poor the fact of

ownership gives the added in-

centive to careful guardianship.

G. I. Issued

Servicemen are issued by the

Government the necessary cloth-

ing and equipment to accomplish

the task to which they have

been assigned. A serviceman
owns (for the time of his serv-

ice) these G. I. issues

.

No one

has the right to presume that

whatever the Government owns,

or whatever another serviceman

has been issued, can be “borrow-

ed” because he too is serving the

government. Each serviceman

owns his own G.I. issues, and he

has no right to any other man's.

Stealing is one of the most

seriously punished crimes in the

Service. When men are living

in such companionship they must

be able to depend on each others

honesty. One thief can destroy

the morale of a whole battalion,

and the officers will go to any

extreme to ferret out the dis-

honesty and punish it severely.

Cards
,
Dice, Etc.

Gambling is not always sinful.

Betting under certain conditions,

can be lawful and a source of

recreation. In any legitimate

game of chance these four con-

ditions must be present:

1) The money used must not be

needed for any higher pur-

pose. It must be “free mon-

ey” that is, which we are

permitted to use for recrea-

tion. If a man has an obli-

gation to anyone (even him-

self) to use this money in

some other way, he must not

chance it on the turn of a

crap or the throw of dice. If

the “betting money” is prop-

er “recreation money” then

he may use it in any decent

way he pleases.

2) The bet on which the stake

is placed must be an even

chance

.

If there is an unfair

advantage on either side,

then the bet is dishonest and

sinful. Unless there is an

equal chance on both sides,

there can be no honest bet.

3) If the time given to these

pursuits is needed for duty

or other needs then it would

be sinful to waste it in rec-

reation. If the game be-

comes a passion robbing a

man of healthful recreation



64 MAIL-GALL

and necessary rest, then his

gambling has become sinful.

4) As long as all those who par-

ticipate in the game of

chance can afford such rec-

reation, then you may join

them. If, however, your par-

ticipation will make it pos-

sible for some weak charac-

ter to feed his unruly gam-

bling passion, then you may

easily be the occasion of sin.

It is much better to seek other

types of recreation than gam-

bling while in the service, be-

cause of the many restraining

conditions.

A Peculiarity!

A broken seventh command-
ment has a strange condition

which must be fulfilled before

forgiveness can be obtained.

Restitution—paying back—must

be made for every theft before

the guilt is removed.

1) If the exact thing cannot be

returned, then its value must

be replaced.

2) If the definite person cannot

be reached, then it can be pre-

sumed that the real owner

would be willing to have this

recompense made to some

charitable institution.

3) If such restitution cannot be

made immediately, then the

willingness must be present

and the beginnings of the

effort must be made so that

forgiveness can be sought in

the Sacred Tribunal of Pen-

ance.

Respect every man
,
and his

possessions — God guards the
legitimate ownership of every-

thing!



You Are On Guard!
Someone has said, the first

casualty of war is truth. We
have been witness to the most

complete disregard for the

pledged word between nations

that the world has ever seen,

and in its wake has come the

most brutalizing war that his-

tory has recorded. Unless truth

is again welcomed back into the

lives of men and of nations,

—

there will never be peace but

only a succession of armistices

during which to prepare for the

next war. We hear so much
about love of God and of neigh-

bor; and the fatherhood of God

and the brotherhood of men, and

yet if truth will not be respected

and honest dealings practiced

and the plightful word held sac-

red, then we've done nothing but

talk and ive’ve built on sand.

It Means You!

God has given a special com-

mandment to safeguard truth

and He intended that it should

reach down and touch each one

of us and in all the circumstan-

ces in which we might find our-

selves. All men despise a liar

—

men without any religious affili-

ations will still respect truth and

hate a lie. In the intimacy of

service life there is probably no

greater source of sin (with the

possible exception of sins of the

flesh) than the selfishness of un-

truth. You will meet many men

who consider a lie as a clever

means of escaping a difficulty.

Many of your comrades will not

be able to understand your re-

fusal to defend them and their

actions with an untruth. The

so-called “little white lie” will

not even trouble the conscience

of a good many for they have

forgotten or never knew that it

was the sin which made this

important and not the present

consequence. Nothing ever ex-

cuses an untruth; the end does

not justify the means.

How To Tear Down

!

We are going to list the vari-
ous methods by which people

destroy truth, so that you may

recognize them and with God’s

help avoid them:

Lying—Speaking deliberately
and intentionally contrary to

one’s mind.

Detraction—Unjustly injuring
another’s good name.

Calumny—Unjustly (and un-
truthfully) injuring another’s

good name.

Rash Judgment—Imputing a
supposed sin to a man without

sufficient reason.

Contumely—Unjustly dishon-
oring a man in his presence. The

bitter horse-play of the barracks-

clown may often have shades of

this sin upon it, for its humor is

always at the expense of some-

one.

All these species of sin carry



66 MAIL-CALL

with them the obligation of re-

pairing as far as possible the in-

jury done. Untruth, in its vari-

ous expressions does not only

insult God, as every sin does, but

in addition it works havoc in a

natural way with people's lives.

In addition to the ordinary sor-

row for sin and the purpose of

amendment of not repeating the

sin, for God's forgiveness we

must also have the firm inten-

tion of repairing the injury.

You will understand from

what has already been said that

secrets must be safeguarded .

Your common life may make

available for you much infor-

mation which you may not re-

veal. Secrets which would im-

peril the life of our nation are

obviously a sacred trust; per-

sonal secrets belong to the in-

dividual. If a secret comes to

us either accidentally or inten-

tionally we still must safeguard

that secret—knowledge is not
permission to reveal personal

secrets. The contents of a let-

ter also enjoy the same sacred-

ness and the same safeguards.

The eighth commandment has

many ramifications and very

serious and frequent applica-

tions to a serviceman's life.

Much of the trouble in a bar-

racks is caused because of the

failure to know and respect the

rights of others as expressed in

the Eighth Commandment of

God — much of neighborhood
trouble would be eliminated by

a new exemplification of this

commandment, and nations could

be good neighbors if they would

rule their relationships by this

same Eighth Commandment.

Important !—why there is hardly
anything more important as we

look forward to a peaceful future

—but we start this peace with
ourselves and with those whom
we meet and influence because

of our association with them.

Respect truth even ivhen it hurts

and be watchful of the clever

disguises used by the devil to

fool us into believing that truth

can't be quite as important as

it seems to be.

Try it—be truthful today!
Keep the Eighth Commandment!

Build future peaceful days—

now!



Believe It!

You men, who are now - in

training for the days of combat,

are packing your kits with the

few essentials which you must

have when you get out there.

It's surprising how many things

we can do without if we must

and how very few things are

absolutely essential and indis-

pensable. Our religious life too,

will undergo such a shaving-

down process, for much of its

practice would be impossible on

the fighting fronts—we’ve got to
travel light and have everything

right with us—we’ve got to pack
our bags now.

One of the most necessary

things you’re required to have

in that spiritual kit—your soul
—is the virtue of faith. Faith
is a stranger in today’s world

for many claim unless they can

go through the experience for

themselves they will not believe.

Our young men have been listen-

ing to those who prat, “faith is

simply believing a little farther

than you can reason.” (Just to

keep the record clear, that’s not

faith, that’s insanity.)

Faith is not a blind acceptance

of absurdities—it is not a stupid
bending of the head to things

one would like to think true.

Faith is believing something

because you trust the person

who said it. Divine faith is

rooted in God—it means believ-
ing something because God has

made it known
,
because God has

guaranteed it.

Faith is the confession that if

a man needs a Commander-in-

Chief to guide him through all

his days in the Service and to

direct the visible things that

surround him, he surely needs a

teacher who can speak with au-

thority on the truly important

things which lie beyond the

reach of sense, the whence, the

why, and the whether of life and

just how far God, Who made us,
guides our stumbling feet and

strengthens our weak wills.

In Two Worlds!

The genuine Catholic lives in

two worlds, the natural world of

food and drink and drills and

studies and heat and cold and

sand and ice and sickness and

death and also the supernatural

world of the presence of God

and the avoidance of sin and

with the virtues of faith and

hope and charity and penance.

Many happenings in life only

make sense when seen through

the perspective of the super-

natural. Without faith we live

in a mad-house, for then all ex-

istence is a crazy journey with-

out rhyme or reason.

We must have faith in some-
one! It may be only our ser-

geant, our Commanding Officer

or our Commander-in-Chief, but

we must trust them or we have

defeated ourselves and our com-



MAILhGALL

rades. The only choice we ever

have in this life is whom are we

to believe—we must make a de-
cision. Is it not reasonable that

we should believe the all-knowing

God rather than any man ?

Whether we realize it or not, the

fact remains that we live mostly

by faith even with regard to the

natural things of life for it is

humanly impossible to experi-

ence all things personally.

On the supernatural plane, we

can only live by faith for that is

the only sight by which we can

peer into the mysteries that we

cannot touch or feel. Faith we

must have—our only choice is
whom and what shall we trust.

Faith is like a muscle—it be-
comes stronger with practice

—

it grows flabby without exercise.

How long is it since you said
your Act of Faith learned in

childhood? Resurrect it, if need

be, and put it in your Morning

Prayers, it will give meaning to

your day and to your life. Here

it is, say it, live it.

0 My God, I firmly believe
that Thou art one God in three

Divine Persons, Father, Son and

Holy Ghost; I believe that Thy

Divine Son became man, and

died for our sins, and that He

will come to judge the living and

the dead. I believe these and

all the truths which the Holy

Catholic Church teaches, because

Thou hast revealed them, who

canst neither deceive nor be de-

ceived.



Here's The Explanation!

In every outfit there are those

men who have given up—they
are the drag who hold back the

others—they are the hopeless

—

they are the candidates for “sec-

tion eight.” It is hope alone

which keeps us going through

the trials of our daily life—it is
hope that sustains the men on

the life rafts and those lost in

the jungle and those in the midst

of the fighting and those on the

hospital cots. Hope of another

day—a better day—is the only
thing which keeps them going.

Hope is indispensable to our

servicemen—if you don’t have
hope—go out and get it!

Here's Real Hope!

Hope, as a Catholic under-

stands it, is a supernatural vir-

tue that disposes us confidently

to expect from Almighty God
,

both eternal life and the means

by which it can be obtained.

Take away eternal life and the

pattern of Christian living is de-

stroyed—the on]y basis for hope
is gone. The grim consideration

,

as a matter of fact , is that life's

tragedies must be lived at all

events; the man without hope

simply endures them, the man

with hope sees in them some-

thing which at present is unin-

telligible, but which will in the

future days indicate the sustain-

ing Hand of God. To the Hope-

less, life is a crazy-quilt which

doesn’t make sense
;
to the Hope-

ful, it is a beautiful tapestry

of which the right side for the

moment is beyond the vision of

earthly eyes.

You Want An Explanation

!

Hope alone gives proper ex-

planation to Christian living. It

gives meaning to the present

prosperity of the wicked and the

apparent ill-fortune of the good

as well as the many revolting

facts met in everyday life. (Hope

explains the orneriness of alJ

C.O.’s, the toughness of every

first-sergeant, the frequency of

each lousy detail, the bad breaks

which always come to us.) All

these happenings have a real in-

terpretation in the light of the

optimistic virtue — Christian
hope—in the confidence in the
order of things as established by

God, namely that there is an-

other life after this one and that

there, finally, all will end proper-

ly. God is very patient and at

the end of His long day His way

will prevail and only His way.

(God’s funny that way — He
wants His own way and gets it!)

Touch God!

Faith sees God, but hope

touches Him. Increasing the

contacts with God increases hope.

Prayer and the twin Sacraments

of Penance and Holy Commun-

ion are the chief avenues by

which men reach up and God

stoops down to strengthen our

weakness . Every right use of



70 MAILhCALL

prayer and the Sacraments welds

this bond between God and the

hopeful soul more secure. To

use them properly is to strength-

en them.

Unreasonable Excesses Are

Ruinous!

Hope is snuffed out and de-

stroyed either through presump-

tion or despair. Look around

you and see the dearth of hope

in today's men. The constantly

mounting roll of suicides testi-

fies to those who have utterly

despaired and have thrown up

their hands and admitted their

lack of hope and their total de-

feat—they are cowards . On the
other hand, we have the millions

who have decided to get all they

can out of this life and let the

next one take care of itself.

They magnify the mercy of God

until they distort His justice,

and then they presume that re-

gardless of what they do or say

God will save them in spite of

themselves. (St. Augustine an-

swered them long ago: “God

created us without our help, but

He will not save us without our

help.”)

The destroyers of hope are

Presumption — over-confidence
and unreasonable hopefulness

—

and despair—lack of sufficient
hope, distrust of God.

Confidence in life, based on

confidence in God is a peculiar

characteristic of the Christian

soul. We trust in God and right-
fully distrust our weak and cor-

rupt selves. A part of our daily
prayers must be: “O my God,
relying upon Thy infinite good-

ness and promises, I hope to ob-

tain pardon of my sins, the
help of Thy grace, and life ever-

lasting, through the merits of

Jesus Christ, my Lord and my
Redeemer. Amen.”



Bui!d A New World!
Everyone ought to be able to

recognize you, and the distin-

guishing feature ought to be the

same mark that has always char-

acterized Christians. You will

remember how the first follow-

ers of Christ were pointed out

because “they loved one an-

other.” This mutual charity still

belongs to Christians and ought

to make prominent every Catho-

lic wherever he be.

Charity may seem to be an

odd virtue to expect in a service-

man, and yet there are more op-

portunities to practice charity in

the Service than anywhere else.

When men must live in close

quarters
,
and they are always

getting into each other's hair

,

(literally), it is difficult for

many to remember the love of

neighbor which they must have .

When small men (small in mind

and in character) obtain to

positions of authority and

abuse their privilege so as to in-

flict unnecessary hardships upon

others, it rankles men and saps

the charity from their veins.

The thoughtlessness of others,

the insincerity of those we

trusted, the unfaithfulness of

friends, the cut-throat tactics of

those bitten by the promotion

bug, the vulgarities of the un-

civilized, the obscenities of the

pagans and the ignorant, the

boastfulness of the weak, the

pride and selfishness of the dis-

couraged, the maliciousness of

the wicked, the failure of those

who are trying, living intimate-

ly with all these men, eating

with them, sleeping with them,

working with them, recreating

with them, hardly makes for the

environment in which charity

has a chance to breathe, much

less to live and grow strong.

Genuine charity can live any-

where; don't confuse the picture

!

There is Nothing More

Distorted!

Even well-intentioned persons

seem to formulate their own

opinions of charity and then

proceed to become lost in self-

admiration at their efforts to

conform to this pattern. Char-

ity is actually nothing more than

a supernatural inclination to love

God and to will His happiness.

It should be obvious that the

most we can do towards God's

happiness is to rejoice because

of what He, our God, possesses.

(As the young husband is proud

of the attractions of his wife and

the mother glories in the beauty

of her children.)

Don't Make The Mistake!

More damage is done to real

charity by confusing it with

feelings than by any other mis-

conception. We are not chari-
table because we feel charitable

—no, love is not a sentiment; it
is a disposition of the will. Sen-



72 MAIL-CALL

timent and feeling are like

flowers that grow upon charity

at times and then vanish. Char-

ity proves itself by actions bet-

ter than in any other way.

Our Magna Carta

A Christian's design for liv-
ing is brief and blunt. We must
love everything

,
first God, the

Creator, then His creation, be-

cause God is good and his handi-

work is good. All men must be

loved because of the prominence

and excellence which God has

given them in His creation.

God Has Made It Easy

!

To love God would have been

difficult if Christ, the Son of

God, had not come to earth to

redeem us. But now, we need

not build up our imagination so

that we love God; all we need to

do is to bring ourselves in close

union with Christ, strengthen

our intimacy and our friendship

with Him even to the point of

identification. We, Christ and I,

must hold all things in common;

His affections and aversions must

be ours, we must love what

Christ loves
,

blame what He

blames, emphasize only those

things which are important to

Him, and despise what He con-

demns—then we are really lov-
ing God.

This Is Real Charity!

Your daily round of activities

is filled with opportunities of

demonstrating your love of your

neighbor, not because you like

him, but because you love God

Who died for him and for you.
Give yourself the assignment of

five little acts of kindness to

your companions each day,

(arousing an oversleeping bunk-

mate, allowing someone to shave

in your turn, doing a little more

of your detail than your share,

passing up the second helping

to a more hungry buddy, not rid-

ing the company “goat,” skip-

ping an opportunity to make an

impression for promotion, de-

fending the “junior” of the out-

fit, accompanying the “outcast”

to town), these and many sim-

ilar things can be done to prove

that our love of neighbor has

followed us into the Service, and

we are declaring ourselves, for

the love of God Who loved us all
first and best!



It Belongs To Us!

Arms of anguish and suffering

are embracing the world. To a

degree never before imagined,

men are inflicting upon each

other sickness and death. There

is not a corner of the globe that

ts not touched with the racking

pain of men's cruelty to men.

Every step of progress in the

fields of science and machinery

has now been directed towards

the taking of human life pain-

fully and effectively. With a

unity of purpose, never before

achieved in the history of the

world, men are determined to

destroy their enemies. The daily

casualty lists of the newspapers

remind us of death and torture;

tne wounded and crippled are

returning in great numbers from

the battle fronts; the starvation

and poverty and homelessness

and tragedies of the victims of

Dombings are now a written rec-

ord, until there is hardly an in-

dividual who has not been

touched by the finger of pain.

We have come to the place
where we must work this busi-

ness of suffering into the pat-

tern of living or lose our reason.

How can God use this holocaust
which men have prepared? How
does suffering and death fit into

the Christian plan? We've got

to understand! The true answer

is contained in the fact that we

are Christians.

The Cross belonged to Christ

and is our heritage. Suffering

reminds us that we have no last-

ing residence in the place where

it is possible—we shall not re-
main eternally on earth but we

shall make our way through

earth's suffering to everlasting

happiness with God in Heaven.

God uses suffering in many

ways for us:

(1) It may be that through

suffering, our health or our

bodies are protected
,
as when a

flame warns us of the heat. This

is a natural occurrence which

safeguards the ‘Temple of God."

(2) Suffering is often the

final means of saving our souls.

Many eyes are opened and con-

sciences are righted under the

relentless whip of suffering. It

is now a matter of history that

many of our heroes have used*

their last few earthly moments

to come to God.

(3) Suffering beautifies souls.

The hard marble of our souls

must be subjected to the blows

of the hammer and the chisel be-

fore a thing of beauty can be

presented to the Creator.

(4) Suffering is often punish-

ment for sin. Every injustice

must be accounted for and some

of it ought to be done in this

life.

(5) Sometimes suffering can-

not be explained by any of these

attitudes; it is then we must



74 MAIL CALL

admit that there is much in the

mind of God that we don't know.

All we need realize is that our

cross—our suffering, is ready
when we are prepared to begin

calvary's climb with it. We
must all go through this purify-

ing experience, for we are not

greater than our Master. Our

love of our cross and our care

for its faithful pilgrimage to

crucifixion indicate our Catho-

lic religion as well as any cri-

terion that Christ gave us. Ask

yourself how you can take it.

The answer will indicate the

reality of your Christianity to

you.

Even when we do not live in

cragic circumstances like today

we can still use the Cross, in

iact we must use it. Your cross

may be patient acceptance of

suffering, of trial, of trouble, of

sickness, of misfortune, or it

may consist simply of living un-

complainingly the harrassing

annoyances of everyday life.

Nothing so much indicates the

depth of our Christianity as our

carrying of the cross which God

permits us to share. Anyone

may assist in the construction

of our cross; it may be our

enemy who deliberately plots

our ruin
;
it may be disinterested

persons whose indifference is

difficult to bear; it may well be

the blundering attempts of

friends who because of their

intimacy can forge a cross

weighted with lead, or it may be

a penance imposed on ourselves.

Our superiors, our families, our

roommates, our associates, our

inferiors, ourselves, all may have

a hand in shaping the cross of

suffering that we must carry if

we are to follow Christ.

Take up your cross and follow

Christ!



Through This Door!

War takes its toll in the lives

of those whom we know and love.

Almost daily we hear of some-

one near to us who has paid the

supreme price of patriotism.

Death, with its cold clammy

hand, has reached out to touch

most of us. Not long ago I spoke

with two parents who had recent-

ly lost their sons, and with two

servicemen who had that day

received word of the deaths of

their brothers; the parents had

been to a Requiem Mass, the

soldiers had both gotten drunk.

Herein lies the difference of at-

titude to death itself—what’s the
answer?

We must understand death

!

Death must be interpreted in

this pattern of living, otherwise

we find ourselves in a mad-house.

We cannot brush this business
aside and postpone our consider-

ation of it until we are old, for

it *is now the young who are

dying. We must look death in
the eyes, recognize it for what it

is and not fool ourselves about

it. Our knowledge of death will

determine our conduct and our

attitude to everything else.

1 must die! The most sober-

ing thought in this life is that

someday it will end for me.

Others will continue to inhabit

this workaday world, but my
time here will be completed.

There is an abruptness and de-

cisiveness about death unlike

anything else in this world.

There is no retracing our steps,

once we have crossed the line.

There have been millions of

deaths, and there will be millions

more. Some have sorrowed us

and others we never even heard

about but we are selfish enough

to know that no matter how a

death may sadden us and re-

adjust our lives, there is actu-

ally only one important death for

us, and that is our own. I must

die, therefore I must understand

death.

Death is not the end of living

but only its real beginning! We
are all traveling down a broad

highway, when suddenly some-

one of our group leaves our com-

pany and makes a turn on an-

other street and is gone from

our sight. This does not mean

that they have ceased to exist,

it means only that for the time

we are not in their company.

There is a loneliness that comes

over us for we miss their friend-

liness and their association—this
is the human part. The truth

is that they have gone on to a

more permanent life, in fact an

eternal life. For a genuine

Catholic there ought not to be

excessive unhappiness about the

death of someone close to them,

for other than the personal lone-

liness which death necessitates,

there is the conviction that they

are better off now than before.



76 MAIL CALL

For the work and pain and suf-

fering and worry and uncer-

tainty of this life are over;

stretching before them is an

eternity spent with God. The

struggle is over and the regard

is at hand.

The only important word! It

does not matter greatly when

(young or middle-aged or old)

we die or where (in bed, in our

own home town, or on the fight-

ing front of some foreign shore).

It matters tremendously how we

'Me. If we are in the state of

grace (free from mortal sin)

then our death is a success;

otherwise it is an irreparable

failure. We get only the one
chance! The choice we have

made at the moment of our death

endures for all eternity. God

Himself cannot change our de-

liberate choice-—that is the su-
premacy of a man’s free will

power, and nothing can destroy

it.

They are not far away! There

is consolation in the knowledge

that the Church is made up of

three parts, the militant—our-

selves working out our salvation

;

the suffering—the saved souls
being purified for God’s pres-

ence
;
the triumphant—the saints

in Heaven with God. These

three groups all belong to

Christ’s Church and can help

each other
;
our prayers and suf-

ferings can be offered for the

Suffering Souls, and the Saints’

intercession can assist both those

in Purgatory and those on

earth. This is the consolation

which should hearten a Catholic

—this is the explanation which
gives meaning to death—this is
the sunshine that fills our drab

lives—this is living—this is dy-
ing.

Today—Death's Day! Foolish
people delay their repentance

and reordering of their lives un-

til the day of their death. There

is an old adage which gives the

lie to such procrastination, it is:

“As was today, so will be the

day of your death.” We don’t
change greatly; we must always

be ready to go to God. Death is

the door to Eternity, when it

opens we meet God. Are you

ready for that meeting now?



What's Next?

Several servicemen have sug-

gested that we write about the

one thing that is facing us all

—death. A year ago, many of
these healthy, young men never

gave a moment’s thought to the

end of life, but with each casual-

ty list, the reality is coming

closer to home. It is the young

who are dying—it is the healthy
who are dying. There is no one

secure from its shadows, but

right now it seems to have its

finger on the strong and virile,

fighting youth of our country.

There comes a day for each one

of us which will be the day of

our death—we may begin it as
we have thousands of others, we

may live it and probably will,

as the many preceding days, but

we shall never see its conclusion.

Time will cease to exist for us

because with our passage

through the portals of death,

eternity, endlessness has begun

for us.

After Death—What?
There is one fact about which

there can be little dispute and

that is: After Death We Live.
Yes, our souls are spirits which

will always exist and the only

consideration is, where shall they

be? We choose their everlasting
homes. We place them either in
the eternal happiness, which is

heaven, or in the eternal frustra-

tion, which is hell, or on the

transitory state of purgation

which will lead ultimately to

heaven. Daniel the Prophet in-

dicates the definite Will of God

here, (12, 2) "Those that sleep

in the dust of the earth shall

awake, some unto life everlast-

ing, and others unto reproach,

to see it always.”

Heaven or hell, which shall it

be?

You must choose now . After

death—What?
Those who will spend their

eternity with God in Heaven are

those who lived with God while

they were here on earth. Those

who will live without God for-

ever in Hell are those who re-

fused Him and His claims while

they lived. They did not want

Him then, and He shall not in-

flict His presence on their per-

verted choices in the endless

days of after death.

However
,

only the perfectly

good come to heaven and only

the totally depraved go to Hell .

There must be a place for those

who are in between these two

extremes—there must he a state
where the many of earth's in-

habitants
,
who have not refused

God completely hut who have

failed in many little things
>
may

he purified of these failings, so

that they might enter into per-

fect union with God

We know that no serious sin
can be forgiven after death be-

cause that soul has deliberately



78 MAIL CALL

chosen to do without God; this

choice is irrevocable after death.

Yet we know from the Scriptures

that some sins are forgiven for

(2 Mach. 22, 46) “it is a holy

and wholesome thought to pray

for the dead that they may be

loosed from sins.” The sins to

be forgiven are those failings

usually called venial sins . There

is hardly one who cannot look

back remorsefully over a road

strewn with little selfishness,

wasted opportunities, uncom-

pleted tasks, idle words, indo-

lence, small vanities, uncontrol-

led temper, impatience, shallow

views, worldliness and laxities

of one kind or another in the

shepherding of his thoughts and

desires. This state of transition,

or purification, is called Purga-

tory.

Shall They Plead Of You In

Vain?

Among those who send wistful

petitions for our bounty are

many whom we knew and loved

—souls that beamed affectionate-
ly upon us through eyes which

the dust has quenched, souls that

ministered to us through hands

long since folded in peace, that

tended us and ran our errands

on weary feet now’ quiet forever,

souls that fought aside of us and

protected our lives with their

own. The secluded graveyards

of the world contain their ashes.

They hold close fellowship with

the rains and the long nights

and the winter winds. How re-
mote they are, and they were so

close to us. And yet how quick-

ly we forget. It is probable that

the dear dead who loved us are

suffering for faults and infideli-

ties which greiv out of their

love for us. If they had loved us

less and God, more
,
they would

not have to suffer now. What a

startling and awesome thought;

and yet God be praised, for He

has made it possible to compen-

sate for passionate treasons and

cold betrayals toward the living

by loyalties to the dead.

Pray for the Poor Souls in

Purgatory! You have some bud-

dies among them!



Make Your Reservation Now
Since many of our young men

are due to have a place on the

casualty lists of this war, there

is a much greater interest in

death and what comes after

death. This is a very natural re-

action, for we all want to know

where we are going and what

will we do there . We all admit
that death ends this life. What

then? Do we know anything

about the next life? We know
only what we have been told,

and that's very little. For ex-

ample, the little we know about

heaven is very much confused

by the environment in which we

live. When people put away the

theology of the Church, the*

fell back more and more on the

imagery of Scripture. So we

hear them talk and sing of

Heaven as a place of harps and

hymns and crowns of gold and

streets of jasper. These, of

course, are but symbols. As such

they are good, as far as they go

;

but they give us no more idea

of the life of Heaven than pic-

tures of men with wings give us

a notion of the being of Angels.

The result is that for the aver-

age man, Heaven, thought of in

terms of endless hymn-singing,

is anything but attractive. This,

however, is not the idea of the

Church. For Her, Heaven is the

clear vision of the perfect pos-

session of God with all that that

implies.

Where Is It?

No one knows. Our Lord never

told us and the Church has given

no decision. The chief thing to

remember is that Heaven is hap-

piness, a condition of the soul,

and its location could be any-

where God chose. God being

everywhere, He is present to all

souls. In a very special manner

He is the object of contempla-

tion of the souls now in Heaven

and is in possession of their un-

changeaole love. God is with

His Angels and Saints and that

is Heaven.

What Is It?

ffhen St. Paul wished to make

clear the happiness of heaven he

spoke about seeing God “face to

face." “Now we see in a mirror

obscurely, but then (in heaven,

we shall see) face to face. Now
I know in part, then shall I know

fully even as I have been fully

known." (by God) (I Cor. 13,

12-13) This is the happiness of

Heaven. It is called the Beati-

fic Vision. God penetrates the

soul and the soul sees God and is

happy eternally.

In this life we get our knowl-

edge of God indirectly through

creatures. By reason, we rise

from creature to Creator. In

heaven we shall see God directly,

there will be no creature between

God and the soul.

Another reason for Heaven's



80 MAIL CALL

happiness is freedom from sin.

The inhabitants of heaven not

only do not sin but they cannot

.

This condition is not incompat-

ible with perfect liberty. Real

liberty means freedom to do

what is befitting the nature of

the doer. Sin is an abuse of lib-

erty. It is a defect, an imper-

fection. The souls in Heaven

have been confirmed by grace

and all imperfections have been

removed. To the perfect soul,

sin is impossible.

(t

Beyond Lies God”

What awaits us in Heaven? No

one has known as well as Christ

Who was native there until He
came to redeem us. He could

not describe it for us. The in-

capacity, however, lies in us and

in our human speech. The saints

who were favored with special

visions, attempting to describe

Heaven, speak like stuttering

children. About the best de-

scription is the written state-

ment of St. Paul that Heaven de-

fies description. “Eye hath not

seen, nor ear heard, nor hath it

entered into the heart of man

to conceive what things God hath

prepared for them that love

Him.” (I Cor. 2, 9) Let our rea-

soned judgment fortify our dis-

turbing feelings. For Heaven

lies on the other side of this

blenching experience, called life.

Death and judgment make a

bleak and stormy passage. There

is but one way of regarding our

plunge into eternity as a toler-

able prospect. Christ made the

passage before us. He waded all

its depths of bitterness and

charted all its agonies. He waits

for us with divine concern to

join Him there,

It were a well spent journey

though seven deaths lay between

for eternity will be spent with

God by those who have loved Him

i

here .



Skip It!

There are some people who be-

lieve that because a serviceman

had died bravely he will go to

heaven—this is only wishful
thinking. God will give every

man what has been earned. Many

men find it difficult to believe in

hell, although they are frequent-

ly requesting people to go there.

The notion of hell, they will tell

you, is something medieval, out-

moded, incompatible with pres-

ent day living. For the modern,

Christianity has been stream-

lined in this manner. “There is

no more Hell.” Salvation is no

longer so urgent. Baptism is

chiefly a ceremony. Faith is

trust that God will always give

us good things and never evil.

Christianity is social action rath-

er than worship of God.”

No matter what persons may

think or feel about Hell, it is

how God sees it that is of im-

portance. It is easy for its to

make excuses for ourselves say-

ing that we could not have been

really responsible
,
since we did

not fully realize either the great-

ness of God or the consequent

wickedness of sin. We can be
very sure that when God lays

down an eternal punishment for

sin it is because mortal sin de-

serves it, even though we find

it difficult to see that there is

anything wrong with the sin at

all. It may well be that God's

main reason for threatening to

apply this great punishment for

serious sin was to teach us the

nature and great evil of sin.

Christ spoke very clearly on

this subject. He said those who

were guilty of serious sin at

the judgment would hear these

words “Depart from me, ye

cursed, into everlasting fire

which was prepared for the devil

and his angels.” (Matt. 25, 41)

All we need know about Hell is

contained in these few words.

1) There are damned in Hell,

“Cursed” by God. There is a Hell,

2) It will be “everlasting.”

3) These condemned will suf-

fer because they are forced to

“depart from God and because

of the “fire”

1) God has not created people

to damn them in Hell. They

damn themselves. As a person

lives
,
so he dies

,
and as he dies

so he will live throughout the

endless ages of eternity. A
traitor to his country is forced

to pay with his life for the crime.

These traitors must pay likewise.

Those who live good lives are not

worried about Hell any more

than the orderly citizens are

disturbed by the jails and peni-

tentiaries in their midst. They

know that these institutions are

for the violators of laws and

Hell is likewise for the violators

of laws—God's laws.
2) Hell must last forever sim-

ply because the damned can

never change their minds. God



82 MAIL CALL

simply ratifies the sentence that

each one has composed for him-

self . Every condemned soul must

confess that God's love has not

been wanting nor His many of-

fers of repentance. He who is

lost must admit that he has per-

sistently abused God's love and

finally refused submission to re-

pentance. Imagine the soul re-

calling the many graces that

marked its progress through life.

Baptism, Confirmation, First

Communion, Penance, the pray-

ers, the devotions of the Church,

all sting now with the bitter rec-

ollection of abused graces. “We

fools
”

cry the damned, “Salva-

tion was so easy yet we would

not take it. A little self-control
,

a little self-sacrifice
,
a little mor-

tification and in reward everlast-

ing happiness. But no—there
was no time. For pleasure that

ended in a few hours, there was

time. But there was no time in

life for God. But now in the

eternity of Hell there is neither

time nor God, neither pleasure,

nor business, or money, only suf-

fering, sorrow and disappoint-

ment, and the remembrance how

easy salvation could have been."

3) The greatest punishment

of Hell is the soul's privation of

its God. God must cast them off,

and they can never be happy

without Him. Added to this is the

sensible punishments which

Christ indicates by the word

“fire." The Church teaches that

this fire is real—it is not a figure
of speech—it is not an exag-
geration—it is soberest truth.
A just God must punish sin, and
this is the means He has chosen,

Mortal Sin is the reserved

ticket for Hell—Hell is the prison
of Mortal Sinners. God has prom-

ised forgiveness to the penitent

sinner, but He has not promised

him his own time for repent-

ance.

Eternity is in the balance—no
serviceman can afford to take

a chance!



Keep This Line, Short

In times of war we learn a

great deal about fighting tactics.

It is most helpful to us who

know that “this life is a con-

stant warfare” to receive mili-

tary maneuvers. Many of the

methods employed on the bat-

tlefronts will furnish us with

great assistance in the greatest

fight we will ever have on our

hands—the saving of our souls.
Let us fight the good fight and

use every bit of military strategy

that we know.

Know Your Enemy

The more you can learn about

your enemy the better you will

be able to overcome him .
4 We

are prone to discount the devil

and imagine he is a helpless,

ignorant and unreal spirit. We
forget that he is endowed with

a keen, angelic, (though per-

verted) intelligence and is much

more powerful than the ablest

man. The devil has many co-

workers among men. All people

in mortal sin have enlisted in the

army of Satan—they may be un-
conscious of their new allegiance,

but they have definitely chosen

to follow the devil as their lead-

er. (The importance of choosing

good companions and associates

should be apparent to all.) The

devil is very real and very able

—his inductees into mortal sin
are numerous—our enemy is ever
vigilant and on the march.

Know Your Weakness

We are not as God wanted us

to be—we have been wounded
through the failure of our first

parents, and the weakness has

been passed down to all human

beings (except Our Blessed

Mother.) As God created the first

man, he possessed a body immune

from suffering, a human life un-

threatened by death, a mind

wondrously intelligent and en-

lightened to truth, a will mightily

firm and inclined strongly to

real good, a soul highly endowed

with holiness and abounding in

grace to foster the fire of its

charity; the whole person, body

and soul destined for heaven’s

glory and joy, at peace within,

—

with his passions serving their

good purpose, but subject to his

reason; at peace without;—the
earth yielding luxuriously to his

wants; this was man as God

created him.

Adam disobeyed God and com-

mitted original sin; in spite of

all the aid which God had given

him, he still chose to be proud,

to harken to the enticements of

the devil—to become another
God, and thus offended God and

robbed himself of all these ex-

tras with which he had been en-

dowed. His whole being was

shot through with weakness

—

his intellect was darkened, his

will was weakened, his inclina-

tions and emotions were pervert-

ed, grace was drained from his

soul, the lower creations, ani-



84 MAIL CALL

mals and plants, were inimical

to his bodily welfare, death was

the end of this life and the en-

trance to an eternity which de-

pended entirely on his earthly

conduct. In other words, fal-

len man did not have much with

which to work.

Know Your Supply Base

All these weaknesses can be

overcome by the grace of God

which He offers to us through

prayer, sacrifice, and the sacra-

ments. If the supply line is

shortened, then frequently the

strength of God can bolster our

weaknesses
;

if the means of

grace are used regularly, then

we need have no fear that we

will be starved out and over-

come. Supplies are indispen-

sable to the prosecution of a

battle, and the grace of God is

just as indispensable in the spir-

itual conflict in which we are en-

gaged.

Know Your Allies

Most men fail in this struggle

because they do not use the

powerful ally who is always at

hand. Through the institution

of the Most Blessed Sacrament,

Jesus Christ is willing and ready

to come to us and assist in the

fighting. We are weak when we
attempt this struggle alone—we
are strong when we lean on

Christ. He has made Himself

available to us at our beck and

call—we can receive Him in
Holy Communion at our instance.

He will be our Commander-in-

Chief, He will plan our strategy,

He will bolster our courage, He

will vanquish our enemies, He

is our ally

—

He Is Our God
,
Jesus Christ!



"There's A Time To Be Silent"
One of the most difficult things

to understand is the silence with

which many men surround their

religion. Life in the service is

one of enforced intimacy—men
get to know everything about

each other, that is everything

execpt their religion. In fact

they boast that they never dis-

cuss this subject because it is

too controversial. At times men

are constant companions, bud-

dies, for more than a year and

yet they do not know each

other's religion.

You can put it down that there

is something wrong with the

man's religion that cannot stand

the inspection of a friendly and

honest and truthful discussion .

Your Catholic religion ought to

dominate your every thought and

word and deed. Under such

domination your speech and con-

duct ought to be different than

those of other religions—it ought
to bear the unmistakable trade-

mark of Catholic. The real

thing is something which is im-

possible to hide and the real

Catholic does not want to keep

it a secret . It's not something

of which to be ashamed—it is
the proudest possession of your

life. There are some things

which have a right to the pri-

vacy of secrecy but your religion

is not one of them.

“There Is A Time To Shout”

When we have discovered

something good, our first inclin-

ation is to share it with our

friends—we can hardly wait to
tell them about our “find.” Why
should we be quiet about the

best thing we have? It's not

fair to those with whom we
travel and with whom we live to
deny them the advantages which

we have. Our Catholic religion

was never intended to be static
,

it's got to be alive and growing

or it dies. Let men see and

know the source of your spiritual

strength. Talk about the rea-

sons why you do certain acts

and avoid others. (Of course

you must first know the answers

before you attempt to give them

—introducing your religion to
others may force you to do some

studying and soul searching

yourself and nothing could be

more beneficial.)

For example: — When you've
said your morning, meal, or eve-

ning prayers
,
have you stopped

to explain that everything comes

from God and therefore we ought

to thank Him for gifts received
and we must beg for help which

we shall need? We delight in
conversation with our friends so

there is every reason why we
should enjoy talking (praying)

to our Best Friend (God).

When someone notices the
medal that you wear have you

compared it to the picture of a

wife, girl friend or family that



86 MAIL CALL

most everyone carries in his

wallet? And then added the ex-

planation that the medal has no

power in itself (any more than

a picture has power) but that

both help our weak human minds

to concentrate our thoughts and

visualize and recall our friends,

so that we might more frequent-

ly get in touch with them and be

mutually helpful to each other.

When you've refused to utter

the usual oaths or vulgarities

have you told them how you did

not want to soil the tongue which

receives and touches the Blessed

Sacrament in Holy Communion?

When you’ve refused to laugh

at the dirty story or to look at

the immoral pictures; when

you’ve been on a date and have

refused to steal physical and

illegitimate pleasures have you

explained that you were not will-

ing to offend God and to jeopar-

dize your future happiness by

lustful liberties that did not

belong to you?

When you’ve rolled out of bed

regularly each Sunday morning

to attend Mass
,
did you tell them

about the Eternal Magnet which

draws you to the Chapel?

When you’ve refused to eat or

drink in preparation for Holy

Communion have you described

the privilege and joy which is

yours when you received Our

Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ,

into your soul?

When you’ve tipped your hat

to your priest-chaplain have you

explained who he is and what he

does and why you respect him?

When the fellows had to wait
for you until you had gone to

Confession did you answer their

questions later when they asked

where the priest got the power

to forgive sins and why you had

to tell your sins to the priest,

and how confession made sin-

ning harder instead of easier?

When you respected authority
and obeyed even though it was

vested in an ignorant and abus-

ive and unjust non-com, did you

mention that your training was

to follow authority unless it

commanded something wicked?

When you’ve been charitable
to the company goat have you

given the answer of Christ “Love

your neighbor.”

Tell them and then tell them

again—There is a time to shout
and it'8 now! I



You Need a Valid Excuse

Much confusion has arisen in

the minds of some servicemen

about their attendance at non-

Catholic services. Some chap-

lains have added to this confus-

ion by their erroneous instruc-

tions, so we are impelled to give

the teaching of the Church on

this doctrine.

From a Catholic viewpoint

there are only two kinds of reli-

gious services
,
one Catholic and

the other non-Catholic. Catholics

are to attend and participate

only in Catholic services; Catho-

lics are allowed, by way of ex-

ception, to passively attend

(never to take part) in a non-

Catholic service only when there

is a valid excuse, such as the

funeral or wedding of an inti-

mate friend or a relative. The

reason for such attendance is

the friendship and not the par-

ticipation in the service.

At times you hear of a Gen-

eral or an Inter-denominational

Religious Service; as far as

a Catholic is concerned these are

both non-Catholic Religious Ser-

vices and you may not assist at
them. Even when these services

are conducted by a priest you

should not attend them and your

Bishop has given these direc-

tions to the priest-chaplains,

—

“If you must hold a general

religious service (because there

is no non-Catholic chaplain avail-

able) ask Catholic men to stay

away and to come only to Mass.

At Mass tell them why—that too
many of them have come to the

notion that the general service

is a substitue for Mass.” (Cir-

cular Letter of Military Ordin-

ariate to Chaplains, n. 33, Aug.

14, 1943).

What To Do!

When you are at a place where
no Mass is available on Sunday

or a Holy Day, then take your

Missal (a Mass Book) and say

all the prayers of the Mass.

(Most every serviceman has the

small Military Missal compiled

especially for him by Father

Stedman and distributed by the

National Catholic Community

Service—if you have not yet re-
ceived your copy drop us a card

and we will send it to you.)
Some men say the Rosary too
and these devotions can be held

even when you are travelling or
when you are on maneuvers or
when you are fighting. It's true,
none of these takes the place of

the Mass and everyone will

understand that, but they are

the best you can do under the

circumstances and Almighty God
will be satisfied with your offer-

ing. In fact, these are the pray-

ers you should say when you
cannot participate in the great-

est of all prayers, the Mass.

We make this clear-cut dis-
tinction because there has been

too much of this glib and prat-



88 MAIL CALL

truthfully say one multiplication

table is as good as another when

we know that only one is and

can be true. (If we would at-

tempt to figure our income tax

another.” We might just as
according to our own multipli-

ing, “one religion is as good as

cation table we would certainly

get ourselves into a lot of

trouble. The Government insists

that we use only the true multi-

plication table. ) God’s demands

are the same—use the true reli-
gion. It’s possible that ignor-

ance may excuse, but when sus-

picion enters the mind, an in-

vestigation must be instigated

and the real answer obtained.

You've Got To Be Intolerant

And Tolerant!

There will be those who say

that we Catholics are intoler-

ant and the answer is that we

are intolerant of untruth and so

must every honest man be. Just

to be nice to people we cannot

permit them to use their own

erroneous measurements simply

because they have grown fond

of them; imagine allowing 500

gals, of gas for every coupon in-

stead of 5 gals., their real value

;

or 5 pairs of shoes for one cou-

pon instead of one pair, or 20

ounces for a pound, or 15 in-

stead of 12 for a dozen. We
would be forced to be intolerant

of these untrue and dishonest

measurements even though we

were very fond of the people who

were making the mistakes.

By the same token and moti-
vated by the same religion we

must be tolerant of unintention-

al mistakes, misinformed and

therefore misleading conclu-

sions, and all people who act and

live in good faith. We must be
tolerant of weakness but we must

be intolerant and firm when it

is a question of truth and hon-

esty and right, even though it

may be very unpopular and even
if we stand alone. Be tolerant

in the right way for that is a

religious virtue which makes for

happy living together. Be in-

tolerant in the right way, for

we must hold the guard for

truth and honesty or there can

be no living together.



"Today's Job"

Action is the order of the day.

Now is not the time for delay
or for indecision. There are

many things to be done and we

must all take an active part in

the doing of them. The activity

of a Catholic ought to be differ-

ent from that of a non-Catholic.

Our activity should influence our

neighborhood to become like

Christ wants it to be—this is
Catholic Action. Many times

you have heard the Holy Father,

your Bishops and Priests extol

Catholic Action. You agreed

with what they said, but you've

done little or nothing about it.

There is a right technique which

does this job. The method now

used with great success was

demonstrated in Belgium by

Father Joseph Cardyn as early

as 1925. An application of this
approach will now be made to
your service-life. The whole

story is embodied in these three

words,—Observe, Judge, Act.
Observe

Look around you with your

eyes open . See the type of life

being lived by your companions.

It is your own crowd, your own

barracks, your own company
that now concerns you. Narrow
the field down so that you can
see it. It is not the Church at

large with which you are now
concerned, it is not even the

Church in your own country or
your own camp—it is rather just

your own intimates and their

living according to one (and only

one at a time) demand of the

Church.

We might investigate the at-
tendance at Sunday Mass. We
have heard of thousands of ser-

vicemen participating in a field

Mass, we have read glowing ac-

counts of the large number of

men who assist at Sunday and

daily Mass; we have been im-

pressed by the actual figures as

published by the Bishop of the

Army and Navy; we have ad-

mired the pictures of men at

Mass near the front lines and

in the fox-holes, these experi-

ences are all part of the written

record of World War No. 2.
These are not the observations

with which we are now concern-

ed. We are now to observe how

many of our own Catholic com-

panions go to Mass every Sun-

day. Write down the names of

the 25 men whom you see most

frequently. Next, investigate

their religion, and be sure of

your answers, even if you must

personally check their dog-tags.

How many of these Catholics did
you see at Mass last Sunday?

Then take each Catholic whom
you did not see at Mass and ask

him if he attended and if so,

where? Most likely they will

readily tell the truth if they are

not ashamed of missing Mass,

ordinarily they are not ashamed



90 MAIL CALL

to admit it. List those who were

legitimately excused. The num-

ber of Catholics who willingly

missed Mass last Sunday will

astonish you—they are the ones
who are now your problem.

Judge

Look around you with the eyes

of Christ. You are interested

in seeing not only what is hap-

pening and who is doing it, but

you are vitally concerned in esti-

mating how all this agrees or

disagrees with Christ’s plan for

men. The judgment in this

problem is rather easy; every

Catholic knows of his obligation

to attend Sunday Mass; serious

sickness and vitally essential

work, which cannot be postponed,

are the only acceptable excuses.

We must come to the conclu-
sion that there are some of our

own intimates in mortal sin for

deliberate missing of Mass last

Sunday.

Action

Look around you with the eyes

of Christ and then act as He

would have done. You must

work on these Mass-missers

;

(your investigation may have

discovered another man or two

who is willing to help with the

problem, then you can form a

cell for Catholic Action, or you

may have to carry on alone).

Start with those whom you

know best, talk to them privately

and possibly you may be able to

adjust a difficulty which will

bring one or more back to their

duty. You may have to offer to

awaken some who have trouble

hearing the call; you may have

to walk to Chapel with another

who is bashful; you may have to

give one a clean shirt or loan him

your uniform; you may have to

arrange to buy breakfast for

another; you may have to break

down years of fear or embarrass-

ment; you may have to teach

some how to attend Mass; you

may want to offer to introduce

some to the Chaplain so as to

destroy an unreasonable preju-

dice; you may have to take a

man’s detail so that he can be

free to go to a later Mass; you

may have to talk to the Ser-

geant or the C.O. about releas-

ing a man for this particular

time. There are thousands of

different acts which you can do

and must do if all the Catholics

of your own little world are to

be present at Mass every Sun-

day—this is the genuine Catho-
lic Action of a Serviceman. As

you will easily understand this

same procedure, this same at-

tack, can be used for any sore

spot that needs correction.



Happy Days Are Here Again!

When you find something good,

you want to tell the world about

it. Why have you been keeping

quiet about the happiness that

is yours when your soul is in the

state of grace

?

You will know

many servicemen (some of them

your own buddies) willing to try

anything to have a good time.

I should have said, almost any-

thing, for the one thing that will

produce happiness they avoid as

they would smallpox—anything
but that ! Don’t take my word for

it. Give the test to yourself.

When were you happiest? When

were there no morning-after re-

grets following an evening of

pleasure? The answer is not dif-

ficult. You remember, after a

good confession, when you had

righted things with God, how

happy you were. You can’t for-

get because it still holds true,

that after you’ve made your

peace with God—when your soul
is free from serious sin—you are
happy. You are not fair to the

men with whom you live if you

do not let them in on what you

already know and experience.

Happiness is for all—don’t hold
out on the poor fellows.

You’ve Got To Be Brave!

In one of our hospitals is a

very brave marine. When a

hand-grenade was thrown into

his fox-hole, he threw himself

on it—he was badly wounded.
When he was questioned later

why he had done this heroic act,

he finally admitted that the rea-

son was because he knew that

he had been to Confession and

Communion that morning
,
but he

did not know about the other

two men who were in the same

fox-hole.

The story has come back from

the front of non-Catholic offi-

cers requesting the priest-chap-

lains to hear the Confessions of

the men before they moved into

battle, for they recognize that

this preparation gives a fear-

lessness that makes them cour-

ageous. When things are right
with God and a man knows it,

then he realizes that nothing

any man can do to him will real-

ly harm him.

Even those outside the Church

recognize the sense of security

possessed by men who have re-

cently. submitted their souls to

the Sacrament of Penance. There

is no fear in such hearts—there
is only a supreme confidence that

everything is now in God’s

hands, and He knows what is

best, and He will provide what

is needed. It is this knowledge

which gives genuine courage and

real bravery to our men. They,

who have been out there, will tell

you these facts if you will listen.

Down deep in your heart you

don’t need to be told—your own
experience will assure you that

this is the way to get ready for



92 MAIL CALL

fighting—this is the only way to
be sure of the outcome. Tell the

others what you know—they
have a right to know too.

Don't Wait!

Some foolish men say they will

delay their confession until they

are on the hot-spots. You are

not delaying your physical train-

ing, your handling of arms, your

adaptability in the machinery of

war, until the bullets begin to

fly—you are being hardened and
groomed for the fighting now

—

you will take to the front lines

the body you are preparing. You

will also take to those belching

clouds of fire and steel the same

soul that has -enlivened your

body throughout the days of your

life. If it is a soul that has

been accustomed to be in habit-

ual serious sin—it will not sud-
denly find it easy to be in the

state of grace and to remain so.

As one man put it, you've got to

practice keeping your soul free

from serious sin so that you can

depend on it to be in good condi-

tion in the tight clinches. The

soul that you are nurturing now

is the soul with which you will

do battle.

Your body will be in condition

—the Army or Navy will see to
that. You are forced to train it

and to prepare it.

Will your soul be in condition?

Almighty God and His Church

are prepared to make it ready

—

but you are the only one who

can put these things to work!

It's a terrifying responsibility

and it's all yours!



Speak Up, Men

What will you need when you

get to the fighting fronts? What

equipment is indispensable?

What have the men who are there

found to be most helpful? What

must you concentrate on now, so

that you are sure to have it

when you need it?

Let The Fighting Men Speak

Themselves—
From a South Pacific pilot of

a flying fortress
—“Don’t worry

about me, Father, I’ll be ready

for what’s coming. I’m not kid-

ding myself, I’m going out so

early in the game and I’ll be up

so often that the odds are just

against me. Vll always be in the

state of Grace—I’ve been prac-
ticing it for a long time now,

so that when it’s time to go to

God I’ll be ready to meet Him.”

(He has gone to God and since

he made sure to always be free

from serious sin, he was ready

to meet Him—that’s real prepa-
ration.)

From a Lieutenant in the In-

fantry
—

“I’ve averaged better

than one Holy Communion a

week since I’ve been in the Army.

(This is a lot more than former-

ly, but I never realized how im-

portant it was.) It might sound

funny to anyone else, but it real-

ly makes you feel good and ready

when you go to Holy Communion

often. It makes it a lot easier

to stay out of sin too, and now

is the time to have a white soul

From North Africa—“The
weather was fair enough to have

daily Mass on deck most every

day and everybody was there. I

think all were thankful for this

privilege as it tended to give one

a feeling of security to be able

to receive Holy Communion while

in such possible danger . Another

new experience, aside from the

voyage across was the feeling

one gets (at least I did) when

you attend Mass over here and

realize that you are so many

miles from home, but nothing is

foreign or strange in this one

respect.

It’s rather hard to put into

words, but I think you know

what I mean. Makes you feel

good all the way through, any-

way.

An officer from the South Pa-

cific
—“The Mass made Christ-

mas for us. I know you will be

interested in hearing that of all

the Catholic men in my company,
not one Catholic missed the op-

portunity to join the Infant in

Holy Communion. It may seem

odd, but after questioning my
men, they offered their Commu-

nions and prayers for the folks

back home.”

From New Guinea—“When
you are at the front lines, the

only thing you have time for is

fighting and praying. The amaz-

ing thing about it is that you do

both at the same time and hardier



94 MAIL CALL

than you would think possible. I what they found valuable when
believe I enjoyed and was more

impressed with this year’s mid-

night Mass than ever before.

Maybe, it was because I love my
Religion more now that I have

fought to help save it. Thank

God, I’m alive and still appreci-

ating the gift of the True Faith

—the Catholic Church.”
From Sicily—“Father, you will

never know what a deep devo-

tion I have acquired for Our

Blessed Lady—these “after bat-
tle days” give a fellow time to

stop and think just how good

the Lord has been to him. Mary

must have been guiding me

every day I was up front, or I

would not have returned. I am

trying to thank God, but I’ll

never be able to do enough.”

These men are testifying to

they got to the fighting fronts.

They possessed this spiritual

equipment because they had

trained for it back here and they

had laid in a supply. No mira-
cle happened to suddenly awaken

them, they had worked on their

spirituality while they were

training here—they are warning
all those who are yet to go into

battle, they are saying,
—
“make

sure you are in the state of

grace; frequent Holy Commu-

nion makes it easier to stay out

of sin and it gives you a sense of

security even in danger; there’s

only time for fighting and pray-

ing and you do both together;

the Blessed Mother protects

you.”

These men know and they are

telling you!







* .

5