Soldiers for Christ

1988 Commencement Address at Saint Mary's Academy

Father Hervé de la Tour

"My friends, I'm not going to give you sugary words. The situation in the world is not just dangerous, it is not just threatening, it is catastrophic."

These words were written by Alexander Solzhenitsyn in his famous book, Warning to the West. Solzhenitsyn, who spent many years in Communist prison camps, spoke about the evil of Communism in Russia, and then about the moral decline in America, which he attributed to a loss of courage, a lack of firmness. "The greatest danger," he said, "is that you have lost the will to defend yourselves." He violently criticized our materialistic society which wants to ignore the Communist persecution in the world, a society which says, "Just let us live in peace and quiet. Let us drive our big cars on our splendid highways. Let us play tennis and golf undisturbed." Those were his words.

Yes, we see today a terrible absence of moral strength, of spiritual backbone. We see "flabbiness," softness. Our young people have lost the fighting spirit, this "pluck," which belongs to the very essence of Christian life. St. Paul repeats to us in his epistles that life is a combat, a struggle: "Our wrestling is against the rulers of darkness." Heaven is the reward for victory in the spiritual battle. "None shall be crowned who has not fought well."

At St. Mary's, we hope to give our student his courage, this desire "to fight under the true King, the Lord Jesus Christ," as St. Benedict says in his Rule. The world, our enemy, is completely opposed to our values, to all that we stand for.

We stand for humility, obedience, love of God. The world stands for independence, freedom from all restraint, and love of self.

We stand for poverty, detachment from earthly goods, and desire for heaven. The world stands for money and comfort.

We stand for purity. The world stands for unrestrained pleasure-seeking.

Dear graduates, when temptation will come, temptation to give in, to go along with the crowd, be brave! We must never surrender, but always resist courageously.

Let me tell you a story... it is a story from the military, and it illustrates this desire to persevere. It happened during the Vietnam War when both French and Americans fought for freedom for the Western World.

It was in 1954 at Dien Bien Phu, which is a small valley in the northern part of Vietnam where the Communists were in control. It was decided that if the French controlled the valley they could block the Communist invasion. There were no roads into Dien Bien Phu, so one day planes came thundering up from the south, and hundreds of paratroopers from the French Foreign Legion bailed out in clouds of silk. They captured the valley from the Communists and they set about building their fort. The French could reach the valley only by air. But China was only a short distance to the north and gradually the Communists ringed the valley with thousands of soldiers. Several hundred pieces of artillery sent shells crashing into the valley, and the Viet Cong attacked in waves.

Day after day, night after night, week after week, the attack went on and on. Tropical rains began to fall in the valley of Dien Bien Phu. The earth turned to mud. The trenches from which the Legionnaires fought were waist deep in water. The French soldiers were still bravely fighting despite hunger and disease. President Eisenhower sent a telegram saying that the entire free world was inspired by the heroism of the gallant garrison of Dien Bien Phu.

Finally the survivors were squeezed into an area no larger than a football field. These men were brave. They were, for the most part, Catholics.

Many had been to Mass on Christmas. Their chaplain had said Mass on a portable altar. An officer had stood beside the loudspeaker ready to give the alert if the Viet Cong should attack These men were fighting for Christian civilization.

At last it became clear that help would never come. The soldiers were betrayed by left-wing politicians, as was the case in the American war in Vietnam a few years later. The Communists set up loudspeakers around the camp and they were shouting to the paratroopers: "Surrender! What's the use of fighting?"

For fifty-five days the battle lasted. Finally the Communists broke through the last defenses and there was continual hand-to-hand fighting. The Viet Cong invaded the camp. By 1:00 a.m there were only a few Legionnaires left to fight Then they had no more bullets. The colonel ordered his men to fix bayonets; they entrusted their souls to God; and they charged. Men in a French plane circling over the battlefield saw the valiant soldiers charge and fall. This was courage; this was perseverance until the end.

To these brave soldiers we might apply the words of the poet, Charles Peguy:

My dear students, does all this mean that you should go to the Army surplus in town to buy a Rambo knife to show off at the next camping trip?

Of course not! Although God may one day call you in the battlefield (for we don't know what will happen in the next twenty years) our combat is first of all spiritual. The enemy is yourself, i.e., you sins and defects to overcome.

I would like to insist on an important point: This militant spirit, this chivalrous attitude, this valiant mentality to be Catholic, must be united with humility and simplicity as they were in the Crusaders.

Yes, there must be the proper balance: we are soldiers for Christ; made so at our Confirmation, and we must have the true Catholic spirit. It is not a cold militarism, bitter and without joy, or childlike simplicity. No, without hope and simple confidence, one becomes harsh and grim.

But, on the other hand, without courage and strength your interior peace becomes flabby and soft without substance or backbone. So there must be a balance.

St. Therese of the Child Jesus was living proof that the military virtues can be united to the virtues of spiritual childhood. She was called "The Little Flower," and that is a fine and beautiful title. But that title sometimes leads people to a sugary image of her, all dripping with piety, which is wrong. She was strong; you might say she was a manly saint in her strength. Look at her life:

She wants to be a Carmelite. She is fifteen. Everyone is opposed. But she has unwavering confidence in God. She knows her vocation comes from Him. She goes to the bishop and then to the pope to get special permission to enter Carmel at that young age.

She wrote: "I feel within me the vocation of the warrior. I feel the need and the desire of carrying out the most heroic deeds for You, O Jesus. I feel within my soul the courage of the Crusader, and I would want to die on the battlefield in defense of the Church.

"When reading the accounts of the patriotic deeds of St. Joan of Arc, I had the same burning zeal with which she was animated. God made me understand my glory would consist in becoming a great saint. This desire could certainly appear daring, if one is to consider how weak and imperfect I was. I always feel, however, the same bold confidence of becoming a great saint because I don't count on my merits but I trust in Him who is Virtue and Holiness."

To be a Catholic, to be a Crusader, you must unite both courage and humility, a dashing heroic heart and simple confidence in God.

Some of you are leaving for the seminary. With the help of God, one day you shall be priests. You will know the joy of offering Mass and saving souls.

Some of you are leaving for the Army. You will have to face trials; you will have to keep the Faith in the midst of the corruption of the world.

Some of you will stay here to go on to college, to higher education, to study the great books of Western civilization, to deepen your knowledge of truth.

Some of you will get married and strive to raise a family of children strong in the Faith.

In all these vocations, dear graduates, strive to be faithful to what you have learned at St. Mary's Academy.

When you hear the devil, the world, your own flesh, telling you, "Surrender to us; give up the fight," as the Communists told the paratroopers in Vietnam...

When the temptation will come to settle down in comfortable mediocrity, easy routine, and to forget about becoming a great saint...

Then you need to get out your graduation diploma, or your tassel, or your Crucifix, and look at them to rekindle in your heart the desire to be faithful to your vocation, to be faithful to what you learned here at St. Mary's. By calling you to St. Mary's Academy, Our Lord enrolled you in His shock troops.

As Father Schmidberger told us a week ago, we have to rebuild a Catholic world—through courage and perseverance, through humility and confidence. God bless you.