Today is Veterans Day, a day when our nation pauses to recognize the men and women who have served in the armed forces. For many of us, this is more than a date on the calendar. It is a day of remembering people we served alongside, people who helped shape our lives, and people whose sacrifices we continue to carry in our memories. And today’s first reading from Titus offers a good starting point for our reflection when St. Paul writes: “Remind them to be under the control of magistrates and authorities, to be obedient, to be open to every good enterprise.”
It makes clear key themes all veterans would recognize: obedience, respect for authority and a willingness to serve. These are essential for accomplishing the assigned mission as well as protecting the lives of the person in the same foxhole, the same ship, and the same “anywhere” our men and women serve. Military service is an honorable endeavor, one that the Church recognizes as such when it serves national security, protection of the innocent, and most especially, preservation of the peace. These are the “good enterprises” that Paul mentions. And “good” is where discernment is needed.
The obedience owed to duly appointed leaders does not relieve the soldier, sailor, or airman from discerning what is “good,” what is right. And yet the military cannot function if every individual decides independently which orders to follow. As St. Paul writes and the Church was long professed: legitimate authority deserves respect and obedience but it does not stand above the moral law.
We live in times when decisions about the use of military, kinetic action are rarely simple. They are never simple political calculations but always have a key moral element and as such required reflection – both before and after. Just this year we have seen kinetic action in the Middle East, the Caribbean, South American and elsewhere. We here this morning are like the majority of the military in that we don’t have access to intel and facts. What we think we know is incomplete or disputed. Nonetheless, the responsibility to ask whether an action is just, necessary, and proportionate remains.
The Church’s teaching recognizes that those who make decisions to use military force carry a particularly heavy burden and grave responsibility. While all that is “above our pay grade” we and those who serve under military authority have responsibilities of their own. Even though we do not have the same information, authority or moral burden, we are called to act with integrity. That perhaps is one of the important lessons of Veterans Day.
Today we remember and honor the courage of those who have served. The courage to accept a difficult assignment, to act decisively when lives are at risk and the courage to ask a difficult question when something does not seem right. This and more is all part of the moral responsibility that comes with service.
St. Paul’s words are not addressed only to soldiers or veterans, but to all of us because we all live under legitimate authorities, have responsibilities to others and encounter situations in which doing what is expected of us may not be the same as doing what is right. As Sunday’s reading emphasized, we need to clothe ourselves in Wisdom to discern the difference.
None of us will live a life of perfect judgment. With incomplete or incorrect information we will make poor choices or outright mistakes. We all have decisions we wish we could “do-over.” Perhaps we all carry the memory and burden of those choices. Today’s reading ends with the reminder that God saved us, not because of our own righteous choices, but because of his mercy. Ultimately, our hope rests not in our ability to have made every decision perfectly, but in the grace of the One who continues to call us toward what is good.
So today, we give thanks for those who have served our nation – both the living and the dead. We pray for those who still serve, especially those who must make difficult decisions in dangerous circumstances. And we pray for those entrusted with authority, that their decisions may be guided by wisdom, justice, restraint, and a genuine commitment to peace.
Perhaps the prayer we can all pray for ourselves: Lord, give us the courage to serve, the wisdom to discern, and the humility to seek your mercy.
Amen
Image credit: WordPress AI using the text of the post directing focus on Veterans Day | downloaded 11-7-2026
This week someone thanked me for my service because Memorial Day was coming up. I appreciated the thought but mentally noted so many people are a little unclear about the different holidays. Here is a handy reminder that I saw recently posted:
“As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them.”
