Comforting a Mother
Usually the folks at home did their best to cheer up their sons and daughters overseas. Occasionally, however, a soldier had to encourage a loved one back home. Chaplain Walter Hanley was serving in New Guinea when he learned that his mother in Ohio was extremely ill with little hope of recovery. He also had little hope of getting home on leave. He did his best to comfort her with a letter:
You have been a good mother to us all, and all that we children have we owe to you. With Clarence’s and Papa’s deaths, your ill-health for years and the depression, your life has been a hard one and yet your faith & your prayers have given you the strength to go on. When the train pulled out of the station I think you knew you would never see me again, and your strength has encouraged me all of these months. If God asks of you this sacrifice for my work was needed here for these boys, I know you will have the strength to make it. The other priests here said their masses, as I did, this morning for you, and I know Almighty God will care for you… Whatever good I may be able to do in the priesthood will be a testimony of your prayers and your struggles to bring me there… I know that Papa and Clarence are waiting for you and that our prayers will be for you every day until you join them in heaven.317
This letter is an inspiring insight into a strong family. This strength obviously derives from a mother’s faith that has brought her family close to God and to each other. With this faith they were able to deal with the hardships of war and pain of death with confidence and hope. Faith and family remain the surest sources of strength to meet the constant challenges of this world.
Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. “Honor your father and mother” which is the first commandment with a promise “that it may go well with you and that you may enjoy long life on the earth.” Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord.
—Ephesians 6:14