close-up A Letter by US Army Major David Jones Christ is Risen! I have done nothing... Everyday I beg for the ability to recognize Christ’s presence among us (in our midst, in my midst!). Everyday I beg for the opportunity to serve Him, even in the simplest of daily tasks. I desire to see the face of Christ, to know Him, to love Him and it is through mission that I find Him. It seems as if, everyday now, I get word back from the war front of another death. Just this week alone, I was notified of the death of one of my recruits. This was someone whom I personally recruited out of my company’s area. He was serving on a security detail that was protecting the engineers who were building new roads for the Iraqi people. I had to arrange details for the casualty notification team to inform the family and then deal with his grieving mother. As if that wasn’t enough, yesterday I was informed of the death of a former recruiting company commander–a peer, a friend. In the “hell” of war, surrounded by such utter despair and death, how does one cope? Are there any answers to a grieving mother’s question, “Why?” It’s so easy to slip into nothingness. This mother’s begging is my own. Everyday I have to convince new recruits to ship off to training and possibly to their deaths.... This is my reality. I cannot escape it nor do I choose to do so. Just tonight, for a period of over two hours, I, along with one of my recruiting station commanders and my First Sergeant, spoke with a young recruit who recently graduated from high school. He, as so many others, is having second thoughts about leaving. I don’t claim to have any of the answers. That’s why I beg... As St Paul says, I am the “chief among sinners.” It’s only through this companionship (our journey with Christ) that my life (our lives) has (have) meaning. It is through this companionship that a true Culture of Life will be built versus the Culture of Death. This is what our Holy Father and Fr Giussani beg for. This is what I beg for. This New Civilization of Love happens by living this charism in the midst of the chaos, confusion, and bloodshed of this world, right here, right now. Christ doesn’t promise that it would be easy, without pain or great sacrifice. In fact, if only we have the eyes to see it, we are living the Paschal Mystery. As Christ rose from the dead and ascended to the Father, we too share in this mystery and are victorious. As Fr Giussani stated in the Fraternity Exercises this year, “The victory is the victory of Easter and of immortality. Thus the victory is the Christian people. This is Christ’s victory over all the ‘victory’ of nothingness.” This fact is true, even for those who live their Christian vocation in the military as I do. David Jones