Dear Friends of The Franciscan Way,
As Memorial Day approaches, we find ourselves standing in a sacred space between remembering and gratitude.
Memorial Day is not simply a long weekend. It is a moment of profound reflection—a national pause to honor sacrifice, courage, and love of country.
Across our nation, flags are placed on graves. Names are remembered and spoken again. Silence is observed. And in that silence, we remember the women and men who gave their lives so that others might live in freedom.
But for us as Franciscans, it is also something more.
St. Francis of Assisi calls us always to see the deeper truth: that love is proven not in words, but in action. The military women and men we remember today lived that truth in its most complete form.
They gave everything—often for people they would never meet.
In many ways, their sacrifice echoes the words of Christ in the Gospel of John:
“Greater love has no one than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.”
And so today:
We remember the young soldier who never came home.
The parent who left behind children.
The friend whose laughter is now a memory.
And we remember the families who continue to carry both pride and sorrow in equal measure.
As Franciscans, we are also called to respond.
We honor their sacrifice not only by remembering—but by living differently.
By choosing peace where there is division.
By healing wounds where there is pain.
By building a world that reflects the dignity of their sacrifice.
Our Franciscan way is to take what has been given in sacrifice and transform it into love, love in action.
Remembrance without action fades.
But remembrance lived out in love—that endures.
And in the spirit of an ancient and beautiful Jewish prayer, we say:
At the rising of the sun and at its going down, we remember them.