August 4, 2024

Dear Parishioners,

I’ve been reading several books about the American Civil War, one of my old pastimes. When it comes to military history, we often learn about the battles and the tactics that led to the victory or defeat in the battle itself: this general acted decisively and took the high ground; that commander positioned his artillery in such and such a way; the army counterattacked in the evening when the fighting was supposed to be finished; and so forth. While all these moves are important to the victory of the battle, there is something more significant outside of the battle itself that will lead to victory of a campaign and even the entire war. That is the supply train for the army. Does the army have enough food, clothing, munitions to fight and advance?

            This is an unglamorous part of a war effort, and one that Civil War books often won’t discuss in detail, but it was the reason for the Union’s victory in the Civil War. The Union army was able to stay fed and soldiers were able to be supplied with shoes and weapons. For an army of 50,000 or 100,000 men in the field, this was no easy feat, and food and clothing is something we take for granted today as easily accessible. But not so back then. The Union generals, particularly U.S. Grant, were well organized and could keep their armies sustained. Sure, they might have lost individual battles against the better Confederate tacticians, but the Union army could keep up the advance because their army was fortified with food from their supply depot. This was a tremendous weakness of the Confederate generals, their organizational ability, and one of the reasons for the South’s defeat.

            Moses was the commander of a 600,000 man army in the desert. Some think it was closer to 1 million people, if you include the women and children. When they ran out of food and supplies, some of the Israelite leaders called for Moses’ removal, thinking he was a poor general. Moses had told the people specifically when they left Egypt to take very little with them, except for the few unleavened loaves of bread that had been baked. This wasn’t poor planning on Moses’ part. Just the opposite. He trusted in God, trusted that God would supply the food. And our first reading for this Sunday is God following through on his promise. God rains down the manna from heaven to feed the army. This reliance on God is the real food that will feed the Israelites and allow them to be victorious.

            We are now the army in the field. We need to be supplied. The Eucharist at Sunday Mass is our food. This is what will allow us to persevere, much more than any skill we take to the actual battles we face.

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A reminder that “Prayer Cards” are located in the pews for you to fill out whenever you like so we can pray for your intentions. Feel free to fill out as many as you want and as often as you want. And, as the card indicates, if you’d ever like to meet with a priest to either discuss what you wrote or pray together, we are more than happy to do so.

           On Wednesday, August 14th in the evening we will be hosting here at St. Paul of the Cross in the gym a capital campaign event for us and other parishes in our pilot wave of the Archdiocesan Capital Campaign. Cardinal Cupich will be present to give a more detailed explanation of the campaign, and drinks and heavy hors d'oeuvres will be served. As I’ve mentioned in previous bulletins, thank you for your contribution to this campaign. Funds we raise will go to support priest health care and retirement, scholarships for Catholic schools, and building here at our parish outdoor Stations of the Cross and a large meeting space off the parking lot.

            Please save the date for our parish picnic on Sunday, September 8th at 1pm in the parking lot.

            I hope your summer has been nice and you are enjoying these beautiful days of August.

Yours in Christ,

Fr. James