Sacrifice “A sacrifice to be real, must hurt, must empty ourselves.” ~ St. Teresa of Calcutta
By Jay Mason
T
he origin of the word “sacrifice” is very interesting. It comes from two Latin words – sacer (holy, sacred) and facio (to do, to make). Thus, from the beginning, a sacrifice was meant to do something that was holy or sacred. When you think about it, most people who sacrifice don’t always think of their situation as holy or sacred. The experience at first might seem unholy, and they are scared, not sacred.
the front of the plane. He invited the sergeant escort to the flight deck, and the entire crew thanked him for his service. “You have the hardest job in the military.” The sergeant then went to his seat.
Shortly into the flight, a flight attendant told the captain that the father, mother, wife, and young child of the soldier were also on board. The family was upset that they had not been able to watch the casket loaded onto the plane and was wondering if anything could be done at the next stop where they faced a four-hour layover The most obvious sacrifices around us before the last leg to Virginia. Captain are those made by the men and women Rodriguez was on it immediately. He called dispatch and told them of the who serve all of us in the military. It is a sacred duty to serve your country, and circumstances. Many of the employees in the airline industry are veterans, and in this crazy, modern world, it seems that most of our society recognizes that they told the Captain they would get back to him. Two hours into the flight, fact. It is a much better climate for our he called back, and they told him the returning veterans than it was after the arrangements were made. They told Vietnam War. the Captain to thank the family for I would guess that many of you have their service to our country. The family would be escorted to a private place to seen the letter from a pilot that has appeared on Facebook and the internet. watch the unloading of the casket, and it would be placed in their sight until it It is the true story of a pilot named was time to board the next flight. Richard Rodriguez who was informed when he came to work that day that he The Captain informed the attendants would be transporting a fallen soldier (who immediately began crying with home. He asked the gate agent if the tears of joy and sorrow). When they soldier had an escort, and she replied landed, Captain Rodriguez stopped the yes and that he was assigned a seat in
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plane just short of the gate and told everyone on board the story. He asked for a moment of silence for the soldier and requested that everyone remain seated until the family had disembarked the aircraft. Everyone on board did just that. Many people were crying; others thanked the family and offered prayers. The good captain never saw the family again. We cannot thank these veterans and their family enough. We can only offer small acts of gratitude for their sacrifice. One of the most inspiring stories of sacrifice is that of Maximillian Kolbe, a Polish priest who was murdered by the Nazis in World War II. Everyone should know that approximately 6 million Jews were murdered by the Nazis during the war, but everyone should also know that almost 6 million Christians and non-Jewish people were also slaughtered in the concentration camps because they were unacceptable to the regime or because they tried to prevent the extermination of the Jews. Father Kolbe probably fit both categories. He was arrested twice by the Nazis, and on the second arrest, sent to Auschwitz in 1941. Even there he kept the faith and ministered to his fellow prisoners. His ultimate act of sacrifice came after a prisoner escaped. The commandant normally selected 10 men at random to die in the starvation
