Yesterday the last page was turned in a very significant era of French history. Lazare Ponticelli, France's last remaining veteran of World War I, died Wednesday, March 12, at age 110. He was the last of 8.4 million Frenchmen who fought in what they call "la Grande Guerre."
France planned a national funeral ceremony honoring the last poilu (lit. “hairy”, conveying the idea of “tough”), the nickname given to French foot soldiers since Napoleonic times. In nearly every town and village in France there stands a monument with the names of the men in the village who gave their lives in the “war to end all wars.”
Most people find it shocking to think that in one century, a “modern” and “enlightened” Europe, now “free” from the shackles of religion, could lead the globe into two brutal and barbaric wars, the first killing 20 million and the second 60 million.
The First World War, while global in scope, was fundamentally European killing European. This fact helps explain the importance of today’s European Union. The European Union represents man’s attempt to try to secure the future peace of Europe through humanly-devised means. It is supposed to be the “union to end all wars.”
Sadly, while touting peace, Europeans are rejecting the Prince of Peace. Be they wars or unions, human contrivances can never bring the peace that Christ alone provides. Please pray for this nation which is just as self-confident today—and just as blind—as the poilus who took to the trenches in 1914.
No comments:
Post a Comment