Fwd: Centurio Epistula A Christmas Story from an old Veteran/POW

Centurions:

 

I like to feature latter-day centurions. It meets our dedication statement that has been on the front page since the inception of the Order

 

Dedicated to Cornelius of Caesarea, the Centurion of Capernaum, the Centurion at Calvary and the host of Christian soldiers in the Church Expectant and Church Militant

Here is a Christmas story that  I'd never seen before. The author who lived it sends Christmas and seasonal greetings along with his story.

 

In reading this, I was reminded of a similar story from the early church....

Quo Vadis— "When Vinitius first met Ligia, she drew something on the sand—and ran away. A fish!"

 

My Christmas Story As a POW, my captors would tie my arms behind my back and then loop the rope around my neck and ankles so that my head was pulled down between my knees. I was often left like that throughout the night. One night a guard came into my cell. He put his finger to his lips signaling for me to be quiet, and then loosened my ropes to relieve my pain. The next morning, when his shift ended, the guard returned and retightened the ropes, never saying a word to me. A month or so later, on Christmas Day, I was standing in the dirt courtyard when I saw that same guard approach me. He walked up and stood silently next to me, not looking or smiling at me. After a few moments had passed, he rather nonchalantly used his sandaled foot to draw a cross in the dirt. We stood wordlessly looking at the cross, remembering the true light of Christmas, even in the darkness of a Vietnamese prison camp. After a minute or two, he rubbed it out and walked away. That guard was my Good Samaritan. I will never forget that man and I will never forget that moment. And I will never forget that, no matter where you are, no matter how difficult the circumstances, there will always be someone who will pick you up and carry you. May you and your family have a blessed Christmas and Happy Holidays, John McCain

 

 

 

ihsv

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"Let us therefore follow after the things which make for peace, and things wherewith one may edify another" [St. Paul's Epistle to the Romans 14:19]

IN HOC SIGNO VINCES - TIME DEUM ET OPERARE IUSTITIAM
www.OrderofCenturions.org
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.. The centurion, and they that were with him... feared greatly, saying, Truly this was the Son of God.... Mt 27:54
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--
"Let us therefore follow after the things which make for peace, and things wherewith one may edify another" [St. Paul's Epistle to the Romans 14:19]

IN HOC SIGNO VINCES - TIME DEUM ET OPERARE IUSTITIAM
www.OrderofCenturions.org