Longford remembers Nov 11th 1918 – Nov 11th 2018

A Time for War and A Time for Peace.       

 This Sunday the 11th of the 11th at 11am one hundred years ago, we remember the guns of the great war going silent.  But that peace came too  for many.  Forty million—20 million deaths and 20 million wounded was the total number of casualties. This does not include those whose memories were scarred forever by what they saw and heard. Over 200,000  Irish men and   women took part in that war.  35,000 of our country men and women died and are laid to rest in the Fields of Flanders where the Poppies grow.   Names like Gallipoli and the Somme are           places etched like a stain in our memory forever. Today in the forgotten war in Yemen, 14,000 have died . Many of them are civilians.  Perhaps as many as 50,000 have died of Famine as a result of the War. Today as we remember the ending of the Great War. We remember all the casualties of War of every time and especially of this time.  We pray deeply to the God of all people to give us a time of no more war, no more violence or hatred, and hearts of compassion and forgiveness to destroy the words and weapons of war forever.  AMEN.

Prayer of Remembrance.

In In the rising of the sun and in its going down, we remember them.
In the glowing of the wind and in the chill of winter;

   In the opening of buds and in the rebirth of spring;

in the blueness of the sky and in the warmth of summer;

In the rustling of leaves and in the beauty of autumn;

      In the beginning of the year and when it ends;

  When we are weary and in the need of strength;

 When we are lost and sick at heart;

When we have joys we yearn to share, we remember them.

So long as we live, they too shall live,

for they are now a part of us,  as we remember them