Volume 5
Number 48
28 November 1960
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Today 28 November, our Corps will celebrate its 185th Anniversary. The date
should be marked and observed by all Navy Chaplains. We belong to a noble and
inspired heritage. k
"One hundred and eighty five years! Not a long time as some Navies go but
it's approximately the life span of our nation. Through all those decades Navy
Chaplains have striven effectively to be reasonable about the things of God and
the things of man. If you trail back through the corridors of the years you
will find relatively little of the spectacular in the lives of thousands of
Navy Chaplains but much that is quietly noble and much that is. beautiful. ‘
"Normally, the chaplaincy is not the arena for the spectacular. You can fiud
pages bright with chaplain heroes but more often than the sudden martyrdom ,of
the hero you will encounter the slow martyrdom of the man who loves God and His
fellowman above all else...even himself. You will find more of prayer than of
plaudit, more of humility than of heroics, more the silence than the shouting
...which is as it should be, I think.
"Men who follow God closely must love quiet places as he does, the vast sil
ences of the sea, the deep bins and closets of man’s souls. That is the way’it
must be with men who can, on this one hundred and eighty fifth calendar year of
their being, pray;
Almighty God;
Let us know you deeply as we must before we can tell others about you. With
that knowledge let us love you as we must before we can set the hearts of others
on fire. Teach us to pray that we may teach others what we have learned in
prayer. May we understand that no man is a failure who lives with your love in
his heart and your name on his lips. And give us, 0 God, another one hundred
and eighty five years of loyalty to you and the country and the Navy we both
love, in THE CAUSE WE SERVE. Amen."
(Editor's Note: The above article and prayer were written by a Chaplain Rosso
who was once an Assistant Director, Chaplains Division. )
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