I forgot to say that I belong to the Church of England, but that does not make any difference, for God hears all prayers. I shall pray for you and your boys and teach our little girl to do the same.
Kindly pardon any mistakes, and believe me to remain very grateful to you for your sympathy.
Yours sincerely,
These are but samples of letters from different countries that I received during the campaign. The people seemed most grateful to me for writing. True, the censor prevented me from saying much that I should like to have said; but always I was free to write what I had done for the lads in my ministry. Sometimes I have written many letters at a time, and for this reason the message sent was brief. I shall try to give the reader a sample of the simple letter that evoked such grateful replies:
Dear Mrs. ——
No doubt you have already received from the War Office the sad news of your son’s death. I am writing these words to let you know that just before the battle of —— I gave all the soldiers of his unit Holy Communion in a little shell-torn church on the Western Front.—If I had anointed him I would add this, and if it were I who had laid him to rest I would say—I buried him in a peaceful military cemetery behind the lines, far from the sound of the guns. This knowledge should give you some consolation in carrying the heavy cross that God has sent you to bear.
I shall remember your son’s soul in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, and I shall ask Our Lady of Sorrows to pray for you that you may be comforted.
Asking you to pray for my lads and for me, I am
Yours sincerely in Christ,
B. J. Murdoch,
R. C. Chaplain 16th. Can.