ENLARGING THE FIELD

One of the many symbols of God’s inclusiveness comes from World War II in the form of an incident that may or may not be historically true.

A young American soldier in France had a strong premonition that he would be killed soon. He wanted to be buried in France. As a devout Christian, he especially wanted to be buried in a church cemetery.

Sadly, he was in fact killed only days after telling his friends of his last wishes. But the only church in the village where he was killed was Catholic, and the young soldier was protestant. According to the strict rules of that day, only a Catholic could be buried in the church cemetery.  But the priest did allow him to be buried just outside the cemetery wall.

Then a short time later, the priest decided that the cemetery needed to be enlarged. The walls were moved in such a way that the young soldier’s grave was now within the cemetery.