Land!

Sea!

Coast!

Air!

Five Academies graduate men and women who serve as officers in the United States of America Army, Navy, Marines, Coast Guard, Merchant Marine and Air Force. These five federal academies are so unique and yet a few things are unquestionably part of the experience.

We all remember the first day…something about hair, the awe, the fear of the unknown, the physical, the pomp and circumstance, feeling alone while so crammed together, the break from family, honor, duty, courage, focus, stripped of civvies, something beyond us, being at the bottom of the top academy for that service, “Yes Sir!” “No Ma’m!” and friends that will remain for a lifetime and beyond.

As the year progresses, be begin to mold ourselves and allow ourselves to begin to be forged into officers and gentlemen or ladies. We also searched even deeper into our faith. The Academies graduate Buddhists, Muslims, and Christians, Non-Denominational, Agnostics, Jews, Catholics, Atheists, Hindu, Mormon, Xiao and other faiths. Most cadets and midshipmen come with a burgeoning faith. To be a Cadet or Midshipman requires a young person to discover one’s own values and integrity and spirituality.

On all service academy campuses there is a chapel.

Soaring 150 feet toward the Colorado sky, the Air Force Academy Chapel is an all-faith house of worship designed to meet the spiritual needs of cadets.

The historic Chapel at the center of the Yard – and its landmark dome – are symbolic of the vital role that moral and spiritual guidance plays in the development of Midshipmen into naval officers.

The Command Religious Program and its Ministry Objectives are designed to provide pastoral guidance, ministries and facilitation to the free exercise of religion for members of the Armed Forces assigned to the United States Coast Guard Academy, appropriate to their rights and needs.

The program provides a wide range of activities to include worship, retreats, religious education, fellowship, chapel choirs and outreach.

The Cadet Chapel is a famous landmark and symbol of religious activities of the Military Academy. Dedicated in 1910 and constructed of native granite, this building blends naturally into the surrounding landscape. The architecture combines the techniques and shapes of Gothic with the massiveness of medieval fortresses.

The The United States Military Academy welcomes you to the Chapels at West Point. Many thousands of visitors each year enjoy walking through the historic and inspiring edifices where divine worship is held at the Academy.

Participation in religious activities and attendance at chapel services is strictly voluntary, left to the needs and desires of the individual midshipman.

When I was invited to give the benediction at the Battle Standard Dinner a year after I returned from the bloody battle of Fallujah with my still reluctant “Acta non Verba” in my heart, I visited the Memorial Chapel and was stunned by the words etched in her very walls:

This Chapel is built to the Glory of God and to commemorate the sacrifices of the officers and men of the United States Merchant Marine who gave their lives at sea, in enemy action, in World Wars I and II, and whose names are recorded in its roll of Honor.

Tell America:

WE DIED FOR HER,

AND THAT WE REST,

CONTENT

As we walk, thrive and live through the minimum of four successful years of All Service Academies we touch the divine, or it touches us. Etched into edifices and yes, our very hearts and souls, are our very missions. They are different, and yet all so very much one heart and soul:

Duty, Honor, Country

Ex Scientia Tridens

From Knowledge, Sea Power

(Semper Fidelis) Always Faithful

(Vocati ad Servituum) Called to Serve

Always Ready

Acta non Verba (Deeds not Words)

Integrity First, Service Before Self,

and Excellence in All We Do

President John F. Kennedy wrote a Message on the dedication of the Inter-Faith Chapel on April 25, 1961.

“Erected to the Glory of God, this edifice commemorating the memory of these men, will stand as a national monument…

…Our nation has ever sought Divine Guidance in its hours of thanksgiving and its moments of peril. On the high seas, between heaven and the deep, men (and women) of all faiths feel a sense of brotherhood (and sisterhood) with the infinite.

May this Chapel ever inspire those who pause here to dedicate themselves to the service of their fellowmen.”

LET US PRAY:

Thanks and praise

For our days

Neath the sun

Neath the stars

Neath the sky

As we go

This we know

God is nigh!

AMEN!!!

BENEDICTION:

Psalm 107

Some went off to sea in ships,

plied their trade on the deep waters.

They saw the works of the Lord,

the wonders of God in the deep.

He spoke and roused a storm wind;

it tossed the waves on high.

They rose up to the heavens, sank to the depths;

their hearts trembled at the danger.

They reeled, staggered like drunkards;

their skill was of no avail.

In their distress they cried to the Lord,

who brought them out of their peril,

Hushed the storm to a murmur;

the waves of the sea were stilled.

They rejoiced that the sea grew calm,

that God brought them to the harbor they longed for.

Let them thank the Lord for such kindness,

such wondrous deeds for mere mortals.

Let them praise God in the assembly of the people,

give thanks in the council of the elders.

And let us conclude with the shortest psalm. Repeat after me.

Psalm 117

Praise the Lord, all you nations!

Give glory, all you peoples!

The Lord’s love for us is strong;

the Lord is faithful forever.

Hallelujah!

There is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for another.

Let us love one another.

Amen.

Love, joy, peace,

Father Ron Moses +

www.tearinthedesert.com

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