A warning against the glorification of war was given at the annual Remembrance Day service in St Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin, yesterday.
Addressing a packed congregation, which included the President, Mrs McAleese, the chaplain to the British forces from 1955 to 1975, the Rev Chris Comyns, said that we should always remember those who had shown such astonishing bravery and endurance.
"Without their sacrifice, we would not be where we are now. But in our memorial we must never glorify war or become sloppy or sentimental about it. I had a friend, Gus Holman, a German paratrooper, and we talked about war. They simply go to church to mourn their dead, and I think they've got it right. So let us, today, mourn for those whom we knew and loved and for those we have only heard about.
"We mourn, too, for a world which couldn't prevent the horror, barbarism and obscenity of two massive wars and all those other no less vicious wars since. So, today, we remember them; and, as we do, let us remember to continue to fight to maintain the freedom which was bought for us at so great a price. Let us, too, dedicate ourselves to the one who made the greatest sacrifice of all - Jesus Christ our Lord."
Mr Comyns said that many people were frustrated because the "war to end all wars" had not brought lasting peace to the world.
"Years have come and gone - years that have seemed to make very little difference to the state of the world. But, today, we remember, before God, those countless men and women who died in war against oppression and tyranny."
They had given their lives that people might live in freedom from want and fear, of thought and speech, the freedom of life itself.
"Yet, the sad part about it is that nothing has turned out like that at all. Years after it is all over, men watch as the war clouds roll up again and listen in dread for the sound of gunfire."
Mr Comyns said that men and women died for the Christian hope of a better world, but it had not yet come. However, that did not mean it never would. "The hope they had, although it has not yet come as they thought it would, will one day, because it is the Christian hope in the triumph of good over evil, of God over the devil."
The first lesson at evensong was read by Major Dusty Miller, president of the Burma Star Association, and the second by the Australian ambassador, Mr Robert G. Halverson.
The attendance included the deputy lord mayor of Dublin, Mr Eric Byrne; the British ambassador, Sir Ivor Roberts; the ambassador of the Netherlands, Mr Louis Peter van Vliet; the Russian ambassador, Mr Eugueni Nickolaevich Mikhailov; and Mr Steven King, adviser to the UUP leader, Mr David Trimble.
