In 1953, I was walking guard duty at midnight on Christmas Eve. There I was, a lonely Army draftee serving at Fort Sam Houston, in San Antonio, Texas. My civilian life seemed a million miles away. I could hear the choir singing at the post chapel, where Midnight Mass was being held, and I felt terribly lonely.

It never dawned on me that I was giving in to self-pity, and thereby was missing a wonderful opportunity to come closer to God. It would have been so much better had I united spiritually with the choir, and thought of God as a friend who was closer to me than my own heartbeat.

(more…)