During World War I, a...
Illustration
During World War I, a Protestant chaplain in Italy became friendly with a local priest. Then the Protestant chaplain moved on with his unit. The enemy killed him. The priest heard about his friend's death. He asked the military authorities for permission to bury his friend's body in his church cemetery. The army gave permission. But the priest ran into a problem with his own church authorities. They were sympathetic, but they said they could not approve the burial of a non-Catholic body in a Catholic cemetery. So the priest buried his friend's body just outside the cemetery fence. Years later an American veteran went back to Italy. He visited the old priest who was still the pastor of the church in that place. The veteran asked to see the grave of the Protestant chaplain. When they walked out to the cemetery, the veteran was surprised to find the grave was now inside the fence. "Ah," he said, "I see you got permission to move the body." "No," said the priest. "They told me where I couldn't bury the body. But nobody ever told me I couldn't move the fence!" As Paul wrote, "This includes everybody ... God is the same Lord of all."
--Chinn
--Chinn
