Daily Reflection, April 25, 2026

Reflection:

For those of you who read my weekly bulletin, you will already have seen my thoughts on this special and sacred day, a day meant to be a celebration of our national identity, and one that is deeply personal and emotional for many.

It is a celebration that brings to our minds, and more especially to our hearts, those untold numbers who sacrificed everything for the protection of those they loved: their lives, their futures, and their health—mental, emotional, and physical. In times of war, we all become brothers and sisters. So, we remember the troops who sailed away.  We remember all those who remained back home, doing the worrying and praying; and to often, hearing the heartbreaking news.  

With the benefit of hindsight, the day even allows us to remember the sacrifices and courage of those who were once our enemies.

Also, among the dead, maimed and injured we think also of the countless millions of innocent elderly, the women, and the children. It is more than the past; it is today, and it feels as though it is everywhere.

In the end, we are all victims of the futility of those who believe violence will keep us safe. War makes us sisters and brothers, family for one another.

Today is deeply personal for many. We know the faded photographs in tattered albums. We have the framed pictures on mantlepieces of 19-year-olds, changed from overalls to a smart new uniform, and proudly, the slouched hat. `Photos taken before they went away, so many never to return. We oldies still remember the songs they sang in the trenches, and we all sang together at parties when they came home. The day tugs especially at our hearts.

For so many of our newer citizens, this day might invite them also to remember. There is so much that needs to be remembered. Conflict and its costs are only too familiar in Africa, Asia, Eastern Europe, the Middle East, Latin America, or the Pacific. The violence is why many have arrived in Australia.  It is not just the soldiers, the military, and the medical corps we honour.

Today we recite the Ode of Remembrance, promising ‘Always to remember, Never to forget.’   The Ode calls us to honour the bravery, courage, and generosity of all those women and men who fought for what they believed in.

Yet, Anzac Day is so much more than looking back. More than the gratitude, awe, and amazement of those we remember. The promise we commit ourselves to when we recite the Ode is far more demanding than simply remembering the past. Being asked to remember asks us to be, ourselves, a Living Memory. It asks us to be today what they were then: to be thankful for what their sacrifices made possible, and to live in such a way that we create a future for those still to come.

Anzac Day Remembering becomes Anzac Living.”

Tom Mcdonough CP is the parish priest and community leader at St. Paul of the Cross, Glen Osmond.