Kevin Kelly/Key photo The color guard from the Kansas City, Kan., Fire Department processes into the annual Blue Mass, dedicated to people in uniform who protect and defend life. Bishop Robert W. Finn celebrated the Mass Oct. 22 at Our Lady of Perpetual Help Church.

A member of Our Lady of Perpetual Help (Redemptorist) Parish, Trisha and her family stepped forward at the parish Mass Oct. 22 to receive the Eucharist from Bishop Robert W. Finn ahead of the police officers, firefighters, emergency medical technicians and military personnel who, said the bishop, are ready to lay down their own lives for her and every one else - especially children.

In their willingness to pay the ultimate sacrifice to defend the life of others, the men and women in uniform are modeling Christ, Bishop Finn said at the annual Blue Mass, sponsored by the Knights of Columbus.

"You have voluntarily sworn to look out for your fellow man, often at great peril to yourself," Bishop Finn said in his homily.

"We thank you. Indeed, from the bottom of our hearts we thank you," he said. Repeating the words of the late Pope John Paul II, Bishop Finn reminded the men and women who serve in uniformed defense of life that they, better than anyone else, "can testify to the violence and disruptive forces of evil present in the world."

Bishop Finn said that those who are called to protect life and the social order "exercise a wonderful humanitarian work of active intervention to save those in peril, frequently at true risk to yourself."

"Every day, you are aware that the next call may require your ultimate gift of self," he said. "How great a love to risk your life, not for a friend you know, but more often for the stranger."

Bishop Finn also told the uniformed personnel that they were engaged in "a courageous work of peacemaking."

"You have determined to come to the aid of people who may be caught in a war beyond their power," he said.

"You know the gift of freedom and want it with all your heart for people everywhere," Bishop Finn said. "No one wishes peace more than the soldier who sees the devastation and injustice of war. The just soldier seeks to use force with precision and restraint. In whatever he is asked, he keeps constantly in mind the goals and values of human life, of justice and mercy, and the true freedom that is the lasting inheritance of the children of God."

Bishop Finn told those in uniform that the Holy Spirit is the source of "the hope in human goodness to continue your efforts without growing cynical or becoming hardened."

"To all of you I say, keep Christ in your heart," the bishop said. "He is the author and prince of true peace. Jesus Christ is the one who has defined the worth of every human person by his willingness to lay down his life. He is the one who can strengthen you to overcome the temptation to use violence against violence.

"When the difficult day is done," Bishop Finn said, "and if, in his mercy, God allows you to return to the warmth of your loved ones, he is the one who is capable of renewing peace in your heart."

Bishop Finn also expressed his prayers for those in uniform who have "paid the ultimate price for the service of us all."

"Let us entrust them to God in this Holy Mass which is the celebration that renews and makes present his supreme sacrifice," he said.

He also prayed for the families of those who had fallen. "God grant them the security they deserve and carry them through days of loneliness and uncertainty," he said.

Bishop Finn urged those in uniform to offer their daily work to God.

"He can use whatever we face to make us holier men and women," he said.

"Remember that you are engaged in a holy and necessary work," the bishop said. "Your community, state and nation look to you to preserve serenity, good order and peace. You need not feel you do it alone. Be fortified in the sacraments, in the life of the church and in prayer, and you will know that Jesus Christ is with you."

END