United States Trade Representative

xitter-newx.xyz-mikolabs.workers.dev/AncientSnipe184/status… War and the years taken from veterans Veterans often speak of lost years. Some lost years to deployments, missing the births of children, the deaths of parents, the ordinary life of home. Some lost years after their return, to post-traumatic stress, depression, addiction, or the slow work of recovering from wounds. Some lost years to the moral injury that comes from having done, seen, or failed to prevent things that violate their conscience. Some lost the person they were before they went to war. Part 10 treats war, veterans, and moral injury at length. Here it is enough to say that Joel 2:25 belongs to veterans as much as to anyone. The "great army" of locusts in Joel is a military image; the prophet speaks the language soldiers know. And the God who commands armies promises to restore the years that the army took. For the veteran who feels that war has eaten their life, the pastor can offer this word: God knows what was taken, He counts every year, and He is able to restore. Broken families and the years of division For many families, the locust years are years of division. A divorce splits a household, and children grow up moving between two homes. A quarrel between siblings over an inheritance leads to decades of silence. A parent's addiction or abuse leaves wounds that shape every family gathering. Adult children estranged from their parents, and parents who do not know where their children are, carry a grief that can last a lifetime. Joel's promise reaches these losses too. God can restore relationships that seemed dead. Reconciliations happen, sometimes after many years. The Sunday of Forgiveness, when the faithful bow to one another and ask pardon (Part 2), is a liturgical sign of this hope. But the pastor must also be realistic. Reconciliation requires two parties, and sometimes one is unwilling or unable. In such cases, the person who longs for reconciliation can still forgive, can still pray, and can still entrust the broken relationship to God, who will restore all things in the end. Years that are not given back in this life Honesty requires one more word. Some losses are not restored in this life. A spouse dies before reconciliation comes. A parent dies after a long illness that no one could cure. A grown child does not come home. The person who has prayed Joel 2:25 over such a loss may feel that the promise has failed. The Church does not answer this with a forced smile. She answers with the Resurrection. Joel's promise looks beyond the harvest to the day of the Lord, and the Church reads it in the light of the empty tomb. What is not restored here is not lost to God. The last word of Scripture on these years is not the locust but the promise: "And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying" (Revelation 21:4). Meanwhile the Church prays for the departed by name and so keeps the bond of love unbroken.