By Father Garrett Braun
From Fields Afar
In December, I was tasked with the role of PROJO or “project officer” for our base’s National Prayer Breakfast (NPB) this March. For most base chapels, and as is the case for us here at Aviano, NPB is the signature event of the calendar year. It usually combines a DV visit in the form of a high-ranking military chaplain who also delivers a keynote speech; several lay faithful who pray for various causes from their faith traditions; and, of course, an all-expense paid breakfast!
This year, our DV visitor and keynote speaker is the Air Force’s Deputy Chief of Chaplains, a Southern Baptist minister who, as a Brigadier General (1 star), is the second leading Chaplain for the entire Air Force. At first, I assumed my role would basically require coordinating one breakfast and making sure the various prayers were on time. I quickly learned, however, that it was a much bigger event than I was expecting. As PROJO, my job also includes coordinating all the details for the Chaplain’s four-day visit to Aviano Air Base. His itinerary is complete with attending Sunday services, several meals, transportation, lodging and a play-by-play schedule down to the nitty gritty of making sure there is a sufficient number of bathroom breaks!
What I’ve also learned is that this is good for me. I don’t usually consider myself the most detail-oriented person, and so it’s pushing me in a way that is helping me grow. In our everyday speech we might call it chivalry … much more than just holding a door for someone, rather it is too graciously anticipating the needs of others. The Benedictine monks of St. Meinrad Archabbey would call it hospitality, and St. Thomas Aquinas would call it love — that is, “willing the good of the other.” In humility I am also seeing my need to rely on others, to ask for help, to proactively ask questions and to not be afraid to ask for patience if I miss a step along the way! In the end, though, nothing we do is about us. It’s about doing even the small things with great love and doing them for the glory of God.