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Words are so inadequate, but they are all we have. Please accept the following as a sincere offer of our desire to comfort you. Joe, God bless you and your family during this very sad time.

BELOVED FATHER IN HEAVEN,

We place before you the soul of John Thomas Wrobleski. He fought for our lives, and after grave injury, he fought for his own life. We marvel at his fortitude and bravery. Father, we look at the life of this man and we mourn the loss of his presence. He had so many possibilities and we mourn the loss of those. We shall always feel the hole he leaves in life, but we ask you to help make it bearable.

Father, we know that John is as dear to you as he is to us. We ask that you will please take him to a very special place in heaven. Let him be surrounded with beauty and peace. Let him continue in his work of serving you and his fellow man in whatever way such things are done in that realm. Especially, please let him know of a certainty that we love him and honor him and above all thank him for the sacrifice he made for us and this nation.

We ask, Father, that you will surround Joe and his entire family during this time of grief. Wrap John's widow in a special swaddling garment of comfort and healing. Help her to bear this burden and to eventually in the fullness of time heal fully with her faith and joy intact. Help this entire family during the time and phases of mourning. Help them all to have abundant faith and comfort during the process.

Let all of us remember John throughout our lives. Let him be the inspiration to urge us on in the examination of our lives. Help us be mindful of the immortal words of William Stephenson, the head of British Intelligence during WWII, in a prayer which he wrote and shared with Eleanor Roosevelt at the dawning of the Battle of Britain:

Dear Lord
Lest I continue
My complacent way
Help me remember
Somewhere out there
A man died for me today
-- As long as there be war
I then must
Ask and answer
Am I worth dying for?*

Please help each of us to live in such a way so that when we, too, are called Home, he will greet us, and tell us, "You were worth it."

Father God, we say to this hero, "Rest well, friend. We shall continue the Good Work in your name."

Amen

*Quoted in the book by Willim Stevenson (no relation to William Stephenson) entitled, "A Man Called Intrepid."