![]() And what that might be, we truly do not know, no matter how certain we might think that we are. This is the theological virtue we call hope: remaining open to what will come, to whatever God determines. We call hope a theological virtue because, in possessing it, we touch something of God. For once you no longer believe that you have a future of promise, you forfeit all its possible blessings. Lee understood that even the last moments matter indeed they matter the most because we never know with certainty that these are indeed the last moments. Its future seemed foreclosed, but that was Lee’s genius and his greatest virtue: He always remained open to whatever would come. All the while, Lee tried to keep up appearances of good order: a “young officer” reported to him with one pant leg hanging carelessly out of his boot, which Lee sharply compared to “a huge misshapen bologna sausage.” The officer “turned blood-red at the rebuke,” but Lee hastened to add that he merely wanted his officers, “especially those who were near the persons of high commanders, to avoid anything on a retreat which might look like demoralization.”Īt that point, the Army of Northern Virginia had dwindled to fewer than 30,000 soldiers. Lee: A Life (2021), Lee remained himself. Guelzo records in the newest, less adulatory biography, Robert E. Or perhaps Lee would order his army to disperse into armed guerilla groups, leading to months, or even years, of more killing.īut as Allen C. ![]() Philip Sheridan’s Union calvary stood between Lee and his supplies, but perhaps they could be broken. In April of 1865, as Lee’s worn army arrived at Appomattox Station, it was not obvious that the war would soon end. If, on a rare occasion, Lee was harsh, most men blamed themselves rather than the general. Readings: Genesis 18:20-32 Colossians 2:12-14 Luke 11:1-13Ĭall him the greatest general America has ever produced or a traitor to his country-a case can be made for both-but all who met him say that Robert E. A Homily for the Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
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