“During WWII, a battered contingent of captured Allied soldiers were marched through a German village,” tells Father Jerry in today’s homily, “The streets were lined with onlookers, some smiling smugly, others wiping away tears of compassion for the plight of these poor soldiers. The starving prisoners were utterly exhausted; their eyes dark with despair.”

He adds that, “The silence of the scene was broken when a woman broke through — an ordinary housewife and mother, who thrust a loaf of bread into one of the prisoners’ hands before disappearing to her kitchen. Her risky act of compassion was soon taken up by others who brought out food for these captives.”

One woman’s prophetic act of courageous and generosity resulted in the transformation of enemy soldiers into sons and brothers as John the Baptist was called. Hear the full story in the new video above.