My reflection today comes from Give Us This Day:
“ On the bright fall morning of September 11, 2001, firefighters across New York were summoned to a scene of unimaginable horror: two hijacked airliners had crashed into the twin towers of the World Trade Center. As firefighters rushed into the burning buildings they were accompanied by their chaplain, Father Mychal Judge. Hundreds of them would die that day, among the nearly 3000 fatalities in New York, Washington DC and Pennsylvania. Fr. Judge would be among them.
In the days that followed, the story of his life and his sacrifice would become known around the world: how he had join the Franciscans at the age of 15, how he had acquired a wide reputation for his ministry among the poor and homeless, alcoholics, victims of AIDS, and his outreach to the gay community and to others alienated or marginalized in the Church. There were stories about his own struggles with alcohol and his recovery with the help of Alcoholics Anonymous. And stories of his love for the firefighters, his courage in joining them on the front lines, his support as they coped with stress and sorrow. There seemed to be special meaning in the fact the Father Mychal was listed as the first certified casualty of 9/11. A photograph of his fellow fireman carrying his body from the wreckage to a neighboring church became an icon of that day: an image of loving service and sacrifice, a hopeful answer to messages born of fear and fanaticism.”
“ When I don’t know what’s next, I get down on my knees and pray, Lord, take me, mold me, fashion me, show me what You want. Then I watch and listen and it will come.” – Fr. Mychal Judge
We say we will never forget but unfortunately in some of our cities there are people who have forgotten.
Let us pray that the Holy Spirit will turn their hearts and they work for justice the way Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. worked