September 11, 2001 ad infinitum

Réquiem ætérnam dona eis, Dómine,
et lux perpétua lúceat eis.
Requiéscant in pace. Amen.

This is from the 9/11 2007 page of Forward Day By Day from ForwardMovement.org

Day in History: TUESDAY, September 11

Philippians 1:12-30. I want you to know, beloved, that what has happened to me has actually helped to spread the gospel.

This date will always dredge up memories for us. We remember where we were when the attacks began, and how we felt-horrified, helpless, and confused. No amount of moralizing or second-guessing can blunt such memories.

Yet Paul, without seeking to diminish the reality of remembered pain, seeks to add something to it. "Pain was not all that happened," he says of his own
vicissitudes. "The things I suffered had effects far beyond their effect on just me. The people who observed my suffering, and how it didn't diminish my commitment to the gospel, were also changed. My enemies, who caused the pain, were made to wonder about this Lord I serve, and my friends were encouraged to proclaim him more boldly."

An assault on what seems the very foundation of a person or a society is only the first chapter of a story. What happens next is equally important. Have the things our nation and its citizens have done since 2001 helped to spread peace and justice in the world, let alone the gospel? God make it so.

PRAY for the Diocese of New York and the Diocese of Washington (United States)

Ps 45 * 47, 48; 1 Kings 16:23-34; Mark 16:1-8(9-20)