Friday, September 11, 2009 - Let Us Never Forget

Let us all take a moment to remember the innocent life that was lost on this day eight years ago. Let us also pray a prayer of gratitude for our policemen, firefighters, medical personnel, and the men and women in the armed forces who sacrifice so much for our freedom. I am all for service to others, but today is a day for remembrance. We can have a National Day of Service on September 12.



The above logo is courtesy of Deb's Lost Treasures Thank you, Deb!

I remember driving to church for a staff meeting on this day 8 years ago. As I drove in, Art Lewis was talking about an attack on the World Trade Center. I remember thinking he was talking about the attack in the 1990s. As I entered the office building, Marilyn Lorenz came out of her office in a state of shock and said that 2 planes had flown into the twin towers. I remember thinking that this couldn't be an accident. Our pastor at the time herded us into our meeting area seeming unconcerned about the whole thing. One of our parishioners, a man who voluntarily and selflessly takes care of our parish grounds, entered the room and tried to update us. Our pastor dismissed him as if he was a paeon and informed him that we were trying to pray. ?????? This same pastor, in a later homily made an offhand comment about the 9-11 attacks being in response to something we did over here. What????????????????? Thankfully, this man is no longer a priest.

Let's talk a bit about non-violence. What constitutes non-violence? Is it simply the absence of institutional war? I don't think so. Non-violence begins in the heart. Don't talk to me about non-violence and then in the next breath talk say something like "I could just kill so-and-so." Non-violence should be evident in our speech and in our actions. Jesus likened anger to murder. It is my observation that the people who talk most about non-violence seem to be the most intolerant of anyone else's point of view.

I feel a rant coming on so - in the interest of promoting non-violence - I am going to end this post for today.

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Word of the day:
Friday of the Twenty-third week in Ordinary Time
Today the Church celebrates : St. Paphnutius, Bishop (4th century)
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Luke 6:39-42.

And he told them a parable, "Can a blind person guide a blind person? Will not both fall into a pit? No disciple is superior to the teacher; but when fully trained, every disciple will be like his teacher. Why do you notice the splinter in your brother's eye, but do not perceive the wooden beam in your own? How can you say to your brother, 'Brother, let me remove that splinter in your eye,' when you do not even notice the wooden beam in your own eye? You hypocrite! Remove the wooden beam from your eye first; then you will see clearly to remove the splinter in your brother's eye.

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