SEPTEMBER 11/12, 2021
Where were you last Tuesday? What did you have for dinner? What about breakfast? Who did you see that day?
What about Tuesday, September 11, 2001?
Strange, isn’t it? Why is it easier to remember?
It’s hard to believe that was 20 years ago.
For those younger than 20 … all this may feel like ancient history.
For myself, I was on the Chassis Electrical floor in the Ford Motor Engineering Building on Rotunda Drive in Dearborn. I had plans to go to lunch with my brother, and that evening had my second session of my first night school theology class. I’d even come in to work a bit earlier so that I could leave earlier in order to go over the reading for class and study.
I didn’t go to lunch with my brother. And there was no school that evening.
Here, in the Diocese of Saginaw, Bishop Ken Untener put out a statement at 5:30 pm that day. It reads:
Our first thoughts and prayers go out to the victims of today’s tragedy, and their families. This is not a time for words. It is a time for prayers.
. . .
Whatever was important to us when we got up this morning is not important now. We’re all stunned. The suffering is so massive that it’s hard to thing of anything. If Jesus, the Son of God, wept over Jerusalem, we can weep now.
The tenderness of God goes out to everyone touched by this – which is all of us.
Today is the 24th Sunday in Ordinary Time. And today is [yesterday was] the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 tragedy.
Our readings carry with them a theme of “suffering.”
The Old Testament reading from Isaiah chapter 50 is known as the 3rd Suffering Servant Song. In this ‘song,’ the prophet gives a vivid description of sufferings, and lays out a three point plan of submission in order to persevere in suffering.
He speaks of (1) a submission of the mind, (2) a submission of the will, and (3) a submission of faith.
A submission of the mind so that we might learn . . . a submission of the will so that we might accept God’s will … and a submission of faith that we might learn to trust in God.
The world is confused about suffering. For the most part, the world sees suffering as meaningless and seeks to obliterate it. As Catholics, we believe that suffering can have meaning – so long as we unite our own sufferings with the suffering of Christ.
In the Gospel, Jesus gives the First Prediction of His Passion. Peter has just confessed his faith that Jesus is the Christ . . . the Messiah . . . the Anointed One of God. But Peter is confused about what this means. Jesus goes on to speak of His coming Passion . . . that He “must suffer greatly . . . be rejected . . . and be killed.” And Peter doesn’t like how that sounds. Jesus corrects Peter, and confirms that not only will He suffer, but that He is calling His disciples – and us – to suffer with Him . . . to:
take up [your] cross, and follow [Him].
[to] lose [. . . your lives] for [His] sake
and [for the sake] of the [G]ospel . . .
Saint James explains this further when he points out that our faith must be expressed in our works . . . or perhaps a better translation of works could be ‘acts, deeds, doings, or labors.’
Our Faith must be expressed in actions, not just in words.
There is a Latin motto, “facta non verba” meaning “deeds not words” and there are countless organizations that embrace that motto – fraternities, schools, civic entities, police and military units. My own Michigan State Defense Force, First Battalion, Alpha Company has adopted this motto as it’s own. And I think it is a good motto for us as Christians.
As we approach this altar to receive the Sacred Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ – let us pray that our faith may always move us to action. Let us remember the Sacrifice of Christ, and take up our own crosses with Him. And let us remember those who have sacrificed for us . . . for our freedom . . . and for our country. Knowing that there is meaning in their sacrifices and suffering . . . and let us take action for the future.
Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord . . .
Below are JPG graphics of the bulletin insert on my background.
