September 19, 2021 - "9/11 Prayer Service"

Eight days ago we had the twentieth anniversary of that awful day when nearly 3,000 people died in the attacks on the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and the plane crash in Shanksville, PA.  Last Sunday about forty parishioners attended a Prayer Service here in which we reflected on Scripture, and prayed for special groups of people during a period of intercessory prayer.  It was a very moving night for me, especially since I have ministered to families who lost someone at 9/11 in three of the parishes in which I have been assigned.  For them 9/11 is always a sad and painful day of remembrance.
 
In the course of our Prayer Service to mark the twentieth anniversary of 9/11, we remembered Carol Ann La Plante, the sister of parishioner Jeanne Kavinski, who was working on the 97th floor of the North Tower of the World Trade Center that fateful morning. We also read the names of the eleven residents of Montgomery County who were killed that day:  William E. Caswell, Gerald P. Fisher, Lawrence Daniel Getzfred, Michele Heidenberger, Angela Marie Houtz, Teddington H. Moy, Lieutenant Darin Howard Pontell, Scott A. Powell, Todd Hayes Reuben, Patricia J. Statz, and Ernest M. Willcher.
 
Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon them.  May they rest in peace!  May their souls and all the souls of the faithful departed rest in peace.  Amen.
I also want to share with you comments made by Archbishop Jose Gomez, the archbishop of Los Angeles, who is also the President of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.  These are remarks he made on the eve of the twentieth anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attacks:
“As we remember the twentieth anniversary of September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, our hearts are with all those who lost loved ones on that day.  We pray for the innocent lives that were lost, and we pray for those who grieve, and for the many who still bear the wounds from these attacks, physical, emotional and spiritual.
 
“It was a dark day of destruction and death, but remember also the heroes—first-responders, firefighters, police, emergency medical and rescue teams.  Many gave their lives in the service of their neighbors.  This violence, borne of the worst evil in the human heart, also brought the best in our humanity.  We think today of the courage and generosity of countless ordinary people and the spirit of unity and authentic patriotism we saw in the days after these attacks.

“We honor the dead by the way we live.  And today we pray for a new spirit of national pride and unity.  May God inspire in all of us to seek fellowship, reconciliation, and common purpose.
 
“We ask God to bring comfort to those who mourn and peace to every heart that is consumed by hatred, and may he bring peace to our troubled world.
“We entrust our prayers and our nation to the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Mother of God and the mother of each of us.”
 
Until next week,
 
Fr. John