REFLECTION:

Do you remember where you were 25 years ago when the attack on U.S. soil happened?

I still remember that morning. I was in American Samoa when the news came. Now, I’m not going to tell you how old I was when it happened—we don’t need to reveal everything! But I remember seeing my dad glued to the television. At first, I thought he was watching a movie. But what caught my attention was that he wasn’t changing the channel. That’s when I knew something serious was happening.

It didn’t really hit me until later, when everyone started talking about the attack. Then at school, we were called together in the gym for an assembly and prayer service. It was unreal. At that age, I knew about Pearl Harbor, and I never imagined something like that could happen again on American soil.

And now, 25 years later, perhaps the question is not only, “Do you remember where you were?” but “What have we learned?”

St. Paul gives us this image today: “Do you not know that the runners in the stadium all run in the race? Run so as to win.”

An athlete doesn’t go through all that training just to stay the same. You train to become stronger. You learn from your mistakes. You grow.

Twenty-five years have passed. Have we grown?

September 11 showed us what hatred and division can do. But it also showed us what love and courage can do. We saw firefighters and first responders running toward danger while others were running away. We saw strangers helping strangers. We saw people praying together. In one of the darkest moments in our nation's history, we also saw some of the best of humanity.

But then Jesus challenges us in today's Gospel: “Remove the wooden beam from your eye first.”

It is easy, 25 years later, to look around and say, “The world is still divided. People still hate each other. There is still violence. Haven't we learned anything?”

Jesus turns the question around. What have I learned?

Do I contribute to division by the way I speak about others? Am I quick to judge someone who is different from me? Do I hold on to anger rather than forgive? Do I see everyone else's faults while ignoring my own?

Because if we want a more peaceful world, peace has to begin with us.

Perhaps that is one of the greatest ways we can honor those who died 25 years ago—not simply by remembering how they died, but by choosing how we will live.

St. Paul tells us, “Run so as to win.” Keep growing. Keep learning. Keep becoming more compassionate, more forgiving, more willing to serve, and more willing to love.

Twenty-five years from now, someone else may ask, “What did we learn from September 11?”



May our lives help provide the answer.