For Immediate Release
Sept. 10, 2021
The following is a statement from Archbishop William E. Lori:
Twenty years ago, the entire world witnessed the horrific terrorist attacks at the Pentagon, in New York City and Shanksville, Pennsylvania. We were changed by what happened that day. Those terrible events would rend our hearts and minds, forever changing our understanding of what it is to be safe and free.
We remember those who lost their lives. We pray for the eternal repose of their souls. We also recall the ongoing toll the attacks took on so many lives and the immeasurable suffering borne by family members and friends to this day.
But we also recall how the worst of tragedies brought out the best of us: the courageous and selfless service of first responders and emergency workers who heroically risked their lives to save others, and the ways both great and small that we banded together as a nation to care for and support one another.
This anniversary should remind us of what a precious gift unity is. It should not take a tragedy such as these terrorist attacks to bring us together. Aware of the many divisions in our world and in our nation, perhaps remembering 9/11 will prompt us, through God’s grace, to a renewed commitment to building up the unity of the human family.
In the wake of the attacks, Pope St. John Paul II shared these words that still move us today:
“Even if the forces of darkness appear to prevail, those who believe in God know that evil and death do not have the final say. Christian hope is based on this truth; at this time our prayerful trust draws strength from it.”
As we remember and pray, let us recommit ourselves to being agents of love and truth, people rooted in the hope of the resurrection who, even in the darkest of nights, shine as a light brightly visible.
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Christian Kendzierski
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