09/11/2026
TREASURES FROM OUR TRADITION ~ Courtesy of Diocesan Publications
Our national memory will keep September 11 holy for generations to come, as we remember the innocent dead. Our memories of the attack on our nation are intertwined with memories of how we human beings are natural symbol makers. In one parish, as a candlelight vigil ended, the assembly, without being instructed, took their candles and stood shoulder to shoulder, down the steps and along the city streets for a quarter mile. Slowly, people came out of their houses bearing tapers and candles. In the first hours of crisis, we stood vigil, we prayed from the heart, and we celebrated the human ability to draw light out of terrible darkness.
Stories of that terrible day necessarily drift to tales of heroism, courage, dignity, faith, solidarity, hope, community. The church learned long ago through hard experience that “the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church.” Perhaps the victims of 9/11 have gifts to bring that we are only just discovering as believers in a just and loving God. They are teaching us still, and today is a day for lighting candles at the table and being silent for a moment before the abundance of God’s gifts. Today reminds us that we are capable of acts of indescribable beauty even in the face of great evil.
—Rev. James Field
Please join the Knights of Columbus this evening at St. Charles at 6:00 pm to come together to remember the events of 9/11/2001 on this 25th anniversary and to continue asking the Lord for peace among peoples and nations.
