“This is my commandment: love one another as I love you. No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” (Jn. 15:12-13)
Do you remember the name Todd Beamer, his phrase, “Let’s roll” and the story of Flight 93? Have you heard the name Welles Crowther and the story of his red bandana? Maybe you have your own, more personal story from Sept. 11, 2001, that you remember and share? I remember Captain Timothy Stackpole of the New York City Fire Department and his wife, Tara. Do our children and young people know those names and stories? The four names I mention are among the countless heroes of Sept. 11. Three gave their lives to save others; one, a wife and mother, represents hundreds of thousands who will (literally) “never forget,” not only their names, but their lives, their sacrifice and their love.
In September 2020 I had been a bishop for two months and had been planning to begin writing a regular column in The Beacon, our diocesan newspaper. As I was getting to know the people of the Diocese of Paterson and they were welcoming me as their new bishop, I wanted to share with them some of what I had learned from that terrible, tragic day, a day that can teach us that, truly, “the light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it” (Jn 1:5).
I had been a priest of the Diocese of Brooklyn, the diocese in which I was born and raised, for four years and was serving in my first parish, St. Nicholas of Tolentine, in Jamaica, Queens, on that beautiful Tuesday morning. As is true for many who lived through that day, it would take many pages to tell the story of what happened in the hours after hearing, “a plane crashed into one of the Twin Towers.” What I learned on that day and in the days, weeks and months that followed taught me many things. One of the lessons that I learned from Sept. 11 was a new and deeper appreciation for what we celebrate in the Eucharist.
At each Mass, we hear Jesus telling us how important it is to remember. As we remember Jesus’ sacrificial love at each Mass, we also need to remember those who have lived Jesus’ words in an exceptional way. I believe and trust that as a nation, we will never forget those who made the ultimate sacrifice; but I also believe, at times, we all need to be reminded of the sacrifices that have been offered.
When I wrote the column in September 2020, the memories and heroes of Sept. 11 had been on my mind and in my thoughts and prayers more than usual. We had been facing and confronting the Covid-19 pandemic over the previous six months. At that time, we were hearing and talking about “heroes” in ways that reminded me of the days and weeks (and years) following Sept. 11. We were thinking about and praying for doctors, nurses, paramedics, first responders and essential workers who were literally putting their lives on the line to care for and save others when the virus was at its worst.
On a more personal level, during my first two months as bishop, I had the privilege of celebrating the sacrament of confirmation for young people in many of our parishes. Many of those confirmation Masses were celebrated on “new” dates after the original date had to be postponed because of the Covid-19 shutdown and restrictions. As we celebrated those Masses with distancing, smaller crowds and everyone wearing masks, I found myself speaking to the young people not only about what it means to receive confirmation but also the significance of receiving confirmation at that very challenging time in our history.
It can be said that all who are baptized are called to be heroes by living heroic lives of faith, hope and love. In other words, we are all called to holiness, called to be saints. Jesus gives us the gift of the sacraments to help us live out that call. In a particular way, the gifts of the Holy Spirit that we receive in confirmation help us to discern and live out that call, our vocation. How often do we, who have been baptized and confirmed many years ago, think about or consider that call we have received?
There is another reason why it is so important to remember and teach our children about Sept. 11. Do you remember what it was like to be an American in the days, weeks and months following that day? So many of us who lived in New York and New Jersey at that time were affected in very personal ways, and we could feel the support and prayers of the whole country. We were truly the United States of America on that day and during the weeks and months that followed. In the summer and fall of 2020, we were not only continuing to deal with the pandemic and the reopening of schools, we were also facing difficult times as a country, facing a time of social division and unrest. I believe most would agree that those challenges are still very much with us today.
Simply remembering heroism, sacrifice and courage (and/or talking or writing about it) will not solve the problems or challenges that we currently face as a nation, but there are lessons we can learn and reasons to be hopeful.
One of the lessons of the “heroes of Sept. 11” that I continue to try to learn and remember is that those who answered the call on that day did not appear out of thin air or magically receive superpowers. They grew up in families and parishes. They learned from their parents and teachers. Many went to Catholic schools or attended religious education programs. Many not only learned about prayer, sacrifice and service, but at some point they started to live according to what they had learned. Many of them received their first holy Communion and confirmation and attended Mass every Sunday. Many learned important lessons from their coaches and teammates as they played and watched sports. They also learned the history of our country, about those who made the ultimate sacrifice because they loved their country and were grateful. Because of what they learned, many chose to become firefighters, police officers, medical workers and first responders.
Many or most would have been called “just an ordinary person.” Yet they had something in common—when the moment of crisis came and they had to make a choice, they were ready. They courageously and generously “answered the call” and they taught us what Jesus meant when he said, “There is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” Let us pray that as individuals, as families, communities and as a country, we can continue to learn and live by those lessons. The choices we make every day make us who we are and can prepare us for our moment so that we will be ready to answer the call.
