Never Forget: Spend 5 with Jesus for Monday, September 11, 2023

Readings for Today. Listen to our other podcasts Never Forget Transcript (A New Feature!) Each time we record something, we will provide a transcript of the recording. Enjoy! Hello, this is Spend Five with Jesus for Monday, September 11, 2023. I am the Friar, and it's great to have you with us. September 11, 9/11. It's hard to believe that 22 years have passed since this tremendous event.  Every generation has, it seems, those events that just simply are so etched in our experience that we remember them vividly. For a certain generation it might have been the bombing of Pearl Harbor or when John F. Kennedy was shot. For my generation, it is September 11th.  I think everybody knows where they were on that horrible and tragic day. I think everyone remembers just how life-changing that event was. That for those of us who had gone so many decades without any attacks on American soil, it had happened to us.  At first there was the shock. Then there was the type of identification that said this is really awful. There was the heroic example of firefighters, policemen, first responders. There were those who gave of themselves so tremendously, not only on the day of September 11th, but quite frankly for many years after there were many who suffered terrible health difficulties because of their resolve.  It led to so many people recognizing that life was tremendously fragile. I remember the weekend after 9/11 the church was really full. There were so many people who had decided to come to church because they didn't know what else to do. They knew all of a sudden that we were not invincible. We needed one another and we needed God.  Of course, like most things, that kind of faded away. People forgot, went on with their lives. But every September 11th, I think about the people that were heroes on that day, who imitated the call of Jesus to give their lives for people they didn't even know, let alone love and care for.  I think that on every September 11th, there is an invitation for each one of us to ask ourselves where is Jesus in my life today? Knowing that our lives are fragile, knowing that we don't have all the answers, knowing that in fact something horrible could change our life at any moment, where is Jesus? Do we seek Him out? Do we search for Jesus in our lives? Do we think about Jesus and how He longs to save us and how much He loves us and how much He cares for us?  The events of September 11th led to a great patriotism in the United States. Truth be told, it should remind us that in many ways we are all connected. Our actions impact not only ourselves, but people all over the place, the people we live with and care about, the people that we love, today, as we remember these events. Let us think in our own lives about how we can invite Jesus into our hearts for He so so longs to have a deep and abiding relationship with each one of us.