Prayers for September 11th
Before the murderous communist Joseph Stalin began his rampage that left nearly 60,000,000 dead, he looked over to one of his soldiers and commented that “the death of one man is a sorrowful tragedy; the death of a million is merely a statistic”. America and most of the world has espoused this cynical philosophy most notably in war, abortion and eugenics. On September 11th there will be prayer services held across America for those who died in the terrorist attacks a year ago. It will be a truly sorrowful memorial for thousands, a patriotic eulogy for many and banal commemoration for the countless victims of human malice for most.
Mankind has always tried to impart nobility to its most sorted deeds of war and bloody carnage. Rather than humble himself to Truth and Justice, he stoically marches into the gates of hell (war). Tormented by this unseemly contradiction Voltaire commented “Life is a comedy for those who think and a tragedy for those who feel”. For the sake of reality I could easily adopt this cynical attitude. Yet I cannot since I have witnessed in my life the transforming power of the Holy Spirit in God’s holy saints. Man was created for Glory! It is written on the faces of babies and reflected in that rare individual that surrenders himself totally to God. Though mankind has seemingly taken over the reigns of life and death usurping God’s authority, my prayer on September 11th will be “Come Lord Jesus and save us from this cruel tyrant”!
Richard Mahoney