Patriot Day 2012

DS:  The silence was calm.  Except for the sound of rosaries clinking and habits rustling, you could hear a pin drop in the chapel that morning.  I was deep in prayer.  I was just a few days short of one month since my entrance into the convent.  I didn't have any college classes that Tuesday, so I decided to join the Novices in their extra hour of Adoration.  The time was 9 a.m. Eastern Standard Time ...

I left earlier than the 9:30 schedule change.  As I opened up the chapel door, I was met by a Sister in the stairwell.  "Sister," she whispered, "America is under attack!  The Twin Towers are gone!"   She led me to the community room, where superiors and other Sisters were gathered around the television set watching the horror unfold.  That day instilled in me the determination to reach out to as many people as possible and teach them about Jesus Christ ...

VEE:  It was Tuesday night in Japan and I was washing up getting ready for bed.  I finished and went into the living room and saw the news on TV, thinking at first it was some old footage of the car bomb attack on the World Trade Center in the 90s.  Then the second plane hit.

DS was in some Dominican convent but I was far from it.  If I had died that day I may have very well gone to hell.  I wonder how many of those who died that day were ready for their particular judgement??  

DS:   Are we forgetting?  Are we again lulled into the schedules of our daily lives?  Is the shock of this day a distant memory?  Do we ever think of our own end?  Jesus tells us to be prepared.  We do not know the day nor the hour.  




May all those who perished rest in peace ...