Before I forget . . . before I lose it . . . which is all too easy to happen, I want to put these words down to be captured and remembered and, hopefully, treasured.
So, here it comes.
And the words inspiring this writing come from someone that you may admire, you may treasure or, conversely, you may despise, maybe even loathe.
So be it.
But heed these words.
Latch onto these words.
Even, please, treasure these words.
They are important, critically important.
They are words spoken by the Vice-President of the United States of American on this day, September 11, 2021, twenty years after that horrid and fateful day, that 9/11.
Kamala Harris spoke them today at the memorial service in Shanksville, Pennsylvania.
Please hear them with your ears, your eyes and most importantly, your heart.
This place, she declared, is sanctified by sacrifice.
Sanctified by sacrifice!
In the air above that field thirty-three, mostly strangers, who happened to be in the same plane at the same time, confronting the same terror at the same time, united, responded and sacrificed for the sake of others.
And now that field, that place, is sanctified by sacrifice.
And that is a truth that needs to resound loudly, so very, very loudly in our time, twenty years later.
Sanctified by sacrifice.
Is not that the lesson that that young Israelite caught to teach us all on that hill called Calvary some twenty centuries ago?
Sanctified by sacrifice.
That hill is now considered sanctified by the Sacrifice of Jesus Christ who gave His life so that we might truly live.
And those buildings that we call, sometimes, churches, sometimes synagogues or even temples, and sometimes mosques as well and all other such places, they are considered holy, sanctified by sacrifice.
And those places which we call "home" are truly such when they are filled with the spirit of sacrifice - parents for their children, siblings one of each other - holy - sanctified by sacrifice.
And communities become special, yes, even holy, sanctified when the members are filled with that spirit that leads to thinking of one another, working with and for one another and sacrificing for one another.
Sanctified by sacrifice!
In this time when so many are bending to the temptation to think first and often only of themselves, when the rallying cry seems to be "freedom" at any cost, we need this reminder.
We are called first and foremost to holiness, to sanctity.
It is in this that our lives are truly fulfilled, made whole when we are becoming holy.
And, as that field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, reminds us -
Sanctification comes through sacrifice.
Sanctify this land of ours by sacrifice.
And sanctify yourself by your willingness to sacrifice!
Meantime,
Keep Praying
. . . and Stay Safe!
Oh! And please get your shot! It's the charitable thing to do.
