Fifteen years ago this morning, nearly 3,000 lives were lost in an act of unthinkable violence. Each year on September 11, Americans remember the lives lost in the terrorist attacks in New York, Washington, and Pennsylvania.
When Pope Francis visited New York City in September 2015, his message at Ground Zero was one of sorrow, but also of hope:
"This place of death became a place of life, too, a place of saved lives, a hymn to the triumph of life over the prophets of destruction and death, to goodness over evil, to reconciliation and unity over hatred and division."
On this day, we honor those loved ones who keep the memories of the fallen alive. We celebrate the heroes who sacrificed everything so that others might live. And we pray, as Pope Francis asked in his Ground Zero address, for:
"Peace in our homes, our families, our schools and our communities. Peace in all those places where war never seems to end. Peace for those faces which have known nothing but pain. Peace throughout this world which God has given us as the home of all and a home for all.
Simply PEACE."
