9/11 - Twelve Years On

                                                    

Twelve years ago this evening most people in the Western world, whatever their particular personal cares and struggles, would have had no inkling what awaited the world the following their night’s sleep the sunny, calm morning of the 11^th.

This evening the American President seeks to justify the world’s inaction in face of the carnage in Syria since the world has virtually ignored the 100, 000 already known dead, the innumerable wounded, the millions of refugees, yet the use of chemical weapons has shaken the world so perhaps now something will be done.

The what and the how and by whom is what bedevils the President and Congress.

Pope Francis begs the world’s leaders to strive for a peaceful solution.

What amazes me, concerns me, the focus of my prayer, is how much further down into the deep and dank valley of death this culture of relativism has gone these past twelve years and how we fail, as Christians, to face the stark reality of how our prayers and pleas to the Father through Jesus for peace are at best diluted if not totally hypocritical because we lemming-like follow the culture of death.

In the past twelve years hundreds of thousands of children have been aborted, participation in liturgical and faith praxis life continues to decline, divorce increases, anti-Christian media flourish, the family unit rooted in sacramental marriage is diminished by the push for so-called ‘gay’ marriage, the push to legalize drugs, for euthanasia, growth of the culture of self and greed extends its tentacles across the globe.

Besides the Islamist extremists continuing to attack the west – London, Madrid, Boston not to mention the many attempts foiled in various countries – within Islam itself sectarian violence continues on a daily basis while in many African countries Christians are targeted by extremists on a daily basis.

When will we change our ways so that our prayer is consistent with our life choices?

When will we heed the exhortation of the Apostle Paul?: You must live your whole life according to the Christ you have received – Jesus the Lord; you must be rooted in Him and built on Him and held firm by the faith you have been taught, and full of thanksgiving. Make sure that no one traps you and deprives you of your freedom by some secondhand, empty, rational philosophy based on the principles of this world instead of on Christ. [Col.2:6-8]