It’s hard to believe that we just recently passed the 23rd anniversary of the events of September 11, 2001. Those who are old enough to remember that day probably know just where you were when you heard the news. I was in Mrs. Montenero’s French Class at Bexley High School. Fr. Mychal Judge was in New York City on that fateful morning. He was a well known chaplain of the New York City Fire Department and didn’t hesitate to rush to midtown Manhattan to minister to those in need at the World Trade Centers. While most of us probably watched the events of 9/11 unfold on TV, Fr. Judge prayed for and administered the Sacraments to people right there in the Towers. He entered the Lobby of the North Tower, where he was captured on camera multiple times praying for the victims and the firefighters. When the South Tower collapsed, Fr. Judge was killed as debris rushed into the North Tower Lobby. His body was carried out of the Tower and placed before the altar in St. Peter’s Catholic Church. Fr. Judge would be the first victim formally identified when his body eventually arrived at the Medical Examiner’s office, and he became known on record as “Victim 001.”
I remember seeing Fr. Judge on the documentary, “9/11,” which was produced by two French brothers who happened to be filming what they thought would be a documentary on the journey of a probationary firefighter that morning. They were the ones who filmed the concerned face of Fr. Judge as he silently moved among the firefighters in the North Tower lobby, his lips constantly moving in prayer. I didn’t put my finger on it at the time, but the image of the priest ministering to people in the midst of that tragedy left an indelible imprint on me and no doubt helped me to be open to the call to seminary, which I recognized just a few years later. While 9/11 certainly showed us the worst that humanity could do to each other, it also reminded us of the many ways God works through ordinary people to bring light and hope in the midst of tragedy. The bravery, goodness and heroism of Fr. Judge and countless others that day showed the world the face of God in the midst of the evil on 9/11.
In the Gospel for this Sunday, we see Jesus trying to impress upon the Apostles the importance of the Cross. He tells them: “The Son of Man is to be handed over to men and they will kill him, and three days after His death the Son of Man will rise.” But they don’t know what to make of that and they allow their pride to keep them from asking Him to clarify. It seems that almost right after Jesus told them about His dying and rising, the central mystery of our faith, the Apostles get caught up in arguing with each other about who among them is the greatest.
What an incredible contrast! Here Jesus is telling them that He is going to lay himself down out of Divine Love for the whole world and then rise up in glory to bring us all with Him, and all they can think about is their own worldly glory. Jesus is inviting them to ponder the Heavenly glory that comes from dying and rising, and all they can think of is the earthly glory of rising by comparison with others. The temptation of worldly pride and vainglory cuts against the Heavenly glory that comes from the new life that Christ won for us through dying and rising.
Each of us is also called to be unafraid to enter into that pattern of dying and rising. The whole Christian life is bound up in laying ourselves down with Christ so that His grace can raise us up for God’s glory and the service of others. So often we try to sidestep true glory for the false glory of being number one in the eyes of others.
This is why Jesus puts the image of a child front and center for the Apostles. He says to all of us: “Whoever receives one child such as this in my name, receives me; and whoever receives me, receives not me but the One who sent me.” What is the importance of receiving a child? What does that teach us? Children are much less apt to be caught up in the rat race of worldly glory. The first gift a child offers us isn’t this or that thing they can do for us, but themselves. One of the best gifts we can receive is the loving embrace of a child. When my nieces run up and literally throw themselves into a hug with me, it reminds me what true service looks like–simply giving myself to the other in love. To be the servant of others is what makes for true glory. We come closer to the glory of Heaven the more we get out of our own way so that God can love others through us. This involves dying to ourselves so that God’s grace and glory can truly work through us. Only by forgetting our own self project can we truly be made great by the project of God’s grace forming us into His sons and daughters in order to love others freely.
Fr. Judge was very familiar with this principle, because he prayed about it over and over throughout his priesthood. I don’t think it’s any accident that his body ended up being placed before the altar in St. Peter’s church after his death on 9/11, because the altar is where he constantly had that opportunity to lay his life down with Christ so it could be raised up in Him. On 9/11, Fr. Judge died putting himself at the service of those in need, thus showing them the love of Christ. Think of the dialogue that we will engage in just minutes from now. I will say: “Pray, brothers and sisters that my sacrifice and yours will be acceptable to God, the Almighty Father.” And you all will respond: “May the Lord accept the sacrifice at your hands, for the praise and glory of his name, for our good and the good of all his Holy Church.”
We tend to externalize this prayer and we shouldn’t. We think of the sacrifice as the bread and wine at my hands. But that isn’t the full story. When we say these words, we are reminding ourselves that we are part of the sacrifice. We are called to be that offering that is transformed. The bread and wine are transformed into Jesus’ Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity and we are called to be transformed, too. By receiving Jesus in the Eucharist and all the Sacraments, we are strengthened as members of His Mystical Body, so that by His amazing grace our lives can be lifted up by laying them down in service. We can become the people who – by dying to ourselves and rising in Christ – will show Jesus to others!
At Engine 1, Ladder 24 in New York City, there is a memorial plaque for Fr. Judge. It has a prayer which reads:
Lord, Take me where you want me to go,
Let me meet who you want me to meet,
Tell me what you want me to say and
Keep me out of your way. +