William Schulz, Executive Director of Amnesty International wrote the following letter on 9/21/01...I have abridged it a bit.
 Sometimes death comes in the dark, in the dead of night. But not this time. This time the day could not have been brighter or more beautiful.
 Sometimes death comes when we are by ourselves. But not this time. This time it came to those who were surrounded by friends and colleagues.
 Sometimes death comes on a battlefield or in a prison cell. But not this time. This time it came in commercial airplanes and pleasant office buildings.
 And sometimes death comes after a long struggle and much anticipation. But not this time. This time it came in an instant.
 Now that it has, you and I have work to do. Not the kind of work that sorts through rubble or loads up body bags, thank God. Those who do that work deserve a thousand tears of gratitude. Our work is of a different order but just as important nonetheless. The work of anger, to be sure, but an anger tempered by wisdom. The work of grieving, absolutely, but a grieving that pays homage to suffering. And the work of justice, no questions about it, but a justice of which every one of us can be proud.
 To get to grieving, we must go through anger. And to get to justice, we must go through grieving. Because, as the theologian Sam Keen so eloquently put it, “Every day we are not mourning is a day we will be taking vengeance” and vengeance is different from justice.
 Those who died on September 11 represent the best that is in us as human beings, as citizens and as a people. The best that is in us knows that individuals are responsible for this crime - not anonymous masses of people. The best that is in us knows that the guilty deserve to be punished - not those who share their names or their language, their skin color or their religion. It knows that blind hatred corrupts the hater. It knows that the greatest power evil has is to entice the innocent to mimic its practices. It knows that every action has unintended  consequences. It knows that the truly strong never forget that in the heart of every stranger lurks a reflection of our own.
 Those who died on September 11 represent the best that is in us, the calling of our highest selves. We owe them anger; we owe them grieving; we owe them justice. But everything that we do now must reflect the best, not the lowest, of our humanity. We pay those precious souls their rightful tribute only by leveling a wise justice, only by exhibiting a tender righteousness. We pay them tribute only by understanding what brought about their deaths and hewing to those principles that call us to a more abundant life.
 Towards those ends, we will mourn the victims; we will speak out against impunity for the perpetrators; we will demand that those innocent of crimes be protected and respected; and we will insist that justice is not justice if it fails to adhere to international human rights norms.
 For death has come in an instant. And now there is work to be done.
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 Am not sure who wrote “Satan’s Meeting”, though it has the flavor of an updated C.S. Lewis’ “The Screwtape Letters” quality. This piece was submitted by Frank Schoenbaechler.
Satan’s Meeting
(read even if you’re busy)
 Satan called a worldwide convention of demons. In his opening address he said, “We can’t keep Christians from going to church.” “We can’t keep them from reading their Bibles and knowing the truth.” “We can’t even keep them from forming an intimate relationship with their savior.” “Once they gain that connection with Jesus, our power over them is broken.
 “So let them go to their churches; let them have their covered dish dinners, but steal their time, so they don’t have time to develop a relationship with Jesus Christ.” “This is what I want you to do,” said the devil: “Distract them from gaining hold of their Savior and maintaining that vital connection throughout their day.”
 “How shall we do this?” his demons shouted.
 “Keep them busy in the nonessentials of life and invent innumerable schemes to occupy their minds,” he answered. “Tempt them to spend, spend, spend, and borrow, borrow, borrow.” “Persuade the wives to go to work for long hours and the husbands to work 6-7 days each week, 10-12 hours a day, so they can afford the empty lifestyles.”
 “Keep them from spending time with their children.” “As their families fragment, soon, their homes will offer no escape from the pressures of work! Over-stimulate their minds so that they cannot hear that still, small voice.” “Entice them to play the radio or cassette player whenever they drive.” “To keep the TV, VCR, CDs and their PCs going constantly in their home and see to it that every store and restaurant in the world plays non-biblical music constantly.” “This will jam their minds and break that union with Christ.”
 “Fill the coffee table with magazines and newspapers.” “Pound their minds with the news 24 hours a day.” “Invade their driving moments with billboards.” “Flood their mailboxes with junk mail, mail order catalogs, sweepstakes, and every kind of newsletter and promotional offering free products, services and false hopes.”
 “Keep skinny, beautiful models on the magazines and TV so their husbands believe that outward beauty is what’s important, and they’ll become dissatisfied with their wives.” “Keep the wives too tired to love their husbands at night.” “Give them headaches, too!” “If they don’t give their husbands the love they need, they will begin to look elsewhere.” “That will fragment their families quickly!”
 “Give them Santa Claus to distract them from teaching their children the real meaning of Christmas.” “Give them an Easter bunny so they won’t talk about his resurrection and power over sin and death.
 “Even in their recreation, let them be excessive.” “Have them return from their recreation exhausted.” “Keep them too busy to go out in nature and reflect on God’s creation.” “Send them to amusement parks, sporting events, plays, concerts, and movies instead.” “Keep them busy, busy, busy, busy!” “And when they meet for spiritual fellowship, involve them in gossip and small talk so that they leave with troubled consciences.”
 “Crowd their lives with so many good causes they have no time to seek power from Jesus.” “Soon they will be working in their own strength, sacrificing their health and family for the good of the cause.” “It will work!” “It will work!”
 It was quite a plan! The demons went eagerly to their assignments causing Christians everywhere to get more busy and more rushed, going here and there. Having little time for their God or their families. Having no time to tell others about the power of Jesus to change lives. I guess the question is, has the devil been successful at his scheme? You be the judge! Does busy mean:
 B-eing
 U-nder
 S-atan’s
 Y-oke?
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T-shirt Aphorisms:
If God is your co-pilot, swap seats!
Most people want to serve God, but only in an advisory capacity.
Prayer: Don’t give God instructions; just report in for duty.
The task ahead of us is never as great as the power over us.
To be almost saved is to be totally lost.
Warning: Exposure to the Son may prevent burning.

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Once again I ask, who has my remote control? Please return it immediately.

                    Love in Him,
          Fr. Jim
  

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