Matt Ziemkiewicz reflected in an email last night how Fr. Mike was such an incredible support to his family after the loss of his sister, Jill, on TWA 800. \u00a0And, he just discovered this excerpted homily Fr. Mike gave on the day before the terrorist attacks. Of course as it went, Fr. Mike died on September 11,2001. \u00a0Matt added, “He always told me that healing doesn’t mean forgetting.” \u00a0I really like this!<\/p>\n
Excerpts from the\u2028Last Homily of Father Mychal Judge\u2028FDNY Chaplain,<\/em>at Mass for Firefighters: Sept. 10, 2001<\/em><\/p>\n Let us pray.\u2028\u2028Thank you Lord for life.\u00a0 Thank you for love.\u00a0 Thank you for goodness.\u00a0 Thank you for work.\u00a0 Thank you for family.\u00a0 Thank you for friends.\u00a0 Thank you for every gift because we know that every gift comes from you, and without you, we have and are nothing.\u00a0 So, as we celebrate this day in thanksgiving to you, keep our hearts and minds open.\u00a0Let us enjoy each other’s company, and most of all, let us be conscious of Your presence in our lives and in a special way in the lives of all those who have gone before us.\u00a0 And Father we make our prayer, as always, in Jesus’ name who lives with You forever and ever.<\/em><\/p>\n That’s the way it is.\u00a0 Good days.\u00a0 And bad days.\u00a0 Up days.\u00a0 Down days.\u00a0 Sad days.\u00a0 Happy days.\u00a0 But never a boring day on this job.\u00a0 You do what God has called you to do.\u00a0 You show up.\u00a0 You put one foot in front of another.\u00a0 You get on the rig and you go out and you do the job – which is a mystery.\u00a0 And a surprise.\u00a0 You have no idea when you get on that rig.\u00a0 No matter how big the call.\u00a0 No matter how small.\u00a0 You have no idea what God is calling you to.\u00a0 But he needs you.\u00a0 He needs me.\u00a0 He needs all of us.<\/em> <\/em><\/p>\n The retirees – He needs your prayers.\u00a0 He needs your stopping by occasionally to give strength and support and to tell the stories of the old days.\u00a0 We need the house and to those of you that are working now, keep going.\u00a0 Keep supporting each other.\u00a0 Be kind to each other.\u00a0 Love each other.\u00a0 Work together and do what you did the other night and the weeks and the months and the years before and from this house, God’s blessings go forth in this community.\u00a0 It’s fantastic!<\/em><\/p>\n What great people.\u00a0 We love the job.\u00a0 We all do.\u00a0 What a blessing that is.\u00a0 A difficult, difficult job and God calls you to it.\u00a0 And then He gives you a love for it so that a difficult job will be well done.\u00a0 Isn’t He a wonderful God?\u00a0 Isn’t He good to you?\u00a0 To each one of you?\u00a0 And to me!\u00a0 Turn to Him each day.\u00a0 Put your faith and your trust and your hope and your life in His hands, and He’ll take care of you and you’ll have a good life.\u2028And this house will be a great, great blessing to this neighborhood and to this city.<\/em><\/p>\n Amen.<\/em><\/p>\n So today, we reflect, remember, do community service. And, tomorrow, we go back to advocacy! That is certainly part of the healing for us here at NADA\/F. Today, no matter what your faith, find peace in your own way. Since I live close by, I’ll be having my reflection today at the Pentagon Memorial.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Matt Ziemkiewicz reflected in an email last night how Fr. Mike was such an incredible support to his family after the loss of his sister, Jill, on TWA 800. \u00a0And, he just discovered this excerpted homily Fr. Mike gave on the day before the terrorist attacks. Of course as it went, Fr. Mike died on […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1674","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog"],"yoast_head":"\n