Audio Homily here:

This Sunday  we remember the coordinated terrorist attacks on the World Trade Towers in Manhattan 15 years ago that caused 2,994 innocent people to die. That same day the Pentagon in Washington was also attached with loss of life. 

All behind us? From what we know it doesn’t seem so. How do we make our world a place of peace? Security preparations? Yes, but what about peace-making? That’s what our readings today are about, forgiveness and peacemaking. Let’s take a look at them.

The first reading talks about God who is angry with his people. “Go down Moses and tell my people I’m angry and they’re going to be punished for turning away. But Moses implored the Lord, Don’t let your anger blaze up against your own people. So the LORD relented in the punishment he had threatened to inflict on his people.”

The first step in peacemaking is to do what Moses did. We need to pray for peace, to ask God to move our hearts and the hearts of those who espouse violence. We must pray for the gift of peace.

The second readings from Paul’s Letter to Timothy invites us to a more personal project. Peacemaking involves knowing yourself. We have been forgiven by God for our sins, we must recognize God’s power to forgive everyone. Paul speaks gratefully for being strengthened and mercifully treated by God for what he had done. We must recognize our own capacity for violence, for pride, for harming others.

The gospel readings tell us about the work of peacemaking in simple stories, and the first lesson we learn from them is that that peacemaking takes time and patience. What about the shepherd who must leave the rest of his sheep to find the lost one? There’s a risk involved. It’s dangerous to leave the sheep untended, but peace and forgiveness are worth the risks.

Like the woman searching for the lost coin in a dark room in her house, you may think you are working in the dark. There are no blueprints or perfect formulas for peacemaking, no sure path to success.

Finally, listen again to the great story of the Prodigal Son. Notice the patience of the father. He has no idea where the son is or how he’s doing, yet he’s patient. He waits, searching the road. Then, one day the son comes back and the father is ready to receive him. Peacemaking involves a lot of patience.

Today we remember the violent attacks and the loss of innocent lives. We pray for them.

Yet, we also pray for peace and ask God to help us be peacemakers.