Cristo Rey Jesuit Community,
Today, September 11, we pause.
Twenty-five years ago, our nation experienced a tragedy that changed families, communities, and our country forever. We remember the 2,977 lives lost in the attacks of September 11, 2001, along with the first responders, rescue and recovery workers, members of our military, and countless others whose lives were forever changed.
For those of us old enough to remember that day, we can often recall exactly where we were when we first heard the news. I was teaching on the Eastern Shore of Maryland. I remember trying to comprehend what was happening while also recognizing my responsibility to the young children entrusted to my care.
Yet most of the young people we serve today know September 11 only through history, photographs, videos, and the stories we choose to tell them. That places a particular responsibility upon us.
What will we help them remember?
We must certainly remember the tragedy. But we should also remember what happened afterward.
Amid fear and uncertainty, people moved toward one another. First responders ran toward danger. Strangers helped strangers. Communities prayed together. People donated blood, volunteered, served their neighbors, and rediscovered something fundamental about our common humanity.
That spirit of service remains an important part of September 11’s legacy.
And that legacy speaks powerfully to our theme this year at Cristo Rey Jesuit: Jesus’s Witness.
In Acts 22, Ananias tells Paul that he has been chosen to become a witness, to testify through his life to what he has seen and heard. Witness, therefore, is not passive. A witness does not simply observe.
A witness responds.
Twenty-five years after September 11, our nation faces a different moment. We encounter division, violence, loneliness, distrust, economic uncertainty, and a public discourse that can too easily reduce another person to a label rather than recognize their human dignity.
Perhaps our responsibility as a Catholic, Jesuit community is to ask not simply, “What do we remember about September 11?” but something more demanding:
What are we willing to witness to today?
Will we witness to division, or will we witness to reconciliation?
Will we contribute to anger, or will we become instruments of peace?
Will we walk past someone who is struggling, or will we move toward them?
Will our students see in the adults around them examples of compassion, courage, faith, integrity, and service?
And perhaps most importantly:
If someone encountered Jesus only through the way I treated people today, what would they learn about Him?
That is a question worth carrying with us beyond September 11.
As President of Cristo Rey Jesuit, I believe our mission calls us to form young people who will not simply succeed in college and careers, but who will enter the world prepared to transform it. We are forming young men and women who understand that their education, talents, faith, and opportunities carry with them a responsibility to others.
Today, let us remember those who lost their lives. Let us pray for their families and for all who continue to bear the wounds of that day. Let us honor the extraordinary acts of courage and service that followed.
But remembrance alone is not enough.
Let our remembrance become renewal.
Let our reflection become action.
Let our faith become witness.
And may we leave Cristo Rey Jesuit today asking ourselves one final question:
In a world desperately searching for credible witnesses of hope, reconciliation, and love, what will my life witness to?
May God bless the families whose lives were forever changed on September 11, 2001. May God bless our students, families, faculty, and staff. And may God give each of us the courage to become faithful witnesses in the places where He has called us to serve.
Viva Cristo Rey!
Walter D. Reap, Sr., President
Cristo Rey Jesuit High School -Baltimore
