Dates have a way of taking on a life of their own. They trigger memories that surge up and cause us to relive the times they recall. September 11 is one of those dates, along with November 22, December 7 and, if you are old enough, November 11.

So again we recall the images seared into our minds: towers sheathed in smoke, fire trucks and police cars racing to the scene, dazed survivors wandering the streets, the incredible collapse of the towers followed by hundreds of people fleeing the billowing cloud of debris. We remember hundreds walking out of Manhattan looking back incredulously at the smoldering emptiness.

Then the sudden realization that thousands of people were buried in that heap of wreckage where rescue workers were scrambling frantically to reach them. We watched and we prayed; transfixed by tragedy…later to discover that other acts of terror and heroism had occurred in Washington and Pennsylvania.

There is a unity in tragedy…it draws us together…it brings out the best in us. Nothing illustrates that more than the overwhelming grief and incredible heroism of that day.

September 11 reminds us that wounds heal but scars remain. Some things we do not get over…we just learn to live with them.

So it is with 9/11. We salute the heroes, we pray for the families and we commend the victims to a merciful God.