By Fr. Andrew Apostoli

 The date of 9/11/2001 is one that is permanently embedded in the minds and hearts of people, not only in the United States but throughout the world, old enough to remember the tragic events of that terrible day.
By extreme acts of terrorism, the lives of over three thousand innocent men, women and children were callously destroyed. Prior to these events, it would have been hard to imagine such cruelty even being a possibility! But now we know that it is not only possible, but that it could happen again because of man’s inhumanity to man!

 Not only in the United States but throughout the world, governments have taken serious measures to try to prevent such acts of terrorism. But no matter how effective these steps are, they are only human and therefore subject to failure.
But there is one way we can obtain the greatest possible protection from all harm, and that is by having recourse to the Lord.
Jesus is the one who has overcome the world! When we place all our trust in Him, He will provide for us.
This does not mean, however, that if we have recourse to Jesus, no harm will ever come to us. It does mean we can place our confidence in Him, trust that He is watching over us, and then know we do not have to worry needlessly!

 It is a fact well-known to Catholics that the Lord loves to work through the intercession of His Blessed Mother. From the cross Jesus gave Mary to us as our Mother: “Woman, behold your son!” She intercedes for us in all our needs, and protects us in all our dangers!
At Fatima, she came to warn us of all the evils that would be coming upon the world, like World War II and Communism! Certainly terrorism, so widespread today, was among those evils!
She promoted the Rosary as her special prayer. She told the little visionaries at Fatima that the Rosary was so powerful it “could stop wars, bring world peace and convert sinners!” The only thing she asked for in all of her apparitions at the Cova in Fatima was: “Pray the Rosary every day!”

 As we approach the 10th Anniversary of the sad events of 9/11, Ghirelli, a well reputed rosary maker in Italy, has designed a special Rosary to help us deal with the sadness and fear these events have stirred.
He designed the cross after the cross found at the 9/11 site in lower Manhattan.
We may recall that the cross, found at the site by the firemen who were dealing with the aftermath of the tragedy, saw it as a special sign of hope in the midst of such hopelessness.
Even many people of other religions found meaning through the sign of Jesus’ sufferings! The cross stayed during the main time of recovery.

The medal in the center (before the first mystery) resembles the remains of one of the buildings at Ground Zero to remind us that we must not give way to despair, but to begin again to “build a civilization of truth and love” as Blessed Pope John Paul II so frequently reminded us to do!

Finally, each of the fifty Hail Mary beads has the double-initial of each of the states in the United States.
After all, 9/11 was a tragedy that effected our whole nation, as well as many peoples beyond our borders! We must come together through God’s grace in a nation where every person is respected with the inalienable right to life, and where people live in mutual acceptance, love and respect.

This Rosary is like Our Lady’s spiritual weapon to build the wonderful Culture of Life and destroy the sad Culture of Death with its war, terrorism and all its attacks on the God-given gift of human life!
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