In the past few weeks we have heard news in the Jacob Wetterling disappearance that happened so close to Clearwater in St Joseph, 27 years ago.\u00a0 The news being that remains were located.\u00a0 There will not be any happy reunions or joy filled embraces.\u00a0 As I looked out over the congregation last weekend, I thought to myself how many there were not even born when Jacob was abducted.\u00a0 I, myself was only a few years out of high school.<\/p>\n
It has always been easy to think, “That kind of stuff does not happen here.”\u00a0 Being here in Clearwater now, I can feel how close it is.\u00a0 I can only imagine what it must have been like to be here 27 years ago.\u00a0 Parents, hug your children a little tighter today, kiss them when you put them to bed.\u00a0 Our children are a gift given by God, we must care for that gift, watch out for that gift, keep that gift safe. There are those who have hurt that gift, yes even a small group of priests.\u00a0 We must take care to watch out over the gift that God has given.\u00a0 Jesus says, “Let the children come to me.”\u00a0 May the good LORD watch over our children and keep them safe.<\/p>\n
The Jacob Wetterling case changed laws, that is something that Jacob gave to us.\u00a0 Let’s remember him for the affect he has had on so many, how many lives have been saved since. Only God knows the answer to that.\u00a0 Please keep praying for Jacob and his family, and the St Joseph community, our brothers and sisters, our neighbors and friends.<\/p>\n
Today also reminds us of another tragedy that happened in our country.\u00a0 911, the attack of the World Trade Center towers.\u00a0 I learned in my Psychology class that this is called a “Flash Bulb Memory” , some event that is burned into your memory.\u00a0 It used to be that people would ask, “Where were you when you heard John F Kennedy was shot?” and everyone had a story. 911 is one of those events.<\/p>\n
I was in minor seminary standing at my dorm room door, talking with the priest that lived on our floor.\u00a0 One of the guys at the end of the hall came down the hall to go into the lounge, (where the TV was).\u00a0 He told us, “I plane flew into the World Trade Center.”\u00a0 I remember thinking to myself that it was a small single engine plane and was only an accident.\u00a0 When I entered the lounge I saw that black smoke coming out of the tower.\u00a0 Deep inside, something said this is something more. Something much worse.\u00a0 That fear was confirmed when the second plane came into the camera view.<\/p>\n
These two events, Jacob and 911, are horrible in the history of our local area and our country.\u00a0 But we must not allow ourselves to forget.\u00a0 It can be like forgetting that the Holocaust ever happened.\u00a0 What is it they say, “If you forget history, you are bound to repeat it.”<\/p>\n
Take a moment today to pray.\u00a0 To pray for all of those affected by these two events.\u00a0 That would be all of us.\u00a0 Offer a special prayer for the Wetterling family and the town of St Joseph.\u00a0 All of those who lost their lives on 911, and Jacob Wetterling… You are not forgotten.\u00a0 You must be remembered.\u00a0 Because we cannot allow this to ever happen again.<\/p>\n
Father Backer<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
In the past few weeks we have heard news in the Jacob Wetterling disappearance that happened so close to Clearwater in St Joseph, 27 years ago.\u00a0 The news being that remains were located.\u00a0 There will not be any happy reunions …<\/span> Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[159],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-634","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-archived-fathers-reflections"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/churchofstlukes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/634","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/churchofstlukes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/churchofstlukes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/churchofstlukes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/churchofstlukes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=634"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/churchofstlukes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/634\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":639,"href":"https:\/\/churchofstlukes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/634\/revisions\/639"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/churchofstlukes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=634"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/churchofstlukes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=634"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/churchofstlukes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=634"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}