09/11/2026
“No day shall erase you from the memory of time.” — Virgil
May we always remember the nearly 3,000 souls lost 25 years ago today. May we never forget and always honor the brave first responders, hundreds who sacrificed their own lives in the hope that even one more life could be saved. While a nation watched, paralyzed by terror, countless first responders, service members, and good samaritans acted without hesitation, fueled by courage, honor, service, and love for others.
May we also hold close the survivors who carry the memories and scars of that day, seen and unseen, and the families who lost parents, spouses, children, siblings, friends, and loved ones. Twenty-five years later, they continue to carry unimaginable loss, preserve the memories of those they loved, and remind us why our promise to never forget must remain steadfast.
At the heart of the 9/11 Memorial is Spencer Finch’s Trying to Remember the Color of the Sky on That September Morning. Its individual blue watercolor squares, one for each person killed in the September 11 attacks and 1993 World Trade Center bombing, surround Virgil’s poignant words, forged from recovered World Trade Center steel by artist Tom Joyce. May we always remember that behind every square is a life that mattered and a legacy that remains.
And as we remember September 11, may we never forget the days that followed. May we remember September 12, 2001, when through our grief and fear, we rallied together. Political differences seemed smaller. Strangers helped strangers. American flags appeared everywhere. We mourned together, prayed together, gave together, and stood together, not as red or blue, not divided by background or belief, but united as one nation.
Twenty-five years later, perhaps that is part of what we are called to remember, too. Not only how we responded in the darkest of moments, but who we became in the days that followed.