A Morning to Remember

Several years ago I read the novel A Night to Remember by Walter Lord. The book compiles the stories of the night of April 14, 1912, that continued through the early morning of April 15th. This was the night that the R.M.S. Titanic hit an iceberg and later sunk beneath the chilled waters of the North Atlantic the following morning, along with nearly 1500 people. Back in 1865, also on the night of April 14th, a lone gunman in a theater shot our President, who died in the early morning hours of April 15th. I find it coincidental that our taxes are also due on April 15th... a day of two horrific tragedies remembered.

Today, April 20, is also one of these days. For one, it is my little cousin's fourth birthday (he's very proud of today), but that is more personal than not (and more rejoiceful than tragic). I particularly remember the morning of April 20th six years ago, where two young men raged an assault on a school in Littleton, Colorado, killing many students and teachers alike. I remember watching scenes of this unfold on television, then later reading in tears the stories of Cassie Bernall and the lesser publicized Rachel Joy Scott, both of whom have become martyrs of their generation. Recalling the stories from that morning even today bring tears, but it leaves me with a challenge to reach out to this generation that I am also a part of.

Today, in this year, is also rather symbolic. This is the first morning of the papacy of Benedict XVI. While a lot is left to be seen in what this pope does, I think his first act tells us a great deal: his choice of the name Benedict. The first Benedict was a man who began the monastery (hence why many are referred to as Benedictine Monks). He encouraged life-long study of the Word and a life-long pursuit of that intimate relationship with God.

As I reflected on all of this earlier today, I began thinking more of an even older story. A story of a greater man that each of these people I speak of were seeking to be more like. He said to us, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets."

Benedict had it right with the first one. More than that, He was one of the first popes to reach out beyond Europe as a pope. This story of Columbine is an ever-more-recent reminder of the need to reach out, as Jesus tells us in the second great commandment... to reach out in love.

We often are quick to reference the "Great Commission" and John 3:16, but few are quick to seek these two commandments Jesus gives to us. Today is a day that I will take to remember these four verses and how I might seek to apply them to my life -- and be in constant reminder of them.

What if the entire world loved God with all of their being and then sought to love everyone else as Jesus loved and loves us? What a wonderful day that would be... now that would be a morning to remember.

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Matthew 22: 37-40