See Full Testimony Here
"Dear children! Today I invite you to prayer. Let prayer be life for you. A family cannot say that it is in peace if it does not pray. Therefore, let your morning begin with morning prayer, and the evening end with thanksgiving. Little children, I am with you, and I love you and I bless you and I wish for every one of you to be in my embrace. You cannot be in my embrace if you are not ready to pray every day. Thank you for having responded to my call."
Our Lady’s Medjugorje Message, August 25, 1995
Shortly after we turned onto the street Mirjana lives on, Joyce suggested we stop by Ivan’s for a moment. I asked, “Can we just do that?” And she said, “Sure we can. He might not be able to come out and talk to us, but we can stop by.” It hadn’t occurred to me when I asked that like Mirjana, Ivan also takes in pilgrims into his home. But as we mad our way up the sidewalk and onto the front veranda we were greeted and made to feel very welcomed by some of the pilgrims staying at Ivan’s. It was nice to have two separate pilgrim groups come together as one to share like this…
The group staying at Ivan’s was from the New York city area.. As our two groups broke off into our little conversations I soon found myself chatting with lady from Ney York City named Rita Hayden… The following is the conversation Rita and I had on September 11th, 2009… about September 11th,, 2001…
As Rita and I began to converse she asked me where I was from,
“I’m from Canada Rita.. Windsor, Ontario to be exact.” I explained. ”It’s just across the river from Detroit Michigan.”
“Oh, your group is from Canada?” She asked. ”But isn’t Fr. Rookey from the States?”
Oh no no!” I exclaimed. ”Well yes, actually he is from Chicago.. You see, our group is from the Chicago and Wisconsin area of the States, but three of us come from Canada and joined this group to be with Fr. Rookey..” I explained, “My friend Barb over there (pointing to Barb) became friends with Fr. Rookey’s secretary Sara over the past few years. So instead of going with the Canadian group we usually go with, we came with this group instead. We’re staying across the street at Mirjana’s… Where are you from Rita?
“I’m from New York City John.”
”Oh.. okay…. Did you come with Fr. Kevin who gave the Homily this morning at the English Mass?” I asked..
Actually no… But I know who Fr. Kevin is. I knew of him before.. He gave a wonderful Homily, didn’t he?”
Yes he did.. He was right down there at the World Trade Center on September 11th.. Were you in New York City on September 11th, 2001?” I asked..
”Yeah. I was John. I was just a few blocks away.” Rita answered..
Oh wow! That must have been very frightening!”
”Well, yes it was.. I spent the day on my knees crying and praying and pleading with God to take care of my husband.” Rita explained.
”Was your husband in the World Trade Center if you don’t mind me asking?”
”Yes, he’s a fireman.. Rita answered. I could see her eyes becoming a bit teary.. “He was one of the first to respond”
Suddenly my questions stopped. Here I am standing next to this poor soul whose husband risked his life to save so many other lives and I wasn’t sure if she was now a widow or not… And that was a question I couldn’t ask. So I froze right there in mid conversation unsure of how to proceed. A few awkward moments of silence went by and then Rita spoke up.
”It’s okay John.. He’s alive.” She said, reassuring me that it was okay to talk about it. She continued, ”Maybe you remember a documentary that came out shortly after 911 about rookie firefighters?”
“Oh yes!” I interrupted. “It was narrated by Robert DeNiro.. Am I right? Is that the one?”
”Yes.. That’s the one.” She confirmed. “Wow, okay, you’ve seen it then.”
”I have it on tape back home. I’ve watched it a few times. It was put together by two journalist’s from France who wanted to make a documentary on rookie firefighters and were stationed….” I began.
”Yes, they were with a fire station just a few blocks from the World Trade center filming a rookie on that day.” Rita interrupted… She continued, ”Well, then you may recall the opening scene where there were a group of firemen standing around an opening investigating..…”
Yes, they were investigating a gas leak, right?” I interrupted..
”Yes they were” She replied. ”And as they were standing there, suddenly you heard a loud roar of jet engines and the cameraman looked up to see the shadow of the first plane glide over the buildings behind them as it headed straight into the first tower.. Well, my husband was one of the men standing there.. His name is Peter Hayden.”
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The 911 videorefered to in this post, produced by the Naudet Brothers from France, and narrated by Robert Deniro can be viewed here:
http://video.google.com/videosearch?q=91....ed=0CBMQqwQwAA#
