Trying to Pray on 9/11

Father Mychal Judge, the beloved FDNY chaplain and 9/11's first fatality, changed my life — even after his death.

New York City firefighters give a last salute to their beloved chaplain, Father Mychal Judge, during his funeral at St. Francis of Assisi Church on W. 31st Street, Sept. 15, 2001. (Photo by Linda Rosier/New York Daily News)

By Michael Judge

Still,
There are good things in this world.

Those two lines from James Wright’s 1963 poem Trying to Pray come to mind each year as we approach the anniversary of 9/11. They fit perfectly in our post 9/11 world — and the need to turn from confusion and loss to the good things in this world.

This year I want to talk about a good person who entered my life a few months after I watched the towers collapse from my apartment in Brooklyn. Her name is Sister Diane Smith, and I give thanks for her friendship — a good thing — every day.

Most Americans know that the first official fatality on 9/11 was Father Mychal Judge, the beloved New York Fire Department chaplain whose body was one of the first carried from the rubble that terrible morning.

As you may have noti…