Twenty-five years ago, amid the chaos outside the Pentagon, a badly burned man heard a priest praying beside him.

“Father Steve McGraw,” the priest replied. “I’m a Catholic priest.”

The man, Juan Cruz, answered, “I’m Catholic.”

Father McGraw had been ordained only three months earlier when he witnessed Flight 77 strike the Pentagon on September 11, 2001. He grabbed his stole, holy oils, and prayer book, then ran toward the wounded.

There, he prayed with Juan, offered him absolution, and administered the Anointing of the Sick.

With conviction, Father McGraw told him:

“Jesus is with you now.”

Juan survived. Later, while recovering in the hospital, he told his family that someone had been praying at his side. Only after his wife found a photograph of that moment did they learn who that priest was.

Father McGraw’s own prayer that day was simple:

“Mary, help me stay with you at the foot of the Cross.”

Twenty-five years later, we remember the victims of September 11—and the priests, first responders, and ordinary people who brought courage, mercy, and the presence of Christ into unimaginable suffering.

Watch the full documentary, “Hope After 9/11: Stories of Faith and Courage,” on EWTN News’ YouTube channel, beginning at 8 p.m. ET on Friday, September 11, 2026.

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