“…
a dark day in the history of humanity, a terrible affront to human dignity.”
Pope John Paul II
he
power of prayer, the plea for peace and not revenge, the gatherings of people
concerned for world peace… these are some of the positive responses after a
“dark day in the history of humanity.”
The words of the Pope seem very appropriate for us all, as we try to
understand these tragic times, and respond with compassion and forgiveness.
From the nation’s most prominent leaders in Washington to the humblest of cabbies in New York, the United States paused in prayer Friday, Sept. 14, 2001, gathering in grand cathedrals and tiny churches, in parks and public squares, to mourn and to seek comfort for the loss in Tuesday’s Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on New York’s World Trade Center, Washington’s Pentagon and Shanksville, PA farm fields, and gather resolve for the trying times ahead.
Often in silent meditation, but also with patriotic fervor, they came by the thousands to listen to ministers and priests, light candles, wave flags, and even embrace strangers.
Factories closed so workers could attend services. Mosques and synagogues welcomed the faithful and offered hopes of peace and justice. Town squares from the West Coast to the East were filled with words of promise, songs of prayers and, in many cases, cheers for the country.
Some ceremonies were stately and solemn, others spontaneous and spirited.
In Washington, President Bush led the country in a day of remembrance at the National Cathedral with his father and three former presidents, congressional leaders, all nine Supreme Court justices and hundreds of everyday citizens, some who sobbed quietly, others who wept openly. The Rev. Billy Graham delivered a sermon: “Yes, our nation has been attacked,” he said to a hushed crowd of thousands. “But now we have a choice whether to implode and disintegrate emotionally and spiritually as a people and a nation, or whether we choose to become stronger through all of the struggle.”
In Boston, the assemblage of more than 300 people was at historic Old North Church. They shuffled into the 278-year old church’s boxy wooden pews for a subdued service, and heard, among other messages, a plea for peace, and not revenge: “We need to be much more humble in our assumptions about God and diligently remove religion as a source of hatred in the world,” said the Rev. Stephen T. Ayres.
In New York, lines of people snaked outside overflowing midtown churches. On Sept. 16 worshippers packed St. Patrick’s Cathedral and the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington for special Masses. In messages read at those Masses, Pope John Paul II, even as he condemned the “inhuman terrorist attacks,” said, “To all I solemnly repeat the Gospel injunction not to be conquered by evil, but to conquer evil with good.”
“Men never do evil so completely and cheerfully as when they do it from religious conviction.” History tells us indeed that self-righteous hatred and rivalry has frequently afflicted institutional religion and that, for too long, Christians, Jews and Muslims have spilled blood “in the name of the same God.” But the concept of killing in the name of God cannot be justified. Religious groups or terrorist who kill in the name of God are making a political statement, not a religious one. No religion justifies killing in the name of God.
The perpetrators of the enormously tragic events of Sept. 11 did just that. They chose to ignore what the Koran itself teaches: “If anyone kills an innocent person, it is as if he has killed all of humanity. And if anyone saves a life it is as if he has saved all of humanity” (Chapter 5, Vs 32). The terrorists of Sept. 11 were, are, fanatics who kill for God to make a political statement, and God is not a politician.
But we cannot let them make us hate them and one another. The human situation is fragile, and at times humanity runs amok. This was one of its worst times. But God is still God, the God of life, love and compassion, still in control. In spite of everything, that God is still at work in the world. That God is still the God who can transform our feelings of fear and hatred, anger and distrust, that bring out the absurdity of violent acts upon humanity, into overpowering acts of courage and love, compassion and trust. And if we demand justice toward the perpetrators, then we have to act justly ourselves.
Rabbi Abraham Heschel spoke a deep truth when he said, “The only answer to absurdity is holiness.” It is the denial of the holiness of the victims of terror that makes terrorism so evil and absurd.
When Myrlie, Medgar Evers’ wife, railed against the Klu Klux Klan that was terrorizing them from a sniper’s bunker across the street from their home in Mississippi, he told her: “Myrlie, we cannot let them make us hate them or… we lose. Hatred is our enemy.”
We do hate hatred’s actions. We do struggle not to hate those who perpetrate hatred but know that the battle, and it clearly is a battle, will be won by those who believe in, celebrate and defend holiness in all people and peoples. One of Jesus’ toughest teachings is the call to love our enemies.
He was calling us to lives that believe in and defend the holiness of people. The call to love my enemies does not deny that they are my enemies but at the same time calls me from the ranks of those who hate. We must try to be guided by this as we respond to the terror that was visited upon our nation on Sept. 11, 2001.
I
was deeply touched by a cartoon that shows the nibble of the World Trade Center
towers, and in their midst a cell phone which calls out “I love You.”
The were the last words of the victims of murderous madness,
their last will and testament, an appeal to our human spirit in the face of
crushing inhumanity. Love!
We can declare unequivocally, then, that hatred cannot be answered with hatred. This is why churches, and synagogues, and mosques, and temples, and sanghas, and circles are still meeting around the country and around the world – to spread the word that Life is stronger than death and that Love is stronger than anything.
(From Xaverian Mission Newsletter)