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St. Mary Roman Catholic Church
New Britain, Connecticut |
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Fr. Salvatore Rosa Tuesday September 11, 2001. A dark day in the history of the United States of America. Where were you when you got the news? What were you doing when you found out what had happened? Years from now when people talk about this past Tuesday, they will start the conversation with those two questions. Where were you, and what were you doing? The first reaction to the news was disbelief and denial. “No, this can’t be happening. It’s not true. It is make-believe, like a movie that uses trick photography to create special effects.” But, after we saw the film clips over and over again, denial gave way to acceptance. It really did happen. It wasn’t a bad dream. It was a nightmare come true. The airplanes slamming into the World Trade Center Buildings, the explosion of the jet fuel into a gigantic fireball, the melting down and collapse the buildings in the intense heat, the total cremation of many people in the inferno, the crushing and suffocation of thousands more in the collapse. The next reaction was sorrow, grief, and tears. We thought of the people who had gotten up and gone to work that morning, by subway, by bus, by car, unaware that they would not be returning home that night. We wept for the people who had left their homes that morning thinking of a thousand different things, not knowing they were on their way to an appointment with death. We cried for them, for their families, for the wives and husbands left behind, for the children that will have to grow up without one, or both, of their parents. Then came the anger and outrage at the wrongness, the injustice, of the atrocity. These were good, ordinary people just like you and I. They had a right to feel secure, to trust that they were safe, to expect that September 11 would be one more normal day in the routine of their lives. We said to ourselves, “Whoever did this is going to pay. We can’t let them get away with this. America is not going to take this lying down.”
We felt pride in the reaction of our country. Our hearts were warmed by the sight of the volunteers, firemen, policemen, and rescue workers, going through the debris in the hope of saving someone. We were heartened by the thousands who rushed to donate blood, by those who gathered outside the White House to sing patriotic songs, by the thousands who engaged in countless prayer services throughout the country. Terrorism’s aim is to make us run and cringe in fear. But it had the opposite effect. Terrorism untied us in a solidarity of sorrow and of love for our country. I want to mention the comments of two different persons to me in the days after September 11. I choose these two because I think they represent what is going on in the minds and hearts of the rest of us. One man said to me: “What happened Tuesday made me realize how stupid my sins are. I can’t live like this any longer. I want to go to confession and start living close to God again. That’s really the only security we have. I don’t want to death to catch me far from him.” There is a lot of wisdom in what he said. Usually we take comfort and feel secure in our well organized routines, in our jobs, family, paycheck, friendships, good health. But we forget that under all thee things, behind all these things, it is God who supports and sustains us. But when disaster strikes, when our world get turned upside down and inside out, we realize our lives are in God’s hands and He is the only security we have. Instead of taking our comfort in the American standard of living, we need to make sure that as Americans we live according to God’s standards. Then, no matter how or when our lives here on earth reach their end, we will find ourselves with Him. To live close to Him is the only security that counts. Sin is a luxury no one can afford.
This is the second comment: “All those Arabs are crazy fanatics. How can they believe in a religion that tells them to hate and kill people? What kind of God is that? The United States and Israel should get together and get serious. It’s time to wipe out all the Muslims.” That reaction is wrong, and dangerous. 1) Islam does not teach Muslims to hate and kill people who are not of their faith. In fact the Koran, the Muslim holy book, clearly states that Muslims should live in peace with their Christian and Jewish neighbors. 2) Are there Muslim militants who preach hatred and pervert their religion to achieve their own violent purpose? Of course. Just as there are Catholic and Protestant fanatics in Northern Ireland who have been preaching hate and practicing terrorism on each other for years. The activity of Catholic and Protestant terrorists is a perversion of Christianity and not a valid expression of it. The same is true of Muslim terrorists of Islam. It would be wrong to condemn all Arabs, or disparage their religion, because of the hatred and fanaticism of the Muslims who are terrorists. Where does our country go from here? What difference will September 11 make in our lives? No one has the full answer. Before September 11, after September 11. It seems clear that things cannot go back to normal, to the way that were before, because now the definition of “normal” has changed. We need to pray, for the dead, for their families, for our president and government, for our country, as we begin to work out the difference September 11 will make in our lives.
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Mail to: franceswei@saintmarynb.org
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