Today we think backwards to remember a second "day of infamy" for our nation. We offer prayers for those who died at the Pentagon, at the World Trade Center and in a Shenksville, PA field. Likewise we pray for Moms and Dads and children who lost loved ones in these points of death and sacrifice.
We continue to live in a nation that has undergone profound change, especially in this city, on this particular Hill. Only on another early morning at Pearl Harbor has our land of the free experienced such paralysis of emotion. As we think backwards, we realize, perhaps with even more intense emotion, how the sophistication of hatred can bring the world’s most powerful nation to a momentary experience of debilitation.
Each of us, I am sure, can remember precisely where we were on this morning seven years ago. And probably we can remember the shock and the fear that took up residence in our being for more than a few hours.
As a priest who served in the New York Fire Department as a Chaplain for one of its internal organization and as an officer in the Department’s Community Relations Bureau, I was working in Philadelphia at the time. When the second tower collapsed, I could not watch the TV any longer. I left the high rise to walk my pain on the street. What a blessing for me because I passed a nursing center where I had visited patients before. There I could talk with those elderly people who could not believe such an attack upon the people of our nation. There was fear there in all their hearts because they were so debilitated themselves. None had ever experience such diabolical events.
So, we need to look forward. We need to spend more energy on bringing peace to a world where hatred is no stranger. All those we remember today died on the altar of hatred. Where do we want the future to lead us? What do we want to do to bring about peace? One candle can bring some light to darkness. Imagine if millions lighted a candle for peace through their efforts in their homes and communities.
Sorry this was late making it to the posting.
