If you are of a certain age, you will remember exactly where you were and what you were doing on December 7, 1941, the day Pearl Harbor was attacked, a “day that will live in infamy” to quote President Roosevelt.
If you are of a certain age, you will remember where you were and what you were doing when President Kennedy was assassinated. I was 10 years old in catholic grammar school when the principal came on the loudspeaker to tell us that the President was shot. Then a little while later to tell us he was in surgery, then a little while later to tell us he had died.
Most of us can remember where we were on September 11, 2001, when we heard about the attack on the World Trade Center. I was assigned to Our Lady of Consolation Church in Wayne as a part time associate pastor and had just started to work at Chilton Hospital as a part time chaplain. I was in the hospital parking lot around 9:30 a.m. and on my way into the hospital when a woman told me that a plane had crashed into the World Trade Center. I assumed that it must have been a small plane and that only a few people had been killed. As I was making my rounds, every patient had their TV on and was watching the news. Was I surprised to see what really happened! Since no one was interested in pastoral care that day, I went back to the rectory.
These three events are defining moments for their generation. Prior to Pearl Harbor, the U.S. was trying to recover from the Great Depression and there was a big pacifist sentiment in the country: no one wanted to get involved in Europe’s war. The U.S. entry into WWII helped end the Depression and changed people’s attitudes towards war: now, everyone was for fighting the war.
Many people think that if JFK had lived, history would have been much different. His era was called Camelot, and the President and Mrs. Kennedy are the closest we have come to having royalty. After his death, his brother’s death, Martin Luther kings death, the escalation in Vietnam, and the whole 60’s culture made us think the country was falling apart. And in some ways, it was. Would JFK have made a difference? We’ll never know.
The attacks on the World Trade Center took away our naiveté. Terrorism was not just something overseas, ‘over there’, but had invaded our soil in a big way. It changed the way we think, act, and protect ourselves. In many ways, it’s taken away our hope. What kind of hope for the future is there if we can’t fly anymore without wondering what will happen. Where is our hope for a better world, knowing that there may be future armed conflicts and terrorism in our country?
One thread that goes through all acts of violence is hatred. And hatred kills. It kills anyone in its way – combatants, obviously, but also women, children, non-combatants, anyone who gets in its way. Hate is one cause of war, of social disruption, and of terrorism. How many people has hate killed in these three defining moments? How many have suffered because of it? I don’t even want to think of an answer.
That’s why the minister in Florida is so wrong about burning the Quran – it is an act of hate that will just bring on more hate, more suffering, and more death. We Catholics should be especially sensitive to religious hatred because we have all seen our sacred symbols trashed in the name of artistic expression or freedom of speech.
In Luke’s Gospel, Jesus says in chapter 6, to “Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.” This is a difficult teaching, but there is no alternative for our future. Hate by itself doesn’t exist – hate is the absence of love, of goodness, just as darkness is the absence of light, and cold is the absence of heat. We measure hate by how unloving it can be. The more love we can put into the world, the less room for hate there will be.
We have to let go of hate because it controls our lives and makes us miserable. Love lets us be free to be the kind of people God created us to be, people that live in His love and grace, and who live peaceful, meaningful lives. Hate begets more hate, but love begets more love.
On this ninth anniversary of 9/11, we all certainly pray that those who died that day will be rejoicing with God in heaven. We also pray for those who loved them and are suffering because of their loss, that our loving God will give them the grace and strength to endure.
If we are to learn anything from this experience, if we are to make our world a better place, if we want to enrich our lives, today should tell us that love is the answer. Not only love in the emotional sense, but love in it’s purest, biblical sense, of treating one another with kindness, care, forgiveness, sacrifice, and love, even when people hate us, in the truest tradition of Jesus teaching in Luke 6 and in the whole of scripture.
We may not be able to change the world by ourselves, but we certainly can make a difference in our towns, workplaces, families, and most importantly, in ourselves. Love one another and see what happens!
Fr. Phil
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