September 11th. It is a date that is forever to represent a profound change for people across our nation, for people all throughout our world and for the many members of our church.
The day that saw the darkness of evil draw its steely shadow over the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and a field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, is a day and date that is always to serve as a powerful symbol of horrific evil and tragic loss, heroic sacrifice and deep faith. The date, September 11, 2001, is never to be forgotten by Americans of this generation and beyond.
As we mark the tenth anniversary of the September 11th attacks upon our nation, the wounds remain deep and are not easily healed. The violent images of the attacks remain in the minds of many and the murder of so many innocent people continues to be a cause of deep grief and profound sorrow. Yet as the horror and the haunting disbelief over the events of September 11, 2001 settled on the nation the day following the terrorist attacks, scores of workers fought through the wreckage at Ground Zero looking for survivors. In the unconceivable devastation they discovered several perfectly formed crosses planted upright in a pit in the rubble of the heavily damaged World Trade Center. The large, cross-shaped metal beams just happened to fall that way when one of the towers collapsed. As word of the find quickly spread among the workers at Ground Zero, the exhausted and emotionally overwhelmed rescue workers flocked to the site to pray and meditate before the cross.
Ten years later we remain exhausted at the almost unimaginable images of devastation and destruction. Ten years later we remain overwhelmed at the death of the innocent and the sorrow of the survivors. Ten years later we remain haunted by that fateful fall day known forever as September 11th. However, the mystery of the cross at Golgotha is also the mystery of the cross at Ground Zero. Our Catholic faith teaches us that from such great and incredible tragedy, a place of new life can be found and a new day of peace and love can begin. Evil can never have the last word. Good must triumph.
On this tenth anniversary of September 11th may we like the Ground Zero workers continue to flock to the Cross of Christ in prayer and meditation, as we cry out to the Lord: “We adore you, O Christ, and we praise you because by your holy cross you have redeemed the world.”
