This Sunday will mark the tenth anniversary of the Al Qaeda attack on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, and the hijacking of United Airlines Flight 93.
On September 11, 2001, the forces of radical Islam successfully executed the largest terrorist attack ever to occur in the United States. But their success did not stop there: Ten years later, Americans live every day in the aftermath of September 11. Just as the Reagan military build-up helped bring an economically strapped Soviet Union to its knees, so the United States' response to the September 11th attacks set in motion two wars that brought this country to the brink of bankruptcy and imposed restrictions on civil liberties in the name of security that make the motto "Land of the free, home of the brave" ring hollow.
Looking back after ten years, it would seem that the terrorists have won. They don't need to pull off another such attack, because for Americans every day is still September 11.
Of course, in one important sense, that's not true. The loss of life on September 11, 2001, has, thankfully, not been repeated every day, nor have the stories of heroism and self-sacrifice. For those of us who remember that day, who saw the second plane fly into the second tower of the World Trade Center as we watched the live coverage of the aftermath of the first attack, there are few words that can adequately describe what we felt. The best descriptions are found not in essays or books, but in the mournful poetry of songs such as Alan Jackson's "Where Were You When the World Stopped Turning" and Bruce Springsteen's album The Rising. Both artists, in very different ways, expressed the horror that Americans felt as they saw the towers fall, but both also presented a Christian vision of hope and faith:
I know Jesus and I talk to God,
And I remember this from when I was young:
Faith, hope, and love are some good things He gave us
And the greatest is love.
Ten years later, as we commemorate those who lost their lives on that September day, these words ring as true now as they did when Saint Paul, from whom Alan Jackson borrowed them, wrote them nearly 2,000 years ago.
I have lifted up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence my help shall come.
My help is from the Lord, Who made heaven and earth.
Governments cannot save us, no matter how hard they try. Ten years after September 11, we should be able to see that much. Our hope lies as it always does, in the mercy of God. And the only way to break out of this unending September 11 is to embrace His gifts of faith, hope, and love.
(Pope Benedict XVI lights a candle during a prayer service with family members of some of those who were killed on 9/11 at the Ground Zero site April 20, 2008, in New York City. Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
Prayers for the Faithful Departed:
- Eternal Rest
- Eternal Memory
- Sunday Prayer for the Faithful Departed
- Prayer for All the Deceased
- De Profundis (Psalm 129)
Pope Benedict's 2008 Visit to Ground Zero:
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I was working that beautiful day, about an hour south of NYC. I used to work about 3 blocks south of the towers when they were still being built, and the city is a part of my essence!
There were, and still are, heroes of 9/11; those on Flight 93 and 343 firefighters, make us so proud!
I pray for all those who died that day, for their families, and for America; land of the free, and eternally, home of the brave!
Scott, I agree that we are still living in a world has wrought havoc on our lifestyle and our liberties. I disagree that we are not experiencing the same loss of life everyday. Every service man and woman killed in Afganistan and Iraq is another 9/11 death to me. If for Al-Quiada and the attacks made on this country we wouldn’t have to be in either place. The agony is that it has dragged out over 10 years.
I should have been in the city that day, but was home due to a family emergency.
Ken, I don’t disagree about those who have died in two unnecessary wars. By the “loss of life,” I meant of the same magnitude; I might have phrased it better.