Archbishop for Military Services spotlights healing, reconciliation on 25th anniversary of 9/11
The military services archbishop urged Catholics to resist hatred while remembering the victims and first responders of the terrorist attacks.
Christians are called to seek reconciliation amid the pain that endures 25 years after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, Archbishop Timothy Broglio of the U.S. Archdiocese for the Military Services said during a memorial Mass marking the anniversary.
Archbishop Broglio celebrated the liturgy Sept. 11 at the Crypt Church of the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C. His homily was published Sept. 12 by the Catholic Standard.
“We pause today during this perfect prayer to remember the authentic service of so many, to offer prayers for the thousands of innocent victims, and to renew our commitment to effective reconciliation, still a tremendous need in our troubled and antagonistic world,” he said.
The archbishop prayed for the nearly 3,000 people killed in New York, Pennsylvania, and Washington, D.C., and for the loved ones who continue to mourn them.
“We pray for the loved ones left behind, and we all know that the void created by the loss of a loved one, even from natural causes, is never really filled,” he said. “Even 25 years are not enough to erase those memories coupled with the aspirations for what might have been. We beg the Lord to shower healing and serenity upon them.”
Archbishop Broglio also prayed for the first responders who died in the attacks and those who continue to suffer from trauma or illnesses linked to the toxic air.
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“Jesus talks about His love in the Gospel passage which takes place at the Last Supper the night before He gives Himself completely for our salvation,” he said. “Is that not the application that these men and women made to care for others? Did they not set aside all of those considerations that would make someone go away from these scenes and instead do what they could? We know that a high percentage of those first responders shared our Catholic faith.”
Archbishop Broglio described reconciliation as a lifelong task for the faithful that extends beyond the anniversary of the attacks.
This responsibility is an “effort at reconciliation, dialogue, and rebuilding of a sense of our common humanity,” according to the archbishop. “Our responsibility for others is at the core of our faith in the Lord who came to serve and to give His life in ransom for many.”
Acknowledging how difficult forgiveness can be in light of the attacks, Archbishop Broglio pointed to St. John Paul II, the pope who would later ordain him to the epicopate.
He recalled the future saint’s words after a gunman attempted to assassinate him in 1981: “I pray for the man who shot me, whom I have already forgiven.”
“That is a virtue that you and I must learn,” Archbishop Broglio said.
He also recalled what Pope St. John Paul II said to the U.S. Ambassador to the Holy See two days after the attacks: “I pray that this inhuman act will awaken in the hearts of all the world’s peoples a firm resolve to reject the ways of violence, to combat everything that sows hatred and division within the human family, and to work for the dawn of a new era of international cooperation inspired by the highest ideals of solidarity, justice and peace.”
Concluding, the archbishop reiterated the importance of responding to tragedy and violence with charity.
“Even as we remember in prayer the horrible events of 11 September 2001,” he said, “we pray earnestly that the ‘spiral of hatred and violence will not prevail.’”
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