911 Reflections

"Strike against Terror"
by Thich Nhat Hanh

Terror is in the human heart. We must remove this terror from
the heart. Destroying the human heart, both physically and psychologically,
is what we should avoid. The root of terrorism should be identified so
that it can be removed. The root of terrorism is misunderstanding, hatred and
violence. This root cannot be located by the military. Bombs and missiles
cannot reach it, let alone destroy it. Only with the practice of
calming and looking deeply can our insight reveal and identify this root. Only with
the practice of deep listening and compassion can it be transformed and
removed.
Darkness cannot be dissipated with more darkness. More darkness
will make darkness thicker. Only light can dissipate darkness. Violence
and hatred cannot be removed with violence and hatred. Rather, this will
make violence and hatred grow a thousand fold. Only understanding and
compassion can dissolve violence and hatred.
"Strike against terror" is a misleading statement. What we are
striking against is not the real cause or the root of terror. The object
of our strike is still human life. We are sowing seeds of violence as
we strike.
Striking in this way we will only bring about more hatred and
violence into the world. This is exactly what we do not want to do. Hatred
and violence are in the hearts of human beings. A terrorist is a human being
with hatred, violence and misunderstanding in his or her heart.
Acting without understanding, acting out of hatred, violence and fear, we help
sow more terror, bringing terror to the homes of others and bringing
terror back to our own homes. Whole societies are living constantly in fear
with our nerves being attacked day and night. This is the greatest
casualty we may suffer from as a result of our wrong thinking and action. Such a
state of confusion, fear and anxiety is extremely dangerous. It can bring
about another world war, this time extremely destructive. We must
learn to speak out so that the voice of the Buddha can be heard in this
dangerous and pivotal moment of history. Those of us who have the light
should display the light and offer it so that the world will not sink
into total darkness. Everyone has the seed of awakening and insight within
his or her heart. Let us help each other touch these seeds in ourselves so
that everyone could have the courage to speak out. We must ensure
that the way we live our daily lives (with or without mindful consumption,
with or without discrimination, with or without participating in
injustice, ...) does not create more terrorism in the world. We need a
collective awakening to stop this course of self-destruction.

- Thich Nhat Hanh
Shanghai 19 October 2001

The New Sorrowful Mysteries:

In honor of the Feast of the Rosary, Toni Harris, OP wrote the following:
The New Sorrowful Mysteries:
       - the continuing agony of those in New York and Washington, DC;
       - the scourging of the Afghani people with the cruel lashes of
             starvation, displacement, drought, and fear for their lives;
       - the mocking of the Prince of Peace with the thorny crown of
              confidence in missiles and bombs;
       - the carrying of new crosses of uncertainty and anxiety by those
              recently displaced and unemployed in the wake of Sept. 11;
       - the death of members of the Body of Christ on the cross of human
              violence in countries all around the earth.

True Liberation
I remember what Mohandas Gandhi had said:"True liberation does not just mean to liberate the oppresed ones, but to liberate the oppressors at the same time."

Otherwise, we can have no hope for the world peace. What we will see is endless cycle of slavery of hatred.

in Christ,
Augustine Won
Korean CLC in Southern California

The Jesuit Venezuela Provincial Superior

U.S.A.: Reflections, by Arturo Sosa SJ, on the terrorist attacks

The defence of human liberty is only possible if intimately linked with mercy and forgiveness. As the most sublime expressions of love, they are the only authentic ground of human decisions that are truly liberating.

The terrorist attacks on Washington and New York on September 11th were direct attacks on life -- they sought not only to hit but to kill indiscriminately, so that people would fear for their lives and for their freedom. What have we done, such that injustice, war and terrorism have become the real coin and currency in our civilisation whose boast is freedom as the very form and substance of human life? Everyone must ask themselves this question. First of all, the Americans, who may take advantage of this terrible occasion to learn something about themselves and about the world in which they live. The enemies of the United States have to ask it, too, those who felt like celebrating the tragedy without acknowledging the true importance of its causes and effects. And all of us personally and as peoples, since we form part of this moment of human history. The direct authors and those who covered for them will have to answer for their crimes.

A response inspired by forgiveness, the most divine dimension of merciful love, might be the best way not only to defend liberty, but to blaze a new and liberating trail in human history. Justice and liberty do not come about via "an eye for an eye." Social and personal histories have time and again made this plain, but we keep failing to learn the lesson. Instead we repeatedly put our faith in this mode of reacting to public events and interpersonal conflicts. We have made a "culture" of vengeance disguised as justice. The Justice of the God of Life, whom many of us invoke when we contemplate the events of September 11, begins by embracing us with forgiveness in order to prepare the way for the love that rebuilds persons and civilisations. This time, can we break the vicious circle of "a tooth for a tooth," and replace a liberty that maintains itself by conquest with a justice that comes from forgiveness, mercy and Love? The door to this way is open, and each of us is invited to enter through it, as are all the peoples and cultures of the world.

Let us take a first step towards a profound change in this crucial aspect of our cultures and ways of reacting. "An eye for an eye leaves everyone blind" (Gandhi).

The author is Provincial of Venezuela <asosa@etheron.net> 
The article appeared first in El Nacional of Caracas on September 16, 2001 and is available in Spanish at
http://www2.el-nacional.com/archive/result.asp?file=/archivedata/2001/09/16/pc2s2.htm

Sent by Barb Bedolla, Rieman Great Lakes Region

Some words Dan Fitzpatrick, SJ, Ecclesial Assistant - New York Region, gave on Thursday, September 13, 2001 Thursday 23rd WK - Yr 1 Text- Col.312-17;Lk 6:27-38

As I read the words of our Scripture readings for today and again as I read them here at the Eucharist, I found that the words were almost sticking in my throat. In these words of Scripture the Lord calls us to almost heroic virtue as we try to deal with the events of the last few days at the WTC.

Fr. Carroll Stuhlmueller, C.P. in his commentary on these readings has this to say: The biblical goals of love compassion, humility, forgiveness and generosity reach beyond our human ability, at least beyond normal expectations….Yet, there is a tone about the scriptures that leaves us little or no option. The Gospel repeats frequently the phrase "to love your enemy."

In this third chapter of Colossians Paul tells us that we are to forgive as the Lord has forgiven us, that Christ’s peace must reign in our hearts and that we are to let the word of God, rich as it is, dwell in us. The word of God that we hear today is forgiveness, compassion, and love of enemies.

At a time like this of citywide and national crisis our natural reaction is one of anger, hatred, violence and vengeance. We know that we have an enemy out there and that the enemy is bent on destruction and harm. Innocent people have lost their lives in a senseless act of violence and hatred. Hundred others have lost their lives trying to save those caught in this terrible conflagration.

It is at a time like this that we most need to come before the Lord in prayer. We come because we know how great is the need of so many of our suffering fellow New Yorkers and fellow Americans. We come because we suddenly become aware of our own vulnerability. The twin towers and the Pentagon were thought to be invulnerable. And now all we see is ruin and rubble and death. We need to pray because these seemingly impregnable fortresses have collapsed and this forces us to ask some deep and fundamental questions about our values, about the things that really are important in human life.

We need to pray to try and hear the words of scripture and let the word of God truly be our guide. We need to pray that we can find forgiveness in our hearts. The people who did these terrible deeds need by all means to be brought to justice and to be punished. The questions will be how we do that. Will it be with violence and vengeance? Will it be that we go after these people with the same hatred and bitterness of heart with which they have come against us? Many lives lay in the rubble that was once the WTC. For us to have vengeance and violence in our hearts will only add to the rubble.

Rather, somehow out of that rubble new life must spring. It has already sprung in the love and dedication that we have see on the part of many of our fellow New Yorkers as they work tirelessly to rescue those caught in the collapse, as they give blood, as they try to help in anyway they can, as they pray. That love and selfless dedication is the new life, the beacon for us all. It is only in that love that God’s peace will reign in our hearts.

Dan Fitzpatrick, S.J.

The Deeper Wound
By Deepak Chopra
As fate would have it, I was leaving New York on a jet flight that took off 45 minutes before the unthinkable happened. By the time we landed in Detroit, chaos had broken out. When I grasped the fact that American security had broken down so tragically, I couldn't respond at first. My wife and son were also in the air on separate flights, one to Los Angeles, one to San Diego. My body went absolutely rigid with fear. All I could think about was their safety, and it took several hours before I found out that their flights had been diverted and both were safe.

Strangely, when the good news came, my body still felt that it had been hit by a truck.  Of its own accord it seemed to feel a far greater trauma that reached out to the thousands who would not survive and the tens of thousands who would survive only to live through months and years of hell.

And I asked myself, Why didn't I feel this way last week? Why didn't my body go stiff during the bombing of Iraq or Bosnia? Around the world my horror and worry are experienced every day. Mothers weep over horrendous loss, civilians are bombed mercilessly, refugees are ripped from any sense of home or homeland.  Why did I not feel their anguish enough to call a halt to it?

As we hear the calls for tightened American security and a fierce military response to terrorism, it is obvious that none of us has any answers.  However, we feel compelled to ask some questions.

Everything has a cause, so we have to ask, What was the root cause of this evil? We must find out not superficially but at the deepest level. There is no doubt that such evil is alive all around the world and is even celebrated.

Does this evil grow from the suffering and anguish felt by people we don't know and therefore ignore? Have they lived in this condition for a long time?

One assumes that whoever did this attack feels implacable hatred for America. Why were we selected to be the focus of suffering around the world?

All this hatred and anguish seems to have religion at its basis. Isn't something terribly wrong when jihads and wars develop in the name of God? Isn't God invoked with hatred in Ireland, Sri Lanka, India, Pakistan, Israel, Palestine, and even among the intolerant sects of America?

Can any military response make the slightest difference in the underlying cause? Is there not a deep wound at the heart of humanity?

If there is a deep wound, doesn't it affect everyone?

When generations of suffering respond with bombs, suicidal attacks, and biological warfare, who first developed these weapons? Who sells them? Who gave birth to the satanic technologies now being turned against us?

If all of us are wounded, will revenge work? Will punishment in any form toward anyone solve the wound or aggravate it? Will an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, and limb for a limb, leave us all blind, toothless and crippled?

Tribal warfare has been going on for two thousand years and has now been magnified globally. Can tribal warfare be brought to an end? Is patriotism and nationalism even relevant anymore, or is this another form of tribalism?

What are you and I as persons going to do about what is happening? Can we afford to let the deeper wound fester any longer?     

Everyone is calling this an attack on America, but is it not a rift in our collective soul? Isn't this an attack on civilization from without that is also from within?

When we have secured our safety once more and cared for the wounded, after the period of shock and mourning is over, it will be time for soul searching. I only hope that these questions are confronted with the deepest spiritual intent. None of us will feel safe again behind the shield of military might and stockpiled arsenals. There can be no safety until the root cause is faced. In this moment of shock I don't think any one of us has the answers. It is imperative that we pray and offer solace and help to each other.  But if you and I are having a single thought of violence or hatred against anyone in the world at this moment, we are contributing to the wounding of the world.

Love,
Deepok

Sent by Barb Bedolla, Nieman Great Lakes Region

Hymn by Julian of Norwich

There is nothing created in the universe
Nothing great, nothing smaller than the finest grain of sand
That will spend a single moment of its life
Without being held by its Maker in the palm of His hand.
Be it something quite as simple as a hazelnut,
He will hold it in the palm of His hand.
There is no one created in the universe,
Not a king, not a beggar, not a woman, not a man
Without being loved by our Maker, and being guided by Her hand.
As a woman holds the life that grows within her,
We are held in the palm of Her hand.
And all shall be well.
And all shall be well.
And we will touch and we will know for ourselves
That all manner of things shall be well.
For there is nothing that can happen in the universe
In the sea or on the land
That is not within the vision of the father, of our mother, of our maker and of our lover.
And all shall be well.

Sent by Maria Grimminger, Nieman Great Lakes Region

PRAYER IN A TIME OF TERROR

Oh good and gracious God,

We come to you in our time of trouble and ask you to hold in your loving embrace all the victims of the intolerable evil of terrorism; both those who have died and those left behind.

As our Divine Father, comfort us all and give strength and protection to the quiet heroes who have arisen in our tragedy; including those still serving our needs and all who seek to hold accountable those who have so maliciously turned their back on your holy law.

Dear Lord, give wisdom to our leaders, so that we may be a people who demand justice but reject unchecked retribution; a people who will always seek freedom from suffering, fear, oppression and physical want whether the need is here or abroad.

Help us to protect and to serve the innocents of all lands; and to show compassion through use of the material abundance and many graces which you have bestowed upon us.

Finally, Dear Lord, enable us to draw from this evil the strength and determination to move still closer to your reign on earth; through our inherent American commitment to liberty and justice for all.

These things we ask of you, One God, yesterday, today and forever.

-Amen.

By Bob Joerger, Mid-Atlantic Region

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