The Response to Terror

This is a summary of a Fr. Gerry Creedon homily delivered at St. Charles on September 12, 2004

THERE IS AN OLD IRISH EXPRESSION, "Going to a wedding is the making of another." Despite that, a groom recently acknowledged to me that he had attended 26 weddings before he took the plunge himself! Sometimes we are hurt by the unexpected break up of a relationship and it takes years to trust again. Personal hurt can make people defensive. Others are paralyzed or become aggressive. Some learn the wisdom of compassion though their own pain.

What is true of individuals is also true of communities and nations. This weekend on the third anniversary of 9/11 the USA remembers the terrorist attacks. In a similar way the Russians remember Belsan and the massacre of so many children. Jews remember the Holocuast, The Japanese recall Hiroshima and the Irish recall the great famine when 4 million starved to death. Africa suffers its Darfur. Speaking for the Irish I can attest that the Great Hunger stoked the fires of hostility against the English for many decades.
The tragedy of 9/11 has been interpreted for us too often by politicians.

It is useful to listen to our aging Pontiff. He writes on Sept 8, "The fight against the death-makers doubtless requires firmness and resoluteness. At the same time however, it is necessary to make very possible effort to eradicate misery, despair, emptiness of heart, and whatever favors this drift toward terror. We must not let ourselves be overwhelmed by fear, which leads men and women to focus only on themselves and strengthens the selfishness entrenched in the hearts of individuals and groups. We need the courage to globalize solidarity and peace. Peace never requires violence, it always calls for dialogue. War throws open the doors to the abyss of evil. War makes anything possible, even what is totally irrational. That is why war should always be considered a defeat of reason and humanity. May a new spiritual and cultural thrust soon lead humanity to banish war."

It is clear from the Pope's viewpoint the response to terror needs to be the eradication of its roots and a dialogical approach that leads to peace.

Aeschylus has written. "Pain that cannot forget falls drop by drop upon the heart, and in our despair, against our will, comes wisdom to us by the awful grace of God." We need to learn from our personal hurts and our national tragedies the wisdom of compassion. Defensiveness, paralysis aggression must yield to understanding.