National Day of Mourning

14 September 2001

 Ecumenical Service

St. Eunan’s Cathedral, Letterkenny.

 Homily by Most Rev. Philip Boyce, DD.

Bishop of Raphoe

         A pall of sadness and shame has descended upon us.  We share in the sorrow of all Americans and especially in the pain of those who have lost their dear ones.  As the prophet said of old:  “Shame is upon all faces” (Ez. 7:18) as we witnessed human hatred perpetrating what President McAleese described as a “crime against the foundation of our common humanity.”

          We were accustomed to see on our TV screens the suffering of natural catastrophies - earthquakes, hurricanes, floods, etc., even of open warfare.  But the cold-blooded nature of this planned massacre of innocent people has shocked us profoundly.  The utter simplicity of the means used to wreck such havoc on human lives and human progress, points to the involvement of the evil One and the powers of darkness.  Truly, Tuesday the 11th September 2001 was, as Pope John Paul II called it, “a dark day in the history of humanity, a terrible affront to human dignity”.  For hundreds of years to come, it will be a day remembered in history books as a day that changed the course of Western society.

          There will be many people in our own country or who have emigrated from Ireland in past years who will have suffered loss and pain in this mass atrocity.  To them all, as to the people of America, we offer our sincere sympathies , our solidarity, our prayer to the God of all consolation and hope.  The bonds of Christian faith and family that unite us with the people of North America make us one in deep sorrow and immense pain at this moment.

          Our petty differences and daily concerns pale in the face of such unspeakable horror.  Our faith alone can give us hope in these moments of grief and destruction.  “Christ’s word is the only one that can give a response to questions that trouble our spirit.  Even if the forces of darkness seem to prevail,  those who believe in God know that evil and death do not have the final say” (Pope John Paul II).

          War and Peace

          Famous words spoken by Pius XII sixty-two years ago, on the eve of a world-wide conflagration, are now appropriate:  “Nothing is lost with peace”. After such a devastating attack, thoughts of retaliation come spontaneously to the human heart.  We pray that those in charge of nations may be given thoughts of wisdom and peace.  Terrorism, for whatever motive, and counter attack only defeat themselves, and inevitably lead to deeper hatred and renewed violence.

          “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God” (Mt 5:9).  Those who love and work for peace and reconciliation will be recognised by God as his children, as members of his divine family.

          The history of salvation has been an immense effort to reconcile God with his human creatures who sinned, and to bring peace and reconciliation among men and among peoples. God’s own Son came into our world as man “to guide our feet into the way of peace” (Lk 1:79).  He sent out his disciples as messengers of peace: “Whatever house you enter, first day: ‘Peace be to this house’” (Lk 10:5).  Christ left us his peace, a peace the world cannot give, before suffering his Passion.  As the victorious, risen Lord, his greeting was also one of peace:  “Shalom! Peace be with you” (Jn 20:21).

          While hatred comes from the Devil and destroys life, love comes from God and gives peace.  As followers of Christ, let us offer the world the healing balm of peace and forgiveness.  Let us strive to be at perfect peace with God in our hearts.  Then our peace will spread around us and tend to build harmony and concord in our family, in our community, in our country, in our world.  Without this return to God, the vision of peace that we long for in society will elude our grasp.

         The Triumph of the Cross

         This National Day of Mourning falls appropriately on the day on which the Church celebrates the Feast of the Triumph of the Cross.  “If there had been no Cross, Christ would not have been crucified.  If there had been no cross, streams of everlasting life would not have welled from His side, our sins would not have been cancelled, the way to heaven would not have been opened for us.  On the Cross, Christ conquered death and the devil.  The Cross has become the common salvation of the whole world” (cf. St. Andrew of Crete).

          St. Paul speaks of the unifying power of Christ’s Cross.  In the society of his time, even in his own flesh, the Apostle experienced the deep-seated division between Jew and Gentile, between circumcised and uncircumcised, between slave and free.  Only the power of the Cross of the slain and risen Lamb of God could bring reconciliation:  “For he is our peace”, St. Paul writes to the Ephesians, “who has made us both one, and has broken down the dividing wall of hostility...that he might reconcile us both to God in one body through the Cross, bringing hostility to an end” (Eph 2:14-16). 

         Christ showed us how to make peace, namely, by sacrificing ourselves for others.  “That earthly peace which arises from love of neighbour symbolizes and derives from the peace of Christ, who comes forth from God the Father.  For by his Cross, the Incarnate Son of God reconciled all men to God...and abolished hatred in his own flesh” (Vat II, GS 78).  Like Christ, we can become peacemakers only through personal sacrifice.  We have to love one another, be ready to forgive, hold out a reconciling hand of friendship.

          Our thoughts are thoughts of peace today as we mourn with those who in America, at home and elsewhere have suffered tragic loss and destruction.  We pray for the eternal rest of the departed, for the comfort of the bereaved, strength for rescue workers and healing for the injured. 

  Lord, make us instruments of your peace.

Where there is hatred, let us sow love;

Where there is injury, pardon;

where there is discord, union;

where there is doubt, faith;

where there is despair, hope;

where there is darkness, light;

where there is sadness, joy;

Lord, grant that we may seek rather to comfort than to be comforted;

to understand than to be understood;

to love than to be loved;

for it is in giving that we receive;

it is in pardoning that we are pardoned;

it is by dying that we awaken to eternal life. Amen.