From the Parish Priest – Fr. Romey Rosco
The horrible attacks last Tuesday on New York and Washington D.C. were of such magnitude that we still cannot believe it could ever have happened in the United States. What kind of people would do this?
For the past decade, we were led by certain of our leaders to believe that the nation’s defense is no longer needed at the level of the previous decades. They said “The Cold War is over; the Soviet Union is no more; We are no longer threatened by another country.” But the fact is there are many terrorist groups of people who hate the United States and its (sometime wrongful) involvement in world affairs.
President Bush said “Freedom itself was attacked this morning by a faceless coward. And freedom will be defended.”
That “faceless coward” would like to think it has many faces: the faces of men, women and children who are suffering from political, ethnic and religious persecution. But suffering and persecution rarely bring out such viciousness from the persecuted. Christian people in their worst suffering know the importance of prayer and love for God and fellow man. I refuse to believe that non-Christians are much different in that respect. These terrorists do not represent their people.
As Christians, we should be all the more convinced that the world needs our Lord’s teachings. “Love your neighbor” and “Love even your enemies” is something the “faceless cowards” should be taught. Their hate is blinding; it diminishes their respect for life; they are consumed by their own prejudices and causes. Perhaps, our own apathy towards them is something we should work on.
Tuesday, September 11, 2001, was a day of hate. And those who hate, be they Christian, muslim, etc., deny their own God. They are godless, no matter how much they invoke His name.
It was also a day of love, as witnessed by the tremendous effort, nationwide, to come to the aid of so many helpless victims.
“This, then, is the command that Christ gives us: he who loves God must love his brother also.” (1 John 4:21)
From The Weekly Bulletin, Vol. XXVIII No. 36, 16 September 2001
Sts. Peter & Paul Romanian Orthodox Church, Dearborn Heights MI
