Greetings, SBT Readers!

The Day the World Stopped: 9/11

C. 2001, Elizabeth-Anne Stewart

Poem from DePaul University's Interfaith Memorial Service, 9/14/2001

ACCESS POEM HERE

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Unfortunately, the poem I wrote for DePaul's Interfaith Memorial Service in 2001, just three days after the horrific events of 9/11, is far too long to reproduce here; however, revisiting it 25 years later, I see that my fears for the world were not unfounded.

As a University Minister/Faculty member at DePaul, I could tap into the microcosm of university life, a reality that helped me compose the poem. The images, vocabulary, and mood reflect what surfaced in countless conversations with the wider academic community. On the one hand, students attended classes as usual, but some found, to their surprise, that their instructors made no reference to the events of three days before. Instead, the syllabus was the focus, along with keeping up with assigned readings and research. In a time of shock and terror, what they needed was an opportunity to process their thoughts, feelings, and fears-- in other words, to talk to their peers and instructors about what had so vividly flashed across their screens.

As for Muslim students or anyone who might be mistaken for Muslim, there was now a sense of being scapegoated off campus for atrocities that actually violated the tenets of Islam. Women wearing hijab felt particularly at risk, as did men wearing the taqiyah or traditional brimless cap. Ironically, Hindus and Sikhs were targeted as well and were therefore afraid to leave campus. There were countless stories of vandalism, arson, and physical assault levied against mosques and Muslim business owners or those perceived to be Middle Eastern or South Asian.

All this made me fear for what the future had to bring. Even if you don't read the whole poem, here are some lines that may help you remember those terrible days of 25 years ago and their outcome:

The day the world stopped,

Peace warbled faintly from the rubble,

Whispering forgiveness and mercy,

Pleading for prudence and restraint

In a voice cracked by grief.

Keep the hounds at bay

Lest they tear her wing from wing.

Quickly, scoop her up

That she – and we—may live!

Let the world turn once more

On the axis of Love…

Many Blessings,

Elizabeth

www.elizabeth-annestewart.com

COMING SOON: Mini-workshops on Mondays!

1#. The Hero Journey 2#. Re-Writing Old Scripts and 3#. Balancing Archetypes

LINK TO SCRIPTURE READINGS

Wrath and anger are hateful things,

yet sinners hug them tight.

The vengeful will suffer the Lord's vengeance,

for God remembers their sins in detail.

Forgive your neighbor’s injustice;

then when you pray, your own sins will be forgiven.

Could anyone nourish anger against another

and expect healing from the Lord?

Could anyone refuse mercy to another,

and seek pardon for sins?

If people cherish wrath,

who will forgive their sins?

Remember your last days, set enmity aside;

remember death and decay, and cease from sin!

Think of the commandments, hate not your neighbor;

remember the Most High’s covenant, and overlook faults.

Sirach 27:30—28:7

Peter's question reflects black-and-white thinking: “Lord, if my brother sins against me, how often must I forgive? As many as seven times?” What he wants to know is the bare minimum requirement for righteousness, a formula for being in good standing with God. His thought process is not that different than that of churchgoers today who seek definitive answers to such questions as "How much of the Mass can I miss before it becomes a sin?" or "Can I consume pot and still go to Communion?" or "Will I still receive a plenary indulgence if I miss a First Friday Mass?" or "Is it a sin to go out to dinner on Good Friday?" Catholics in particular seem to get entangled in such questions; all you have to do is visit the platform Reddit/ Catholic to see the high anxiety -- even fear-- present in some of the posts. The site is informative about "things Catholic," but is also a forum for ethical dilemmas and questions about faith, many of which focus on what constitutes a mortal sin and what to do if you have to delay confessing.

I suspect Peter is surprised by Jesus' answer; for him, forgiving his brother seven times most likely seems generous. Perhaps he is thinking of his literal brother Andrew, his fishing partner, remembering specific situations where he neglected to mend the nets or took more than his share of the day's catch. Perhaps he is still clinging to old resentments and imagines it would be noble to forgive Andrew up to seven times-- but no more! Jesus sets the record straight: "Not seven times but seventy-seven times." While Peter might interpret this as an exact number, Jesus is saying forgiveness is infinite, not quantifiable. To love as God loves means that we are always ready to forgive, no matter how grievously we have been harmed. Moreover, as recipients of God's inexhaustible mercy, we must be merciful to others.

To "hug" anger is to embrace all that is death-dealing; similarly, to expect mercy while withholding mercy from another defies all standards of human decency. Love, mercy, and forgiveness aren't quantifiable, much as we might wish they were; instead, if we are to love one another as Jesus loves us, then the limit of our love must approach infinity, growing, ever expanding, without end...

"Let us pray that world leaders choose the path of dialogue and diplomacy instead of violence.” Pope Leo XIV