THOUGHTS ON WTC: ONE WEEK LATER

September 19, 2001
Archangel Michael

Dear friends,

One week ago at 8:50AM, I was on my way to the dentist listening to NPR. The reporter was talking about something that happened at the World Trade Center and an airplane. My first thought was that they were doing a review of the 1993 attack. Yet when I checked in at the Dental College and saw what they were watching on a 6 inch black and white TV, my stomach began to sink. Since then this tragedy has occupied much of my thinking, prayers and conversations. I have felt compelled to check in with people I haven't heard from for awhile. When I speak with someone now, I am conscious that there are no guarantees that tomorrow will be as it was today. The realities of the images of death and terror and horror have been fixed into my psyche. As a nation, we have come to see we are vulnerable. As humans we have again come face to face with our mortality. As men we have come soul to soul to feel our feelings.

This week I have seen many men cry. The comedian David Letterman cried when he was supposed to make us laugh, explaining, "It's very, very sad." The stoic news anchorman Dan Rather wept as he spoke of the courage of the firemen. The CEO of Canter/Fitzgerald sobbed for the 700 families whose pain he felt as the majority of his employees were trapped in the top floors of the tower. I have cried much. St. Theophan the Recluse said, "Remembrance of God is pain of heart endured in the spirit of devotion, but he who forgets God becomes self-indulgent and thereby insensitive." There's a lot of pain of heart right now. There's alot of remembering God. There's alot of praying.

This week I have seen unexcelled goodness. It is a wonderful thing to see those wonderful creatures -human beings- made in the image of God responding with love and compassion. Not just the multitudes of firemen, policemen, and volunteers. But a look in peoples eyes. Connecting. Looking for someone to share with. It's been a thing of beauty. Yet the kind of beauty of a rose that emerges from thorns.

My son Michael told me about a prayer rally he attended in San Francisco. Metropolitan Anthony, the Greek Orthodox Archbishop was there. So was an African American preacher that told a story. He said, "When I was a little boy, once my sister hit me. I went and told my mama. My mama said, "I'll take care of your sister. But, what did you do to provoke her?"

While we heal, let us also reflect. While we pray for others let us also listen. Our Lord Jesus teaches us, "First remove the log from thine own eye. Then, you can see clearly to help your brother." In Psalm 46:10, King David speaks from the Lord to us and says, "Be still and know that I am God!" In the midst of all the pain and preparations for war and blame, let us step back and listen. Quiet down inside. Hear. What is the still small voice saying? "Cast thy burden upon the Lord, and He shall sustain thee!" Ps. 55:22.

Wisdom comes through prayer and quietness. May Christ, the Wisdom of God, bestow this upon our nation's leaders at this time. To hear it we must turn aside from all the other voices and get quiet. Then after it comes, proceed.

Last Thursday, one of the nuns, Mother Thecla, and I went to a scheduled prayer meeting at city hall. When we arrived we found out it had been cancelled due to a bomb threat. We moved from the premise to about a block away where a few people asked me to lead them in prayer anyway as a priest. At the same time, an angry disturbed man approached Mother Thecla and scowled at her. At that point I stepped up close to her and he jeered at me and asked, angrily, "Are you Muslims?" The implication was if we were, there were going to be insults or worse. I simply replied, "I'm an Orthodox Christian priest." Then the man turned away and left. Afterwards, we began to pray. Yet it struck me that such a climate of fear exists now that if someone is dressed in black and has a beard that, to certain in our nation, they are suspect. Now is the time to "be still." Now is the time to feel, think and then pray. Now is not the time to "judge by what our eyes see but with righteous judgment." (Jn. 7:24)

May the mercies of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ be with all of us. May He inspire all of us to pray and turn back to Him during this time. For our nation, something beautiful is emerging out of this tragedy. May fear and ignorance and hatred be replaced by the faith, wisdom, and love of our Lord Jesus Christ. Goodness is coming back to people. The kind of natural Frank Capra It's a Wonderful Life kind of goodness and kind heartedness I haven't seen for a long time. Pray that it grows. Pray for me, for each other, and pray for all that are in pain.