9/11

"Rowan Williams, the archbishop of Canterbury, was in New york City on the day of the terrorist attacks in 2001 and later wrote a book called Writing in the Dust, a reflection on his experience of that event. In the book he tells us that he read some of the messages sent by passengers on the planes to their spouses and families in the horrible last moments before they died, and he compared them to the spiritual advice that had apparently been given to the terrorists before they embarked on their mission, the kinds of thought they were told they should have in their minds as they approached the death they had chosen 'for themselves and for others.' Rowan Williams notes that 'something of the chill of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 lies in the contrast.'

'The religious words are, in the cold light of day, the words that murderers are saying to themselves to make a martyr's drama out of a crime. The nonreligious words (of people sending desperate messages to their loved ones) are testimony to what religious language is supposed to be about--the triumph of pointless, gratuitous love, the affirming of faithfulness even when there is nothing to be done or salvaged.'"

Consiglio, Cyprian. Prayer in the Cave of the Heart: The Universal Call to Contemplation. Collegeville, Minnesota: Liturgical Press, 2010. 65.

Oddly, after a beautiful 9/11 service at First United Methodist Church and the heartwarming baptism of our granddaughter Avery, I fund myself starting to read again a book I had put aside a few months ago--and found the above quotation by Rowan Williams about 9/11/01, ten years ago today. It is very appropriate, as I have nothing of mine own to say about this anniversary.