There is no way around it.  Walking into September 2002 is a walk into remembering the shock, the horror and the smoke-filled shadows of September 2001. 
There  is a powerful link from this scenario to another scenario of two thousand years ago.   A man who did not hesitate to speak the truth was betrayed by one of his closest companions, abandoned by all the rest of his followers,  arrested by politically slanted police, tried by devoutly religious priests and finally subjected to capital punishment as public opinion laughed and jeered at him.
But even as everything seemed to fall apart for him,  Jesus placed one final card on the  cosmic  table:  he loved his Father and his Father loved him.  Together,  they beat death.  And that has made all the difference for all of us.
Even as human bodies came crashing to the ground, followed  by  the roar of disintegrating towers  and an avalanche of hatred,  even as lives were snuffed out  like the cheapest of candles,  even at that moment the all-important card was again placed on the table of the world:  LOVE.
There is no other possible explanation for the people in the Twin Towers who CHOSE to stay at the side of their trapped companions.
There is no other possible explanation for the stream of rescue workers who poured INTO the Twin Towers rather than fleeing away from disaster.
There is no other explanation for the  endless gallons of blood donated that day as an instrument  FOR  life.
There is no other explanation for the many months of special solemnity and reverence that permeated Ground Zero each time another flagdraped body was carried away.
Jesus is about life.  Jesus is about love.   Standing in the shadow of the cross of Jesus is not about defeat and death.  It is about the victory of  life and love.  In the final analysis each and every human being has been crafted as a special tabernacle of life.  You are a temple consecrated to  LOVE by Jesus.
   
    Fr. Tacho Rivera, S.J.
    Local Spiritual Advisor of the Pro Sanctity