THERE IS NO ZERO AT GROUND ZERO

24th Sunday in Ordinary Time
Mt 18:21-35

I remember the victims of the 9/11 terrorist attack in New York City as I write this reflection. Today is September 11. It was a dream-come-true for me to have been at Ground Zero last May. Twice I traveled from my residence at Whiteplains County by the metro train to the former spot of the World Trade Center. For a newcomer, it was not very easy to travel alone in the Big City. The first time I went to Ground Zero, I was so confused what train to take when I arrived at the Grand Central Station. The second time, I got home at 1:00 in the morning because I was lost in the subway station rushing to catch the last train from Grand Central to Whiteplains. And it can be very frightening to be in New York subway late at night. But I would have considered my visit to the United States of America a failure were I not able to do two things: to see “The Phantom of the Opera” and “The Fiddler” on the Roof at Broadway; and, more importantly, to pray right at Ground Zero. I was able to accomplish both. My visit was truly memorable. It was certainly worth the trouble. The Twin Towers that once dominated the Manhattan skyline are no longer there, but the emotion that emanate from the ground where they once stood is far from being zero. When I was there, the temperature was around 9*C but the memory of that fateful day in September continues to burn like coal up until today. When I got at Ground Zero the first time, I came up from the subway right at the sidewalk where the Towers once stood. On top of the staircase I stood motionless and teary eyed as I beheld right in front of me the proof of man’s inhumanity to man. Slowly I went closer to the iron fence that surrounded Ground Zero and could not find any word to say even in prayer. The sight and the memory were truly and tremendously overpowering. It took me a very long while to be able to utter these words to the Lord, “Have mercy on us and give us Your peace.” Then I started walking around the block as I prayed the rosary for the victims and for world peace. I felt that my first visit was not enough. A day before I flew from New York to San Francisco, I decided to return to Ground Zero. I devoted my whole day there in prayer and reflection again. Throughout the day of that second visit, I spent hours inside the St. Paul Ecumenical Chapel across Ground Zero and still many hours either walking around the block where the World Trade Center once was or sitting at the park across the Century Mall absorbed in prayer. I was so absorbed in prayer that I did not notice how late it already was in the evening. Because I had a flight to catch early morning the following day, I had to drag my feet away from Ground Zero. But there was certainly something at Ground Zero. There were many things at Ground Zero except zero. There were memories, emotions, tears, cries, prayers, pilgrims, and, yes, deafening silence, too. But something over and above these things caught my attention during my two visits there. There was a cross. When the Towers collapsed several beams of the former buildings remained. One of those beams was fashioned into a cross that was left standing at the center of the spot we now qualify as “zero”. It is not Ground Zero after all. There is a cross that rises from the ground. The cross is not a zero. The cross is a plus. The cross is the whole meaning of our life as followers of Jesus. I do not know how the bereaved families of the victims of 9/11 can forgive those that hurt them so deeply and irrevocably. I do not know if any of those wives or husbands who lost their spouses, if any of those children who lost their parents, if any of those parents who lost their children, if any of those who lost their friend, fiancée, fellowmen in that terrorist attack already found peace, much more forgiveness, in their hearts. I do not know if the loss caused by the 9/11 tragedy have already been restored. I do not know if the lives ruined were already rebuilt. I do not know if and when man’s inhumanity to man will end. I do not know how an evil deed can be shamelessly claimed by religious fanatics as a deed done for the glory of the Supreme Being they adore and believe in. I do not know. But I know I saw a cross at Ground Zero. It is always difficult to forgive. But the cross will help us. It is always easy to forget to forgive. But the cross will make us remember. It is always an act of dying to one’ self to forgive. And He who hangs on the cross shows us that. Today, we pray that the cross may help us to forgive. May we remember and see. May the Lord have mercy on us and give us peace. May we give mercy and make peace. May the cross that now stands at the center of Ground Zero remain even when the Monument for Freedom that is proposed to rise there already exist. May the cross always pierce our hearts and never let them be another Ground Zero.