The Cross at Ground Zero

Millions of Americans gazed in disbelief as the magnificent World Trade Center buildings collapsed into piles of rubble on September 11, 2001. After the shock and horror wore off, the questions began. Where Was God On 9/11? How could this have happened? Why did God allow such evil? And then, the daunting thought - Where will God be when I need Him?

Father Benedict J. Groeschel, C.F.R., addresses all these questions in his book, The Cross at Ground Zero. He reassures us that the iron cross, found at the world trade center, leads to the cross of Jesus which stands at the center of all pain, all suffering, indeed all history. He explains that Jesus did not come to take away suffering. He came to sanctify suffering by His presence.

He was at Ground Zero in the World Trade Center. He will be with you in your own personal Ground Zero whether it is the death of a child, a cancer diagnosis, or the loss of a job.

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Contents

A Word of Thanks / 9

Introduction / 13

Chapter 1 / The Individual / 21

Chapter 2 / The Church / 45

Chapter 3 / The Country / 69

Chapter 4 / The World / 91

Epilogue / 111

Appendixes / 117

About the Author / 144

Introduction

A huge twenty-foot cross, perfectly proportioned, was found in the mountain of debris at the ruins of the World Trade Center. The crossbeams had apparently been shaped by the collapse of the buildings. This cross has become a startling witness to faith for hundreds of thousands of people who were deeply grieved by the terrorist attacks not only in New York City but also in Washington and on the plane that crashed in Pennsylvania. This book, despite its title, is not about that metal cross. It is about the invisible but very real cross that fell on every innocent person, everyone whose heart was broken at Ground Zero on September 11, 2001.

Shortly after that date I was requested by Eternal Word Television Network, the international Catholic cable network founded by Mother Angelica, to do four half-hour meditations on the events of that tragic day. These broadcasts were completed in less than three hours at the Instructional Television Center of the New York archdiocese on the grounds of St. Joseph’s Seminary in Yonkers. My only preparation was to pray fervently to the Holy Spirit and prepare a simple outline during the twenty-minute drive over from Trinity Retreat, where I work. It seemed obvious that I should reflect on what this horror meant to individuals, to Christians, to the country, and to the world. I was remotely prepared because in my book Arise from Darkness (Ignatius Press, 1995) I had given much thought to the question “What do you do when life doesn’t make sense?”

I hope and pray that The Cross at Ground Zero will be a help to all those who suffered in any way from the terrorism, even if they personally knew no one who died that morning. I also intend this book for those equally innocent people, most of them postal and office workers, who have contracted anthrax, as well as their families and friends. I write these lines in the presence of Christ in the Holy Eucharist. I also think of all those who will suffer in the future as a result of terrorism, which may continue. We pray that that may not be, but on this first Sunday of November, 2001, it seems that most thinking people believe that we may be in for a long period of suffering and sorrow, of violence and terror. May God give us peace.

The Warning

These four talks focus on two different themes, which are then repeated in each talk. I tried to make some spiritual observations about the meaning of suffering and the problem of evil — subjects of which I have some knowledge and experience. I also make certain observations about the need for America and the other Western nations to change radically from the self-destructive road we have chosen to travel, which is characterized by paganism, hedonism, and the corruption of youth. We have been on this road for some years, perhaps for more than three decades. As I read over the transcriptions of my broadcasts, I wondered if I had said these things. Did I have the courage, the insight, even the faith to say them? I was very tempted to modify my ideas. Then I recalled that I had asked for the guidance of the Holy Spirit, and I should not reject that guidance if it was given. Second, I was aware that Pope John Paul II had made the very same points in his address on September 12 concerning the terrorist attack (see Appendix One). He expressed in more gentle terms what I said, but he would have been obliged by his office to do that. However, if you read his words in Appendix One of this book, you will see that the supreme Shepherd of the universal Church was calling America to reform and repentance while he lamented what had happened to us.

From my recent visits to foreign countries and from reading and reviewing comments from writers even of friendly nations, it becomes clear that our national image is besmirched by our forceful advocacy of contraception, abortion, and euthanasia, and by our production of pornography, which constantly undermines family life and human dignity. I am reminded of the title of a book about America before World War II, which was made into a film in the 1960s — Ship of Fools. Are we Americans on such a ship? If we reap the harvest we have sown — and there is no reason to suppose that we will not — we cannot claim that we were not warned by the Bible and especially by the teaching of Christ, our own faith, and the supreme Shepherd of our Church. I am very critical of some of our former national leaders and their administration of justice, as well as their lack of care for our national security. I never thought I would write in such a vein, but the time to do so seems to have arrived.

Jesus gave many warnings to the people of His time. Even on His way to Calvary He warned the good, innocent women who were weeping for Him: “Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me, but weep for yourselves and for your children. For behold, the days are coming when they will say, ‘Blessed are the barren, and the wombs that never bore, and the breasts that never gave suck!’ Then they will begin to say to the mountains, ‘Fall on us’; and to the hills, ‘Cover us’ ” (Luke 23:28-30). The destruction of Jerusalem and all Israel was still forty years off, and perhaps this explains the mysterious remark He then adds, “They do these things while the wood is green. What will they do when it is dry?”

The Meaning of the Cross

Many people ask why God did this. Some fundamentalist preachers have even suggested that He did, in fact, wreak vengeance on the United States for its sins. I find this to be a horrible idea — one that especially does not fit with the image of God provided by His beloved Son in the Gospel. Yes, God mysteriously permitted this evil, but as St. Augustine reminds us, “God does not do evil, but does cause that evil should not become the worst.” I will try to explore further the idea that while God permits evil, He will bring good out of it for those who trust in Him. This is the meaning of the cross.

Jesus’ death at the hands of brutal men was the worst sin ever committed, and it was inspired, we are told, by Satan as he entered Judas’s heart. But by trust, love, forgiveness, and a total surrender to God’s will that did not remove the cup of suffering, Jesus saved the world.

The cross is the symbol of the worst thing ever done and the best thing that ever happened. It is Christ’s victory over death and our promise of eternal salvation.

The Presence

For believing and prayerful Christians, the cross is something more. It reminds us that Christ is present to us as we suffer. He is here. The French poet Paul Claudel reminds us that Christ did not end suffering or explain it away. He sanctified it by His presence. In these pages I will try to develop this idea because it represents the most powerful and uniquely Christian aspect of spirituality. The steel cross found in the ruins of the World Trade Center is a silent symbol of the presence of Christ with us. Because He suffered for us willingly in His life, He has a right to share our sufferings now. Only the believer can appreciate this. It will leave others puzzled and confused about what the cross means. But for the believer the cross stands still and the world turns all around it. It is the pole around which all things revolve. The quotation from Cardinal Newman in Appendix  Four at the back of this book will help the meditative Christian come to an appreciation of what the cross really means.