How long, O Lord? I cry for help but you do not listen! I cry out to you, "Violence!" But you do not intervene. Why do you let me see ruins; why must I look at misery? Destruction and violence are before me: there is strife and clamorous discord.

As we look at the images of the destruction brought on our country by the Attack on America, we might say "Thank you, Habakkuk, for giving voice to our sentiments".

We are outraged that other children of our good God could do such evil, that other brothers and sisters in our human family could use innocent people as weapons of destruction. We are shocked and outraged that people who believe in God could plot and execute such violence against men, women and children. What a crime against humanity!

But, Why Did God Not Intervene?

Just as the ancient prophet Habakkuk wondered why God did not intervene to stop the violence in his time, many of us may also wonder why God did not stop the evildoers on September 11th.

God does not intend evil or human suffering for His children. But neither will God take away the freedom of choice that he gave to us when he created us. From the moment when Adam and Eve chose their own desires over the way of God, the effects of original sin have echoed down the generations. Sin is real, and we are the ones who choose to do wrong, evil deeds. People who have gradually allowed their hearts to turn from love to hate are, unfortunately, capable of evil acts that bring about terrible destruction. We saw this during the Holocaust, during the Oklahoma bombing and now during the Attack on America.

Where is God in all this?

Like Habakkuk, we too may wonder where is God in all this? Has He abandoned us? Has He forgotten about us? Some people may become very angry at God. Unfortunately, the Attack on America may push some fragile believers over the top and cause them to quit on God. Why believe in a God who could allow such horrible things to happen? One can readily understand such questioning. It is normal part of human nature and normal to people struggling to grow in faith.

It should comfort us to know that 2,000 years ago another child of the light experienced horrific darkness. The forces of evil hung Him on a cross in an effort to destroy His spirit. In the midst of His darkness and His experience of evil Jesus sweated drops of blood and it seems that He thought for a moment that His good and loving Father had abandoned Him. He cried out in lamentation: "My God, My God why have you abandoned me?" It seems that it was somehow a part of God's mysterious plan to allow Jesus to experience the depths and horrors of evil prior to His defeat of it which occurred in the resurrection.

As followers of Jesus, we too must realize that we like Him will be attached by the powers of darkness. These powers will try to destroy our bodies, minds and spirits, our marriages and families our institutions and churches. The September 11th Attack on America was an attack on our way of life (all of which is not good and pure). It sought not only to hurt and kill us physically or economically, but it also sought to break our spirit.

A People Rising Up.

Many years ago I watched a movie about a devastating earthquake in California. During the movie, the people emerged from the rubble and destruction and started to sing John Brown's Body. It was a wonderful image of resurrection in the midst of darkness and destruction. From the moment the forces of evil struck our nation, the Spirit of God started to rise up in the hearts of Americans everywhere. We were struck down, but not destroyed even if some of our brothers and sisters lost their lives. Almost immediately the Spirit of God, alive in our hearts empowered us to fight the forces of evil.

Rescuer workers went in search of victims, people helped out strangers. Two men carried a woman in a wheel chair down 50 flights of stairs in the World Trade Center. Doctors and nurses rushed to Ground Zero and set up a hospital in the midst of destruction. Thousands lined up to give blood. People of diverse faiths, backgrounds and political persuasion joined hands in prayer and solidarity. The separation of Church and State became blurred for a time as we saw the vital importance of faith and prayer to sustain us in our hour of darkness. Patriotism in America was reborn. People of goodwill all around the world mourned with America, not just for her pain but also because they too realized that their world was also less safe. People stopped, paused and hopefully started to realize what was really important was not our differences, but the things we shared in common and cherished the most, namely faith in God, family love and the desire for safety and peace. Every day, we hear and will continue to hear new stories of heroism in the face of terrorism. If the evildoers thought that they had defeated America or broken her spirit, they were dead wrong.

So where is God in all this? He is in our midst, busy helping America to come together.

-to fight and bring to justice to people of violence.

-God is in our midst helping us heal the wounded and the traumatized.

-God is in our midst moving us to wake up and see what is really important.

On September 11th, God wept at the destruction of human life, but immediately He gave us the strength to rise up from the rubble to put our lives back together again. The recovery and healing process may take years but if we work with God and with each other, we will end up a stronger and better nation. Hasn't it been wonderful to see politicians work together? Hasn't it been wonderful to see people of all faiths pray together. God desires unity for His people. The Devil desires and works for division and destruction. Little did the forces of evil realize that their acts of terrorism would give birth to acts of heroism and help to mobile the diverse forces in our country and world to work together as never before.

Facing the Violence in Our Own Country.

Even as America comes together to defeat violence and terrorism that comes from outside it's borders, it must also have the courage to face the violence present in our own psyche, souls and institutions.

In our church year this weekend is Respect Life Sunday. It is the weekend when we especially proclaim the sacredness of all human life, from the moment of conception to death and even beyond death, we show reverence for deceased embryos and bodies.

Wouldn't it be awesome and wonderful if this horrendous Attack on America moved us to a new consciousness about how we, as a people, are called by God to respect all human life, the born and the unborn. The following are ways that we still manifest gross disrespect for the lives of others:

-each day about 1,400 unborn innocent children are attacked and killed in their mother's womb, a place that should be a very safe haven for a child.

-in our lovely country, a woman is battered every 18 seconds. (of course, some men are also battered).

-fifty per cent (50%) of the women murdered every year are killed by a spouse or partner.

-about two million children are abused every year by a parent or relative. Tens of thousands of children run away from home each year because of domestic violence. Domestic violence occurs in all types of homes.

-as a nation, we have now started to legalize Mercy Killing.

-Stem Research is the latest life-issue. We use human embryos to conduct scientific research.

-capital punishment is a state-sanctioned form of killing. We kill to teach that killing is wrong.

The Catholic Response to Violence and Disrespect for Human Life.

Let us now look briefly at what is the Catholic Church's response to the various forms of violence and disrespect for human life that we see in our midst.

Terrorism

Our church is outraged and horrified at the act's of terrorism that we saw in the Oklahoma bombing and on September 11th. The hope and prayer of our church is that the acts of terrorism visited on our country on September 11th, will help to mobilize the civilized nations of the world to go after terrorists and to bring them to justice. We hope and pray that we do not kill other innocent people in the process. Yet we realize that in war, innocent people are killed. We also hope and pray that we treat with respect our Muslim brothers and sisters who are also horrified at the destruction visited upon our human family on September 11th.

C.S. Lewis in his book "The Problem of Pain" writes: "God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks to us in our conscience, but shouts to us in our pain."

Abortion.

As a church family we continue to proclaim the sacredness of the life of the unborn child. We continue to do this whether it is or isn't politically correct. Our church teaches that it is never right to directly and intentionally take the life of an unborn child. The unborn life is as sacred to God as the fully developed person.

As we continue to proclaim the dignity of all unborn life, we also reach out a hand of mercy to women who in a moment of ignorance (many young women have no moral sense about abortion) or crisis allowed a doctor to kill the child within them. Over the years I have counseled and prayed with many such women. Often they, themselves, became great advocates for the unborn.

Domestic Violence.

This has been a problem since the beginning of time. Thank God we as a nation and as a church are beginning to name this act of gross disrespect for human life for what it is. For the most part women and children are the victims of domestic violence. But sometimes we also meet men and the elderly people who are also victims. Obviously, emotional and physical abuse is totally contrary to Jesus' love of life. I would hope that any parishioner or neighbor (friend of a parishioner) experiencing domestic violence, would feel free to come visit one of us priests or staff persons to talk about this issue. For more on the church's stance on this issue visit the National Conference of Catholic Bishops website: http://www.nccbuscc.org/violence.htm.

Mercy Killing.

This, like all life issues, is an emotionally wrenching one, especially when we find someone in constant pain that cannot be diminished. As we begin to walk down this path we need to remember that the Dutch government's own commission on euthanasia reported that in over a 1,000 cases in one year, doctors had actively caused or hastened death without the consent of the patient. The commission also found that virtually every guideline set up by the government to regulate euthanasia was violated. Of course, mercy killing is wrong even if the patient requests it or not.

Stem-Research.

On this life issue our Holy Father Pope John Paul II, has written:

To use human embryos or fetuses as the object of instrument of experimentation constitutes a crime against their dignity as human beings, having a right to the same respect that is due to the child already born and to every human person.

Capital Punishment.

As you may know about 80% of Catholics are pro Capital Punishment. While our Church believes that the state has the right to protect its people from violent criminals even to the point of putting them to death, our Holy Father is now at a point of total opposition to Capital Punishment. Time and time again he has petitioned Governors in this country to save and not kill the life of the criminal. In doing this, our Pope is doing what Jesus would do. In the book of Ezekiel, God says to us: "God desires not the death of the sinner, but that he repents and lives."

God never gives up on us, even on the most violent criminal. His Son, Jesus, reached out to two violent criminals as he hung on the cross, extending God's mercy to the one who repented. When the State executes a criminal, it is saying to that person "we give up on you." something Jesus would never do. Neither should we as Judeo-Christian people.

Recently, a mother of a teenager who had been raped and murdered was faced in a very personal way with the death penalty issue. Should she seek it for one who destroyed her beautiful daughter. Here is what the mother wrote about this issue:

I had fifteen months to think through the death penalty issue, which I knew would be operative in this case. I came to realize that to kill this man in Susie's name would be to violate and profane the goodness and sweetness of her life. I could not honor her memory by becoming that which I deplored-someone who wants to kill. She was worthy of a more noble and beautiful memorial than a cold-blooded, premeditated, state-sanctioned killing, producing yet another victim and another grieving family. I better honored my precious daughter by insisting that all of life is sacred and worthy of preservation. So I asked the prosecutor to offer mandatory life imprisonment with no chance of parole.

Personally, I did not weep or feel particularly sorry for Timothy McVeigh nor would I feel bad if those who masterminded the September 11th attack were hung, drawn and quartered. Yet, I know that vengeance and retaliation is not God's way. We stoop down to the level of the criminal when we intentionally plan their execution. When we put away the criminal for life without parole, we protect our citizens, punish the offender and give him/her a life time to repent of their evil doing.

On this Respect Life Sunday, we the followers of Jesus are called to be defenders of human life at all it's stages.

Reflection Questions.

On this Respect Life Sunday where are you on Life issues? How Pro-Life are you? Are you pro-life in one or two areas but anti-life in other areas?

How easy or hard is it for you to publicly state your pro-life beliefs?