Santa Clara University

Global Reality: A Response to Tragedy

Sept.11, 2001

Ironically, my topic for consideration this morning was going to be educating for global citizenship. My talk began with a statement that the world we live is becoming radically different from the one before the collapse of the Berlin Wall in 1989. Instead of a world divided by two superpowers we now have one increasingly global village, dominated by a global market place, but ironically divided in different ways, as we saw this morning.

Today we cannot ignore some deep contradictions of globalization that we see, especially the destruction of human life and the suffering we see around the world, as new structures of globalization reshape our world. Sadly, because of how interconnected we have become, our world and our country are more vulnerable to destruction than ever before.

What have we seen today behind the frightening images on television of explosions, burning buildings, and clouds of smoke and ash from their collapse? Behind these images we see the face of evil. No other word fits such a massive and wanton destruction of human life. Evil is a vacuum, a black hole that sucks into itself all that is alive and beautiful. It is frightening to get a glimpse of evil that seems so much more powerful than we are, capable of more destruction than we could ever remedy.

When confronted with such power, we cannot help but to turn to God, to the One who gives life. We cannot help but ask the questions, "Where is God in all this? Why could God not have prevented such a tragedy, the death of so many innocents?" And perhaps we are shaken to the roots of our faith and we wonder whether God is not aloof from all this suffering?

At this moment we stand in solidarity with others who have been shaken by the same question in the face of evil that seems triumphant. Let me quote from Professor David Pleins’ book on the Psalms:

In one of the most theologically challenging passages of his book Night , Elie Wiesel can only locate God in the face of the young boy hung by SS guards and "struggling between life and death.: Wiesel writes,

"Behind me, I heard the man asking:

"Where is God now?"

And I heard a voice within me answering him:

"Where is He? Here He is - hanging here on this gallows." (The Psalms, p. 54)

There is no theoretical answer to the scandal of evil and God does not provide one any more than theologians or philosophers do. What Wiesel asserts is what believers struggle to do in the dark nights of suffering. God is not aloof from the suffering of the innocent, God is suffering with them. Compassion starts with God: it doesn’t mean pity and it doesn’t mean a distant concern coming from on high. Compassion means suffering with those who suffer, bearing their burden so that it will be lessened in some way.

This is what Christians believe that Jesus did with the lepers, the poor, the outcasts, and the untouchables of his society. He shared our human lot in all things, even in the frustration of not being able to prevent all tragedy and shield the innocent from suffering. The last act of his life was crucifixion, where he stood in solidarity with all the crucified peoples of the world, then and now.

But there is another step that we need to take today. The God of life is the God of abundant life and blessing whose power overcomes the life-destroying vacuum of evil. "The light shines out in the darkness and the darkness does not overcome it," proclaims John in his Gospel. The God of life, the One proclaimed in Judaism, Christianity and Islam, and also in the other great religious traditions, calls us to mercy, to forgiveness.

That is how evil is overcome by good. Mercy takes the anger and spontaneous desire for retaliation that we feel in the face of today’s tragedy and refuses to be caught up in it. Mercy says, "Enough. No more destruction."

The challenge to all of us on this day is two-fold. The first challenge is to stand in solidarity with the victims and their families and to believe that God’s compassion locates God there too. God is standing with them in death and in life, grieving with those who grieve.

And there is a second even more demanding challenge for those who hope in a merciful God. We are called to overcome evil with good, to forgo resentment and retaliation. It may be tempting to turn on those who we think perpetrated these awful acts. It may be tempting to turn on those that we think are somehow like those who did this, whether in race, religion or nationality. It may be tempting to say they all are responsible, they all should pay for this great loss.

Our nation yielded to that temptation 60 years ago. After the bombing of Pearl Harbor, Americans of Japanese descent were treated as scapegoats. They were uprooted from their homes and communities and sent to internment camps for the remainder of World War II. We must not let ourselves yield to such fears and anger again. Whatever the race or ideology or professed religion of the terrorists who committed these awful actions today, we are called not to yield to stereotyping and scapegoating people who by accident of birth or history may seem to be like the guilty.

There is no theoretical response to the tragedy that we are witnessing today. For persons of faith, and to be sure, we are all people of weak and troubled faith today, there is a great need to trust that the God of life is more powerful than all the forces of death. There is also need for forbearance and forgiveness. If we do not trust in God and do not imitate God’s mercy then evil will not be overcome by good. Just the opposite will happen, evil will have spread to us, generating despair and vengeance. And that will mean that evil will have overcome good.

So finally we say with St. Paul, "If God be for us, who can be against us?"

This is a time for prayer and healing; a time of compassion and forgiveness. This is a time when we turn to the God of all people to pray that the power of good will prevail over evil, faith over disbelief in life, hope over despair, and love over hate.

May God bless you and keep you;

May God’s face shine upon you and be gracious to you;

May God look upon you with kindness and grant you peace all of the days of your life.

Paul L. Locatelli, S.J.

President

Santa Clara University