Easter and 9/11

The beautiful story of Father Mychal Judge reveals so much: the true meaning behind the greatest mystery of the Christian faith, the dangers of religious fundamentalism, and the autistic selflessness that the human spirit is capable of. Think about it:

"On that fateful day of 9/11, Mychal rushed to be down at the epicenter of the suffering and was offered safe passage by Mayor Giuliani to escape the chaos when all seemed, finally, lost. Mychal, however, refused the offer, saying the he needed to be with his men."

"If Father Mychal Judge hadn’t perished as he did on September 11, 2001, very few people would have known about his beautiful life. But now, because of the tragedy of 9/11 how many people will find in this story some measure of hope and inspiration?"

"This is essentially the Easter message. Our Easter faith teaches us that out of the depths of such great and excruciating suffering, some glimmer of hope shines. There is no darkness great enough that can engulf the light of the Risen Christ."

This is not, of course, to say that there is any goodness in the suffering and violence itself: Jesus himself said to His Father: “If it be your will, take this cup from me!” We must take care never to glorify, romanticize or exalt suffering as its own end. But it is a great mystery—a paradox—that life can emerge where death abounds.

Easter is essentially this mystery. To say “Christ is Risen” is not simply to say that good will follow from bad. It is rather to say that precisely in and from the hard suffering of loss and diminishment, some measure of God’s consoling presence is found.

Our acclamation of “Christ is Risen” is also not a proposition about which we possess certitude. I worry about people who rigidly hold onto faith as a proposition of certainty: their faith is all in the head and their conviction is more about the need for the security of their psyche than anything else. This is the curse of fundamentalism that threatens all religious traditions; it is the curse that brought down the towers that fateful morning, but it is also the curse that increasingly gets affirmed today in the public square and political life as an affirmation of “genuine faith.”

To say and to know “Christ is Risen” is first and foremost a Mystery that we gradually discover in our own lives; in our own hearts. It is to begin to understand why the Church, in its wisdom, makes the Easter season fifty days, as if to overwhelm the broken promises of our Lenten observances."

Father Mychal spent his life devoted to the needy. Inspired by Christ, he lived, served, suffered, and died among them. A hero.