Posted on 04/22/2008 3:11:48 PM PDT by ConservativeStLouisGuy
On Sunday 20 April 2008, Pope Benedict XVI visited the site of the terrorist attack in New York City, 11 September 2001. While there he offered the following prayer.
O God of love, compassion, and healing,
look on us, people of many different faiths
and traditions,
who gather today at this site,
the scene of incredible violence and pain.
We ask you in your goodness
to give eternal light and peace
to all who died here —
the heroic first-responders:
our fire fighters, police officers,
emergency service workers, and
Port Authority personnel,
along with all the innocent men and women
who were victims of this tragedy
simply because their work or service
brought them here on September 11, 2001.
We ask you, in your compassion
to bring healing to those
who, because of their presence here that day,
suffer from injuries and illness.
Heal, too, the pain of still-grieving families
and all who lost loved ones in this tragedy.
Give them strength to continue their lives
with courage and hope.
We are mindful as well
of those who suffered death, injury, and loss
on the same day at the Pentagon and in
Shanksville, Pennsylvania.
Our hearts are one with theirs
as our prayer embraces their pain and suffering.
God of peace, bring your peace to our violent world:
peace in the hearts of all men and women
and peace among the nations of the earth.
Turn to your way of love
those whose hearts and minds
are consumed with hatred.
God of understanding,
overwhelmed by the magnitude of this tragedy,
we seek your light and guidance
as we confront such terrible events.
Grant that those whose lives were spared
may live so that the lives lost here
may not have been lost in vain.
Comfort and console us,
strengthen us in hope,
and give us the wisdom and courage
to work tirelessly for a world
where true peace and love reign
among nations and in the hearts of all.
Thank you for posting it.
This was one of the most wonderful moments of the trip, for me. I really think so often about how the people there suffered (I lived most of my life in New York and had worked in the WTC, moving out of the city in 2000). Sometimes scenes would come to me in the middle of the night and I would pray for these people. But I finally felt as if everything had been resolved, healed, put to rest, in some way when he blessed that ground.
By what Pope Benedict XVI has done, he made the WTC site holy ground. God Bless B16.
Thank-you for posting that prayer.
Thank-you for your reflection. What company and tower did you work at when you worked at the WTC? Thank-you for your response.
May all the people who died on 9/11/01 rest in peace. Amen
I noticed that the Holy Father was very much absorbing the entire environs while he was there. When he was riding down the ramp beforehand, he was looking around and gesturing to his secretary. He focused intently an each person who was introduced to him. I was moved by the gentleman who had trouble walking and still genuflected to kiss the Pope’s ring. God has poured many graces on our country during this apostolic visit. Deo gratias!
Pope Benedict learned so much from this trip to America and we in turned learned from him.
I worked for Marsh, but fortunately I was not working for them at the time of the WTC. Their offices had originally been uptown on 6th Ave and I left them about the time they moved.
Later, however, I worked for a law firm in the tower where the first WTC bombing occurred. In fact, I had worked overnight and left shortly before it happened.
The only person I had kept in touch with did get out safely on 9/11, because she was working with an Irish employee who, as soon as he heard the sound of the first plane, told his coworkers that it was a bomb and they should get out now, because he knew from his experience in Ireland that there was always a second bomb. Thank God, everybody in the section where he was working listened to him and left, regardless of what the officials were saying on the PA system. They went down the stairs, although by the time they got a few floors down, the stairs were filled with people from other floors. She said it was very orderly, though, and people even kept on joking and encouraging each other all the way down. They knew other things were going on (the second plane) because then firemen started coming in, but they didn’t know exactly what had happened. The police made them run away from the building when they got to the bottom and told them not to look at anything, because there were already horrible sights on the ground.
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