[Music]
well by an interesting coincidence I
would say actually Providence the tenth
anniversary of September 11th 2001 falls
on a Sunday this year and the readings
of Catholic liturgy for that Sunday have
to do with forgiveness and it gives us a
good opportunity I think to reflect on
what forgiveness is and what it's not
let's go back to that day which I know
we all remember I was at my computer
about nine o'clock in the morning and a
friend called me and said a plane just
flew into one of the World Trade Center
towers and my first thought was some
little plane and lost its way like the
one I think back in the 30s it flew into
the Empire State Building I thought how
peculiar so I went up to my room turn
the TV on and saw what actually had
happened my first thought was that the
building's going to come down it was how
will they ever get that fire out so far
up you know I then crossed the campus to
teach a class and when I got there the
students were all huddled around a TV
there was a TV in the room and then we
watched the second tower hit we watched
as the towers came down and I remember I
didn't really know what I was seeing
because I no frame of reference I I was
so unexpected I was reminded of those
accounts they say of the native peoples
in the in the new world when the Spanish
ships first arrived they didn't really
see them because they had no frame of
reference for what these things were
that was my experience watching the
towers come down I remember then for
about 45 minutes the class and I just
did some kind of theological reflection
on what happened and what this meant I
remember one of the students saying the
world has just gotten ten thousand times
worse and that struck me as as pretty
much right
Osama bin Laden and those terrible men
who
hijack the planes not only killed 3,000
innocent people but they also haunted
and terrified the whole planet and
that's true to this day isn't it we all
feel in our bones we all know it when we
go to airports and we have to go through
these sealed body searches and take our
shoes off and all that I mean they
permanently changed in a negative way
the psyche of the world then I think
maybe is the worst thing that that those
wicked people did now here's the first
question
are we justified in being angry about
this the answer seems to me is
absolutely the answer is yes Thomas
Aquinas said the anger is the legitimate
response to injustice so when injustice
been done the right response to that is
anger so was Martin Luther King angry at
racial inequality and injustice in our
country yes it's what drove all his
sermons all his great speeches all his
marches all his activity was a kind of
profound anger at this injustice was
Gandhi angry at British imperialism and
its attendant in Justices yes and it
drove all his writing all of his
activity all of his marches and protests
up to his death Gandhi was driven by a
profound anger and injustice was John
Paul the second angry at communist
oppression especially in his native
Poland yes it seems to me I mean read
his writings read his letters listen to
his speeches watch what he did when he
went there it was driven by a very
legitimate anger at injustice okay you
might say anger is a passion to set
things right
which is why the Bible could speak of
God's anger we don't cover that up the
Bible speaks over and over again of
God's legitimate anger it doesn't mean
God has fallen into an emotional Schmitt
it means God burns with a passion to set
things right
so anger in that sense is justified it's
what's called for in the presence of
great injustice
however Thomas Aquinas and the rest of
our tradition also talks about the
deadly sin of anger anger is one of the
seven deadly sins well what is that
Thomas says it's an irrational or
unbalanced quest for vengeance so an
injustice has been done some wrong has
happened I'm now possessed by an
irrational desire for vengeance
that's the deadly sin of anger I'm try
to specify a little bit go back to those
examples I gave earlier those three
figures Martin Luther King did not want
to destroy white America he wanted to
redeem white America he wanted to bring
a white racist let's say into the
beautiful community he wanted to draw
them back into right relationship did
Gandhi want to destroy the British no no
he said over and over again
I want the British to leave as our
friends that's why he practiced
non-violence as King did too didn't want
destroy his enemy he wanted to redeem
the enemy did John Paul the second one
to kill Polish communists no no he
wanted to redeem them he wanted to draw
them back into right order in other
words their anger legitimate anger was
tethered to love now what's love not a
feeling not a passion love is intact of
the will it's to will the good of the
other as other therefore even in their
anger King and Gandhi and John Paul two
were loving their enemies they wanted to
draw them back in and that's why their
legitimate anger did not devolve into
the deadly sin of anger man I think is a
very important distinction to make
whenever we're in the presence of a
great wrong or great injustice we catch
this in
the book of Sirach which actually a
passage from which is the reading for
September 11th in the Catholic liturgy
the office book of Sirach says that
wrath and anger are hateful things yet
the sinner hugs them tight it's a great
image I think because think of now the
deadly sin of anger we sinners do cling
to our anger why not as an expression of
love but as an expression of moral
superiority do you remember what he did
to me do you remember what she said to
me and I cling to my resentment now lips
grin for sake of argument it really was
something unjust it really was something
wrong but now I'm not trying to move
through that to a better place I'm
hugging it to myself so that I can say
over and over again to myself and others
look how I was wronged look how I was
hurt it's an attempt to elevate the ego
above others that's a good example of
the deadly sin of anger anger that's
untethered to love now here's where
forgiveness comes in I think what is
forgiveness
it is not a willful ignorance Oh forgive
and forget just forget about September
11th no no no in fact authentic
forgiveness depends upon a keen sense of
injustice you got to forgive something
after all right so you're keenly aware
of it forgiveness is not that not a
blindness to it
forgiveness is a willingness actively to
draw the one who's heard you back into
community it's not enough somebody to
say alright you hurt me but I'm gonna
get over there
that's not forgiveness yet you hurt me
but I'm just gonna forget about it that
isn't forgiveness forgiveness is now I'm
going actively to draw you back into
community with me and with the larger
community I'm gonna try as best I can to
solve this problem
one way to get at it is this whatever
you're wronged anyway to say to the
person who wrongs you this is our
problem now mind you I'm not suggesting
thereby that I'm soft on evil or blame
the victim I'm not playing that game at
all but I am saying if I'd been wrong
it's still our problem that together we
should strive to solve I will do what I
can to draw you back into the loving
community again think of King or John
Paul - that's what they were doing is
King was saying racial injustice in
America is our problem not just your
problem king of john paul ii is saying
communist oppression in some sense is
our problem we have to deal with it
together that it seems to me is the move
of forgiveness which is why i think it
is so central to the teaching of Jesus
we pray for it every day in the Lord's
Prayer forgive us our trespasses as we
forgive those who trespass against us
and then in the wonderful gospel which
happens again to be the gospel for
September 11th Peter says Lord how many
times should I forgive my brother who's
wronged me as many as seven times and
Jesus famously says not seven times but
I tell you seventy times seven times
which is an aramaic ism a submitter sysm
for over and over and over again
always always always forgive does it
mean never be angry no no no no be angry
and injustice as God is does it mean
blindness to human sin no no on the
contrary but it does mean the
willingness to tether our anger always
to love to situate our anger in the
context of love that it seems to me is
the deepest meaning of forgiveness and
an important lesson to meditate upon on
the 10th anniversary of September 11th
you