On Tuesday evening, some twelve thousand miles away in a foreign land, nine or perhaps as may as fourteen families were grieving the death of a beloved husband, father, brother, uncle, friend or even, comrade.  Aside from the heartfelt expressions of human compassion and condolences normally offered to the grief stricken, these mourners had a particular reason to rejoice because their beloved was numbered among God’s elect.  These brave men sacrificed their lives in a divine mission to bring down the symbols of evil and its power in the world.  Surely, these courageous men loved their wives, children, family, friends, and comrades.  But, as men of faith, their love of God provided a higher motive—just as we heard in last week’s gospel—one that enabled these men to turn their backs on father and mother, brother and sister, indeed, on their very lives. They paid the ultimate cost of discipleship.  Now, their survivors take comfort that their beloved rest eternally in the peace of God.

Religious zealots, out of love of God, commandeered four aircraft to demonstrate just how vulnerable the “Evil Empire” really is.  Using remarkably “low tech” tools—just like David used his slingshot and with equally devastating effect—these men brought down the modern-day Goliath.  As difficult as it may be for any one of us to be sympathetic to this view of the tragic events which befell our nation last Tuesday and which exacted such a great toll of many fellow citizens, it does depict accurately how the families of these religious zealots view the defeat which their “heroes” inflicted upon our nation last Tuesday.

For the ancient Israel, defeat in battle was not only strategic, economic, and militaristic as an enemy overpowered God’s people and made slaves of them.  In addition, defeat in battle was a moment of profound recognition that Israel had failed to place its faith solely in God.  Placing its faith in the strength provided by strategic, economic, and military might, as well as in the words inscribed upon treaties and alliances, Israel forgot the true source of its strength, namely, faith in God and living according to His commandments.  Defeat in battle, then, was a “wake up call,” a true moment of grace for individual and collective self-realization . Defeat meant that the time had come for Israel to atone for having turned away from God and for having placed faith in the golden calves of their creation.

In a similar way, our nation, founded upon “certain inalienable rights endowed by their Creator,” suffered defeat last Tuesday.  We watched in horror—and have seen it replayed time and again—as the marvels of our own making—jet airplanes and towering skyscrapers—provided little or no security against what people fear most, death.  Yet, in an ironic twist, one week ago our nation’s political leaders were engaged in a titanic struggle over national priorities and legislating the nation’s budget.  Members of each political party pointed a finger at those on the other side of the aisle demanding, “Where will money for social security come from?”  Suddenly, tragic events have intervened, revealing the real truth that no future is secure if, as a nation, we do not hearken back to our faith in the God who endows people with fundamental rights, especially life—from the moment of conception to natural death—liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

For over two decades, our nation has tapped dance on the trap door of temptation falsely believing that we could redefine “life” to suit our purposes.  We’ve argued a legal basis to equivocate when and how life begins.  In the ensuing years, we’ve also made decisions about when and how life should be terminated.  Moreover, we have falsely believed that we could achieve all of this without falling through the trap door of temptation when evil would spring it wide open.  And yet, one of the first questions many people asked in the face of Tuesday’s defeat is, “How could anyone or any group possibly have so little disregard for human life?”  To wit, “They must surely be fanatics.”

If Tuesday’s defeat is to serve as a “wake up call” for our nation, just as defeat was a wake up call for ancient Israel, we must turn back to God, to learn once again to place our faith solely in Him, and to march forward into the largely unknown and very dangerous future armed with what gives us our only and true security, the grace of God.  We need to steel ourselves as individuals and as a nation against any assault upon the sanctity of human life or it won’t be long before liberty and the pursuit of happiness slip through out fingers as well.

As Catholics, we need in particular to realize that this wake up call teaches us that the “I’m okay, you’re okay” ideology that has been translated in recent decades into a “can’t we all just get along” form of accommodationism, just really does not work.  However alluring, it is a false and deceiving ideology because God’s truth is not relative, morality is not a matter of cultural conditioning, and the Ten Commandments are not a list of ten suggestions.  If truth is relative, if morality is simply a matter of cultural conditioning, and if God is merely suggesting how He’d like us to live, we have no quibble or argument with anyone who sees things differently than we do, including those who perpetrated last Tuesday’s defeat.

What was perpetrated last Tuesday was not just a matter of seeing things differently. The men who hijacked the four aircraft are not saints.  No, faith instructs us that people have used the power of free will to make choices through which the power of evil used them as tools to menace and destroy human life.  God will judge them and their actions just as God will judge us and our actions.  But, if we are to confront and overcome this evil and to turn defeat into a spiritual and moral victory, we must heed the call to conversion and, like ancient Israel, to return to the true source of our security, namely, the God who has created us and endowed us with inalienable rights and the power of free will.  It is up to us to turn away from the golden calves we worship and to choose instead to do what is good, proper, and just.

Especially to the teenagers and youth of our parish, it will be your faith that will be tested in the coming days and years. It will be your duty—as you will look evil straight in the eye—to preserve and protect the precious gifts of life—from the moment of conception to natural death—liberty, and the pursuit of happiness that our Creator has endowed us with and pass it along unsullied to your children and grandchildren.  Tuesday was your “wake up call”—just as it was for David in his day and for your grandfathers and grandmothers in theirs, what Tom Brokaw has called “the greatest generation.”  I do not for a moment believe what many have said you need, “grief counseling,” to come to terms with Tuesday’s defeat but, rather, that you need to arm yourself with the slingshot of faith.  This tool will enable you to muster all the courage you will need to do battle with evil and to re-establish God’s reign where evil would rather that fear, hatred, and chaos reign.

“There is no greater good than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends,” Jesus taught his disciples. In these days of national defeat, laying down one’s life means giving up all that has turned us individually and collectively away from the source of our true security and by returning to God, to discover the peace God gives to His holy people.  Armed with faith in God, there is absolutely nothing to fear, even the fear of death.  And, with God’s grace, nothing that evil can perpetrate will defeat His holy people.  “Love your enemies” and “pray for those who persecute you,” Jesus also taught his disciples, even those who seek to crucify you.  What Jesus is teaching us is not to let anger, hatred, and revenge motivate our responses to the challenges that evil places before us.  Instead, Jesus challenges us to let the love of God provide each of us and our nation’s leaders the wisdom that we need to do what is right, proper, and just so that God’s kingdom of justice and peace will reign.