'Jesus Is With You'

By Fr. Stephen McGraw
Special to the HERALD
(From the issue of 9/5/02)

Jesus Christ, by His Incarnation, has "in a certain way united Himself with each," as we are told by the Second Vatican Council (Gaudiem et Spes 22). Moreover, Christ always accompanies man through the struggle and what is more the "dramatic" struggle, between good and evil that human life shows itself to be, through the "monumental contention against the powers of darkness" that, according to the Council, all of history comes down to.

On Sept. 11, 2001, together with the human family, I experienced and perceived in an unprecedented way the "dramatic" quality of this struggle, the "monumental" nature of this contention. At the same time, I experienced and perceived the reality of Jesus Christ accompanying man and providing for him in that moment with a solicitude that was all the more intensely manifested.

On the morning of Sept. 11, after celebrating 8:30 a.m. Mass with the children of Corpus Christi School, I headed toward Arlington National Cemetery to preside at a 10 a.m. graveside service. Already running late and unsure of my route, I mistakenly took the Pentagon exit and found myself in standstill traffic, in front of a huge building that I later learned was the Pentagon.

I put my hands to my head in dismay, anticipating my late arrival for the prayer service. I had no awareness of the incoming plane until it was above our cars, having knocked over the street lamp at the edge of the road. After seeing the plane crash a split-second later, I assumed that it was a terrible accident, and, with my holy oil and stole and manual of care for the sick, I left my car, crossed over the other lanes of traffic, which remained at a standstill, and onto the lawn of the Pentagon.

During the next half hour, I was able to minister to a few of the injured victims, praying near them, speaking words of consolation, and anointing one man who identified himself as a Catholic. A message that kept coming to my mind and lips was: "Jesus is with you." It was a message to which suffering victims responded in faith.

I saw that there was a mysterious connection between the suffering that I was witnessing and the suffering of Jesus Christ, and I was praying, "Mary, help me to stay with you at the foot of the cross." I had a strong sense that God was not at all remote from this horrible tragedy. Although, like the death of His Son, it followed upon evil actions against His will, in the suffering that resulted from those acts. Jesus Himself was intimately close to the victims and, as with His own suffering, was able to bring great good.

Regarding my specific mission as a priest, I had an unhesitating assurance of it from the moment of the crash. I also came to recall how, some two months or so into my priesthood, I had made another driving "mistake" and found myself at an accident scene where I would otherwise not have been, witnessing someone lying on a stretcher and about to be placed in an ambulance.

Although I could easily have stopped, I decided not to do so. Soon thereafter I miserably received the stinging rebuke of conscience, as though the Lord were saying, "You are my priest and you let Me down." I made a fervent resolution that day that ever after I would stop without hesitation at the scene of any serious accident. Sept. 11 came about three weeks later.

I believe that God, by a loving design of His providence, arranged for a priest to be present at the Pentagon crash, not only for the sake of the injured victims to whom I ministered, but also for the sake of the dying, whom He Himself attended with great mercy. I think too of the priest who was on the second plane that crashed into the World Trade Center in New York, and the priest, Father Mychal Judge, who was killed in the subsequent rescue efforts.

The presence of a priest was able to serve as a visible sign for those at the scene and for others through television and newspaper coverage, of God’s presence and activity at such a moment. I recall how, in those first minutes, I would be spotted by medical or military personnel, who might say something like, "There’s someone who needs you over here," or, "You’re more needed over there." It almost seemed, in a good way, that they thought of my presence there, "of course, God would put a priest here at this moment."

Fr. McGraw is parochial vicar at St. Anthony of Padua Church in Falls Church.

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