Preserving the Truth of September 11th – 25 Years After
Twenty-five years has passed since we saw the outright murder of nearly three thousand innocent people on September 11, 2001. Barbaric acts of evil and cowardice took the lives of thousands more in the years following the horrific attacks on America.
James Cartier (26), a treasured son and our beloved brother, lost his life in the South Tower (105th Floor). On that devastating day, my parents and siblings entered a place of suffering at a depth we did not know existed. There, we saw the swollen eyes of all the stricken fathers, mothers, wives and husbands weeping for their loved ones taken too.
No one could foresee the pain 9/11 families would face in the years ahead.
Hope filled our every day for the grace to hear that even a small fragment belonging to the one(s) we lost had been identified. This excruciatingly painful time turned into years of waiting, evolving into decades of yearning to bring them home. Just two years ago, the remains of three additional victims of the terror attacks were identified. The painstaking work carried out by the Medical Examiner Office to bring every person buried in the hallowed earth of ground-zero to a place of eternal rest continues today.
Suffering comes with a clear choice. We are free to choose how tragic events of the magnitude of the September 11th attacks are preserved and passed into the memory of future generations.
Safeguarding the historical truth of all that occurred and the cataclysmic pain plunged into the heart of countless families is like a two-edged sword. One side must serve as an armor of protection from those attempting to change the reality of the evil personified on that unforgettable September morning. There are new Pharaohs moving in the shadows of our world today with an aim to rewrite history. They seek to dismiss the truth of the malicious attacks on our nation and deny the raw evil that sourced it. My father knew that day would come.
In God’s protection, we know that truth cannot be erased.
Scripture reveals this. For example, in the Apostle Matthew’s historical account of Herod’s slaughter of the infants, he brings back into our memory the prophet Jeremiah’s writing on Rachel’s weeping for her children that took place more than six hundred years before.
He writes, “A voice was heard in Ramah, weeping and loud lamentation, Rachel weeping for her children; she refused to be comforted, because they are no more.”
The six-century gap between both traumatic events could not change the recording of what historically took place. The apostle retold the events around Rachel’s lament exactly as they occurred. Similarly, the truth of the events piercing the hearts of thousands of 9-11 families will not be distorted.
Amid Rachel’s tears, is the unchangeable memory of all the grieving families and new generations of children – still weeping for the sweetness of the ones that are no more.
Time can never change the weight of a single tear.
If God hears the lone voice of Abel crying out from the ground, how much more does He hear the voices of the thousands of our loved ones crying out for justice?
The other edge of the sword works to carve deeper into the faithful’s heart of sorrow. The pathways formed create new places to bring forth the light of God, even as we weep.
For we lift our eyes to the mountains from whence will come our help (Ps. 120).
Through the darkness of our loss on 9/11- we never let go of God.
My Last Moments with James – A Miracle
God had a purpose in bringing the voices of a brother and sister together that September morning. James and I were able to connect three times by phone. The sound of the monumental destruction taking place inside the South Tower is beyond description.
At the time, I did not know that I would never see James again.
But God was with my brother. He saw what James was carrying inside his beautiful heart. The beloved son of Patrick and Carmen Cartier did not want to leave the world before speaking his message of love for them one last time. I took that message home.
And so, the grace of the miracle of our voices finding each other was granted from above. When we become an instrument of God, the greatest works of faith are made visible to the whole world.
Only in Christ was the Cartier family able to shine the light of faith and hope into the homes of countless 9/11 families. We immediately formed an advocacy group so that civilians impacted could begin to receive word about the search and efforts to recover their loved ones. That pipeline of communication stayed open for several years.
The movement’s name “Give Your Voice” was given by our father. The work it accomplished by the grace of God in disseminating information to help grieving families worldwide identify their loved ones is immeasurable.
Weeks after the attacks, we found a way to display the “Never Forget” banner over the ashes still rising from the destruction of the World Trade Center site. It expressed gratitude to all the recovery workers for never giving up in the search to find our loved ones.
God then brought the resources needed to hold one of the very first tribute events for 9-11 families. The families came – and we cried.
In all suffering, I am a witness bearer to the truth of God’s faithfulness. He is always present in our suffering and will never leave or forsake us.
When the reality of losing James first entered my heart, I remembered the grieving words of the sisters of Lazarus ask, “Where were You Lord? If you had been here – my brother would not have died (Jn 11:21).
I understood their sorrow – and the question they asked.
Then I pictured the tears they saw forming in Jesus’ eyes – tears wept for his beloved friend.
The Man of Sorrows is always present in my sorrow – and weeps with me for James.
He weeps for every soul lost on 9/11.
And with his arms outstretched on the Cross – Jesus wept for the whole world.
Our vow to “Never Forget” what took place on September 11, 2001 rests on God’s throne.
There it remains until the end of time.
May God bless the 9/11 families grieving for their loved ones.