I remember the afternoon of the 11th September 2001. I had just gone into the lab at work to do an experiment; as usual, the radio was on and Alex, my post-doc was busy. He turned to me and said “two planes have just hit the World Trade Centre”. I normally tried to shut the radio out when I was in the lab; Alex liked Radio 1 and I didn’t. But there wasn’t any music that afternoon; we just listened to horror unfolding. As the last few weeks have shown, we are still living the consequences of that day; blood is still being shed.
I’m often asked if my faith is a comfort when disaster strikes. I’m not sure it is; it certainly doesn’t stop the raw pain and anguish. But what it does do is provide me with a place where I can reflect. In the light of events like 9-11, I find myself turning to words of St Paul; words I also read at every funeral.
“I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord”.