Gila at Arundel hotel

Gila at Arundel hotel
Visit with Mercedes

Wednesday 11 September 2013

12th anniversary of 9/11

My dear Friends

We are holding our breath while we wait to see if the superpowers of the world will bring peace, not war to the Middle East. Surely on this important anniversary of the tragedy of the twin towers, they will show restraint. For once, Russia has taken the initiative for Peace and we must applaud it.

I would like to share with you what happened in my life on the day of 9/11 itself. Strangely I was watching a TV screen in Lucy Cavendish College in Cambridge, where I had studied Hebrew between 1988 and 1992.  A young woman, when I told her i was a Catholic, declared herself a humanist and I thought : 'Good, we will go through this together.'

On watching the planes crashing into the towers, my faith 'went out of the window.' then I heard my mother's voice speaking in my head, as she used to speak to me casually, when she was washing the dishes and I had said I was depressed: ' But don't you know that God rules the world.'And I knew that behind those scenes of devastation, the world was still in perfect order.

I was living in Newton Road at the time with Benigna, Her daughter, also a Christian,who was staying with us, said: 'There's always Redemption.' My Jewish friend Natania arrived, weeping uncontrollably and I held her in my arms.She seemed to be weeping for the world.

A few days after, on the Sunday, I went to Mass at the big Catholic Church with my goddaughter, who was from the US. Fr Tony Rogers said in his sermon that the next day, after 9/11, at Ground Zero there was something going on. The onlookers couldn't see clearly so they went a bit nearer. And then they saw-a group of people dancing for the JOY of living.

On this special day, i wish you JOY too
Shalom from Gila

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