Archbishop Ronald Hicks of New York and Bishop Michael Burbidge of Arlington, Virginia, each offered messages of hope, love, healing and peace for the anniversary of the September 11 attacks, which occurred in their dioceses 25 years ago.

On Thursday, in a memorial Mass celebrated at St Patrick’s Cathedral, Archbishop Hicks recounted being a priest in Chicago during September 11, 2001, and feeling “numb” when he heard the news about the attacks.

“I cannot even begin to comprehend what it was like for those of you who lived those terrible days in real time,” he said. Like many others, he wondered if it was going to be possible to move on and feel whole again.

“Healing takes time,” said Archbishop Hicks. “And healing does not happen in a day. It takes time to grieve. It takes time to say goodbye. It takes time to rebuild. It takes time to pray. It takes time to remember. And for twenty-five years, that is exactly what we have been doing.”

Archbishop Hicks also recounted a sense of unity that emerged after the September 11 attacks, one that still prevails today. He noted that people from all backgrounds and faith traditions were in attendance at the Mass. New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani, former President Joe Biden and New York Gov Kathy Hochul were among those in attendance.

In the back of the cathedral, there is a mural depicting “immigrants, saints, civic leaders, and first responders”, said Archbishop Hicks. The segment that draws the most people, he said, “is the one showing the first responders”.

“People stop there. They pray there. They take pictures there,” he said. “Because it represents the very best of who we are – men and women who put others before themselves. People willing to sacrifice everything because it was the right thing to do.”

The example of the city’s first responders, he said, “continues to inspire us” and “continues to give us hope”.

Faith, said Archbishop Hicks, “does not allow us to stop at remembrance. Because one of the lessons we have learned over the last twenty-five years is that healing is not passive.”

Healing, peace, justice and unity, he said, do “not just happen. We have to work for it, day after day, conversation after conversation, relationship after relationship, agreement after agreement”.

“And we have to strive for it – together.”

On Friday, Bishop Burbidge offered a similar message in a memorial Mass at the Cathedral of St Thomas More. The cathedral is a short distance from the Pentagon, where 184 people, including the passengers on United Flight 175, were killed on September 11.

Today, 25 years after the attacks, humanity has been united in hope, united in faith and united in love, said Bishop Burbidge.

“A love that unites us as God’s holy family, as brothers and sisters in Christ. And on this day, Jesus reminds us, ‘Blessed are the peacekeepers.’”

He continued: “In a world still seeing violence, in a nation still divided, dear friends, we must embrace that call: be peacemakers.”

Speaking to the Catholic Herald following the Mass, Bishop Burbidge recounted how, on September 11, 2001, he was the rector at St Charles Borromeo Seminary in Philadelphia, and many of the seminarians there were from the Diocese of Arlington.

“It was a day, for all of us, of such horror and sorrow, but a panic because some of my seminarians didn’t know if their parents were okay,” he said.

Bishop Burbidge came to the Diocese of Arlington in 2016, knowing that the diocese is “very unique” when it comes to the population who lives there.

There are “a great number of families who serve in the military and serve our government, so I knew that the role would call for attention to those who offer selflessly their service to protect our nation,” he said.

He continued: “It’s a great privilege and honour to know that many here in our diocese have been greatly impacted by 9/11, and lifting them all up in prayer at the Mass today.”

With the 25th anniversary of the attacks, “it’s important for us to remember, to remember what happened that day, to acknowledge that evil is still a force in our world, that can only be conquered by the love of God, and by people who are united to him and following his ways,” Bishop Burbidge told the Catholic Herald.

“We can’t forget that. We can’t forget those who lost their lives that day. We can’t forget those who showed such heroic goodness and sacrifice that day and in the weeks and months and years following, to rebuild a nation that was severely wounded. And these are lessons that can be, must be, applied in every day and age.”

Healing, said Bishop Burbidge, “is a lifelong process, but God has helped us to heal our wounds”.

“He has brought us forward, and he calls us at this very moment to be instruments of his peace and to be instruments of that precious gift. Wherever he sends us each day, we all must be striving as Jesus tells us in the Gospel to be peacemakers.”

(Photos courtesy of the Archdiocese of New York and Diocese of Arlington)