No Greater Love

In this Sunday’s Gospel readings, there was one of the more well-known verses: “No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends (John 15:13).” (It was a special Mass, not the regular lectionary readings.)

I found myself thinking of that verse again and again today while I watched a documentary on 9/11. I had heard about the documentarians who were following some NYFD firefighters on the day, but for some reason, I had never looked up the documentary itself. The French filmmakers Jules and Gedeon Naudet were wanting to make a film on a rookie firefighter during his first year. Three months in, they follow the firefighters as the worse day of their lives unfolds, capturing footage no one else can.

There are lots of profound moments and amazing people in their footage. One in particular is Father Mychal Judge. Father Judge was a Franciscan friar and chaplain for the NYFD. The son of Irish immigrants, Father Judge was well known in the city for ministering to the homeless, hungry, addicted, grieving, and sick, including people with AIDS.

On 9/11, Father Judge rushed to the World Trade Center after the first plane hit. The firefighters were setting up their command post in the lobby of Tower 1. It is here the documentarian first sees him. Father Judge is praying the rosary, a far-off look in his eyes. A fireman comments how Father Judge usually made eye contact with everyone, gave them a look of encouragement. There is a growing anxiety among the men in the lobby as WTC workers pile out of the stairwells and firefighters make their way up. It’s estimated that it’ll take the rescuers over an hour to reach the floors on fire and begin to help anyone trapped or injured up there. Looking back, it’s such a futile job. You want to tell them to leave. But they can’t know. They are determined to help—they know they are the only ones who can.

And then there’s an explosion. The camera is covered in dust. They don’t realize it, but the other tower has collapsed. The lobby team is thrust in dust, debris, darkness and no information. The light on the top of the camera is the only light they have, so they use the camera to help them climb up the escalator and see if they can get out through the walkway to another building. It is in this chaos that Father Judge is found dead.

His body is carried out of the building and taken to the close-by St. Peter’s Catholic Church, where he was placed on the altar. He was later taken by ambulance and fire department colleagues to Engine 1/Ladder 24, the fire station opposite the Franciscan Friary. Father Judge was designated Victim 00001, the first certified fatality of the attacks.

Father Judge, and everyone in the documentary, see a catastrophic event and rush toward it in order to help. Their desire to help others overrides their own instincts of self-preservation. Every person is their friend, someone for whom they will lay down their life. It is tragic and hard to watch. But it’s love.