Priest Tells Ground Zero Story At 9/11 Notre Dame Mass

Under a clear blue sky and moderate temperatures, just like that fateful September 11, students and staff at Notre Dame College Prep honored first responders at a Mass at the campus' outdoor grotto chapel.

Firefighters and police from departments in the area, including Chicago, Niles and North Maine, attended the Mass at the Catholic boys' school in Niles, and received a blessing from the concelebrating priests and students.

A guest, Fr. Andrew Wawrzyn, told a story of his experience at Ground Zero just days after the tragedy in September 2001. 

Wawrzyn, assistant chaplain at the John Paul II Newman Center at the University of Illinois at Chicago campus, grew up in Glenview and attended Loyola Academy in Wilmette.  

"The gospel we read is love one another. As Jesus defines it, there is no greater love than to lay down your life for your friend," Wawrzyn said.

"Jesus asks us to sacrifice ourselves to serve others. First responders embody that very grace as they do their jobs. As they start each day, they don't know how they'll be called upon to be of service. 

He continued with his story of Sept. 11, 2001, saying he was studying for the priesthood at the time, and on the Sunday after 9/11 in New York, a priest suggested they go down to Ground Zero and distribute communion.

Near Ground Zero, they found an overturned table and set it upright to say Mass. There were construction workers, firefighters, police, emergency medical technicians and some federal employees working at the site, and some of them had set up booths to distribute donated materials, such as water bottles and work gloves. 

In order to give the place some sense of order, people would take planks of wood and spray paint words, such as "water bottles", on them, to create makeshift signs for the booths.

"The priest and I walked around the perimeter of the area to distribute communion," Wawrzyn said.  "And when we got back, somebody had taken a plank of wood and spray-painted it "Body of Christ" to mark our station.

"It was so stark because you had Jesus in the middle of all this suffering, trying to heal wounds and turn evil into good."