Ubi Caritas Et Amor -Maurice Durafle

Ubi Caritas et Amor Deus Ibi Est int he setting by Mauriece Durafle is a very moving piece . The lyrics translate as Where charity and love are, God is there. This seems to me such an affirmation of what the divine is in our lives in complete and total opposition to the definition of God that the terrorists acted on in destroying the lives of 3000 people and causing enormous loss and pain. On the evening after September 11th our Church community, St. Boniface -the Brooklyn Oratory, located in downtown Brooklyn, had a service of memorial, support and solidarity. The choir sang 'Ubi Caritas et Amor" and it moved me (and many others) both as consolation but importantly as to have courage to be witnesses to the truth of God's love and to oppose hate, evil destruction and revenge. All through the weeks to come when debris from the WTC fell in our Church courtyard, in our windows and yards in Brooklyn, and the sorrow and anger we experienced from personal losses , Ubi Caritas with Maurice Durafle's music, was present in my heart.

Michele Cahill