Searching for God at Ground Zero

In response to the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center, James Martin dropped everything to minister to those in need at Ground Zero. In this extraordinary journal, Jim recounts the days working with the firefighters, police officers, and rescue workers laboring in the ruins. Expecting to find only discouragement and despair, Father Martin instead encounters charity, hope, and above all, grace. Searching for God at Ground Zero leads readers into a world not only traumatized by the attacks of September 11, 2001, but also galvanized by an overwhelming love and solidarity. Father Martin introduces us to individuals of enormous courage and generosity - the firefighter working in the shadow of the grave of his "buddies," the police officer struggling to make sense of suffering, the sanitation worker asking questions about God and faith. In the process he speaks candidly about his own joys, fears, and struggles as he both ministers in the name of God and searches for God's presence alongside his brother Jesuits. This book is a profound meditation on faith in the presence of death, charity in the face of suffering, and God in the midst of humanity.

This isn't just one more book about the September 11 tragedy. Here are stories of one human being descending into the hell of Ground Zero to offer his help - but with this difference: Jim Martin is like God's bloodhound, sniffing out grace, redemption, and consolation wherever he can find it. Up against such impenetrable darkness we long for a glimmer of light - and Jim's tiny lantern of faith gives us glints of that light., A vivid and inspiring account of how God's loving presence could be experienced amid the smoldering ruins of the Twin Towers. Father Martin's unusual combination of gifts as priest and journalist enables him to convey, in simple lapidary prose, both the grief of those who suffered and the selfless devotion of the rescue workers.

James Martin, S.J. is associate editor of America, the national Catholic magazine. Fr. Martin is author of In Good Company: The Fast Track from the Corporate World to Poverty, Chastity, and Obedience (Sheed & Ward).