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Our heart can be empty because we cannot see them,
Or we can be full of the love we shared together.
We can remember them and only that they have gone,
Or we can cherish their memory and let it live on.
We can cry and close our mind, be empty and turn our back,
Or we can do what they would want, open our eyes, love and go on
The Bishop of London, the Rt Rev Richard Chartres, September 11 2002

Six hundred members of families who lost loved ones in last year's terrorist attacks gathered in St Paul's Cathedral today for a quiet service of remembrance. There was no sound from the congregation, which stood and sat peacefully throughout the hour-long service. It was only during the two-minute silence - at 1.46pm to coincide with the time of impact on the North tower - that a young child burbled, reminding the mourners that life must go on.

"We can try and close our mind, be empty and turn our back", said the Bishop of London, the Rt Rev Richard Chartres in his address, "Or we can do what they would want, open our eyes, love and go on."

That feeling of hope was present throughout the service of psalms, hymns and softly sung music from the Cathedral Choir. Tessa Jowell, Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport and Minister with responsibility for the UK families of the victims of September 11 read from Revelation:

"Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more "Then he said to me, "It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give water as a gift from the spring of the water of life. Those who conquer will inherit these things, and I will be their God and they will be my children."

As the wounds from that terrible September day begin slowly to heal, the Bishop of London spoke strongly against those who dare to claim that "all will be well and inevitably turn out for the best" Such "easy optimism does not belong to genuine faith" he said. Genuine faith was aware that "9/11 brought us face to face with the reality of evil" and caused the world to think again.

"There is hope in the power of self sacrificing love," he continued. "It is no accident that one of the memories which resonates is that of the fire-fighters entering the building that so many were fleeing, to save life at the risk of their own. We honour their courage and also the courage of those whose herosim is known only to God on the day itself and in the weeks and months that followed."

Through the silent grief, which watched as more than three thousand petals were dropped from the whispering gallery to symbolise the lives lost, a gentle peace ensued. Though outside in the City working life carried on much as usual, everyone who had stopped for that two-minute silence knew that something had changed. The Cathedral, towering to heaven as it has since 904 AD, held the prayers and hopes of those who knew faith is necessary if we are to carry on. Through the pageantry and processions, robes and rose petals, that simple truth remained.

Claire Shelley is news editor at the Church of England Newspaper and managing editor of CounterCulture.

email: claireshelley76@hotmail.com