January 24, 2010 3 Sun Year C

The most amazing prayer we have is the Lord’s Prayer, It was composed by Jesus himself. I want to share the stories of 2 people in which the Lord’s Prayer changed their lives.

In 1998 my cousin Shannon Schieber was murdered. It happened on a Thursday at 2 am. Neighbors heard her screams and cries for help. Police arrived within 7 minutes and knocked on Shannon’s door. There was no answer and the police told neighbors to go back to bed. Her parents Sylvester and Vicki Schieber believe the killer was still inside.

Just a few days later, Sylvester and Vicki were at Saturday evening Mass. When it came time to say the Lord’s Prayer, Sylvester said, “It hit me for the first time in my life: Do I really believe the words of this prayer I’ve said all my life. He said the words wouldn’t come: forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. But in that moment, he knew God was asking him to forgive his daughter’s killer.

My cousins Sylvester and Vicki Schieber now travel the country talking about forgiveness and why they oppose the death penalty. They work with families who have lost a loved one to murder. Sylvester told me he has learned the only path to peace in life is to forgive. He said there is a reason anger is a deadly sin. He has worked with parents he cannot let go of their anger, who want vengeance, who passionately seek the death penalty for the killer who took their child’s life. What he has witnessed over and over is how anger consumes a person. It takes a physical toll. It causes high blood pressure, heart attacks. It breaks up marriages.

Immaculee Ilibigiza had a similar experience. She wrote her autobiography called, “Left to Tell.” It is one of my all-time favorite books. Immaculee survived the genocide in Rwanda, Africa in 1994 and was “left to tell,” her story. The genocide consisted of the Hutu tribe in Rwanda trying to eliminate those in the Tutsi tribe. Estimates are the 500,000 to a million Tutsi’s were killed in the genocide.

Immaculee was a Tutsi. She survived the genocide by hiding for 91 days in a bathroom with 6 other women in the home of a Protestant pastor. These 7 women were in cramped quarters. There was barely room to move. They couldn’t talk for fear of being heard and discovered. Their food was meager, whatever the pastor could sneak to them once a day. When Immaculee entered the bathroom she weighed 115 pounds, when she emerged after 91 days she weighed only 65 pounds.

The women lived in the constant fear of being discovered. Several times the killers searched the house, but God told Immaculee to have the pastor push his wardrobe in front of the bathroom door and despite searching the house several times, the killers never found the bathroom. In the midst of this chaos, something amazing happened to Immaculee – she became a woman of deep prayer. She prayed her rosary. She found deep inner peace conversing with Jesus. She recounted bible verses. There was one prayer, however, that Immaculee struggled to say: The Lord’s Prayer. Immaculee could hear radio reports of the massive killings. She could hear the killer’s right outside the house. She said and I quote, “I said the Lord's Prayer hundreds of times, hoping to forgive the killers who were murdering all around me. It was no use. Every time I got to the part asking God to "forgive those who trespass against us," my mouth went dry. I couldn't say the words . . . . My inability to forgive caused me even greater pain than the anguish I felt in being separated from my family and it was worse than the physical torment of being constantly hunted.”

Immaculée dealt with strong emotions: she literally hated the killers. How could she forgive them? She only wanted to pray for the victims. But the words of the Our Father kept challenging her: forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. When she asked God to help her, she heard the voice of Jesus on the cross: “Forgive them; they know not what they do.”

She was finally able to pray the Lord’s Prayer and mean it. That night for the first time since she entered the bathroom, she slept in peace.

We are most like God when we forgive. During this Year of Mercy, we are celebrating that we have a Father who wants to forgive us. All the readings today are about God’s mercy. In the first reading we heard that God would spare an entire city for just a few righteous people. Our 2nd reading reminds us that out of mercy Jesus died for our sins. There is nothing God like to do more than forgive us all we have to do is ask for forgiveness and confess our sins. God forgives us not because we’re so good, but because God is so good!

There is a condition though to us receiving forgiveness. We have to forgive others. That’s what we say every time we pray the Our Father: Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive others. During this Year of Mercy, we all need to ask: who do I need to forgive? Is there a hurt that I need to let go of? So often we brood in our minds over hurtful things said or done. When we do this, the emotions attached to that experience well up within us and we feel anger and bitterness and our heart’s begin to harden. When we find ourselves indulging in these thoughts we have to have a prayer at hand: Lord have mercy. Jesus help me. Don’t give power to your enemies by constantly thinking about them.

Now, forgiveness doesn’t always mean reconciliation will come about. Reconciliation takes two people, but forgiveness only takes one. Even if someone is not open to reconciling, you can still forgive.

One of the Apostles of the Interior Life told me, “You know you have forgiven someone?” “When you can honestly say, ‘I will their good.’” Forgiveness is a decision not a feeling. It doesn’t mean we are able to just forget everything. My cousin Sylvester hasn’t forgotten his daughter Shannon. Immaculee hasn’t forgotten her family. It doesn’t mean we don’t grieve. Forgiveness is not about denying the truth of what happened or condoning an offense.

Like Immaculee ask God to help you forgive. Pray for your enemies. Give them the benefit of the doubt. I know I so often rashing judge the motives of others presuming they acted out of mal intent.

Remember in all our experiences God is helping us to become more like Jesus. So when you are abandoned, falsely accused, misunderstood, mocked, give thanks that you have been given a share in Christ’s passion. And strive to follow the example Jesus who from the cross said, “Father, forgive them they know not what they do.”

Forgiveness is that path to peace. The Lord’s Prayer changed the hearts of Sylvester and Immaculee, as we pray the Our Father today say it with meaning and let’s ask God to change our hearts.