They know not what they do

Immaculee Ilibagiza was the featured speaker at a lecture series I attended today. She survived the genocide in Rwanda by hiding in a bathroom with 7 other women for three months. The main message she now tries to share with audiences internationally is the power of prayer, which is the power of God, and the possibility of forgiveness, which is also the powerful love of God. She prayed the Rosary multiple times daily while in confinement and learned to ask God to forgive the Hutus that decimated her family, just as Christ forgave on the Cross, even while they massacred villagers right outside her window.

She published a book titled "Our Lady of Kibeho" about the child visionaries who received apparitions of Mary in the early 1980's in Rwanda.

The Rosary remains our most powerful weapon in the face of evil. Her parting wisdom today was this: "Given the choice between being right and being kind...choose kindness!" The Rosary can teach us the peace, patience, and purity of the Blessed Virgin Mother, all the virtues necessary to ensure that our hearts unfold before God and only love is written there. It was clear as we listened to Immaculee that- even before the genocide- she is a woman whose heart is written with love, who speaks the Love of God in her own solitude. May we all strive to imitate such wisdom and grace and beauty~