4/4/2008
Former refugee visits abbey, local university
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Br. Cyril Drnjevic
An article in the Catholic Sentinel during Easter Week told the story of Immaculée Ilibagiza, from Rwanda, east Africa. On Friday evening she told her story to more than 1,200 people in Salem. Few people endure the horror of having their family wiped out, as well as their town and the destruction of their country. Forgiving such evil is something that no one can do without God’s grace. Immaculée tells a gripping story of forgiveness.
When the Hutus of Rwanda went on a killing spree against Tutsis in 1994, they slaughtered more than 800,000 people in three months. To escape the killers, Immaculée and seven other women hid during those months in the three-by-four-foot bathroom of a local Protestant pastor’s home. Several times bands of 300-400 killers swept through the house, bearing machetes, spears and an intent to kill any Tutsi they found. But an angel of God protected the women. They were spared. She was left to tell the story, a story which shines with God’s great love and mercy, in the form of the Cross.
Her story is stunning, yet very human. She struggled with evil thoughts against the Hutus, that turned to hatred. When the former Oregon Supreme Court Chief Justice, Edwin Peterson, introduced Immaculée he said, “Hate destroys the vessel within which it is stored.” Immaculée experienced that hatred. She had repeated deep and serious conversations with Jesus during her time of hiding. She reflected frequently about His words to us, especially the commandment in the Our Father “to forgive people as we want to be forgiven. After arduous struggles, she forgave the people who murdered her family and Jesus’ peace took over.”
During her talk in Salem, through one remarkable story after another, she told how God guided her and how He can guide us. At one point Jesus appeared to her and told her that her family had been killed, then he said, “Let me be your family,” which she did.
Immaculée’s story overflows with God’s love, including forgiveness and wonder. She tells her story with a remarkable innocence and humility, bringing her audience to laughter, deep reflection and all the while closer to Jesus.
At the end of the evening Jim Seymour, the executive director of Catholic Community Services in Salem, presented a hopeful vision for each person to carry home, “we don’t know how to solve our problems, but God does. Therefore pray more. Pray for the transformation of your home. Live the message of Easter.”
She ended her talk in Salem with words which brought many people to tears. After telling of the horrors she endured and of the spiritual battles she fought to deal with the holocaust in Rwanda, she noted how she is no different than any of us. We are all loved by God. She closed with these words, “If I can forgive, you can forgive.”
She told her story in a best selling book — Left to Tell: Discovering God Amidst the Rwandan Holocaust. More information about her book, and the many appearances she makes around the world to tell her story of God’s forgiveness is found on her website, http://www.Immaculée.com/.
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