On Forgiveness

This week the National Catholic Reporter covered an interfaith gathering in Africa, and they quoted my friend Dr. Célestin Musekura, who lost family members in the Rwandan genocide:

“To begin to explain forgiveness we must make people understand that what was done to them was evil. Otherwise, we will be misunderstanding what forgiveness is. You begin by judging what was done to you as evil, as inhuman, you allow people to be angry." He said that’s the reason ALARM does counseling for trauma--people express how they feel. “Those who are counseling from a Christian perspective,” he said, must understand that “forgiveness is not just a microwave solution.”