“‘Jesus, where are you?’ I prayed every night as I wept . . . I felt I had failed as a priest, for I had preached love and the people made genocide. . . .Then I heard God speak to me. Jesus wanted me to use these experiences to evangelize later. It was then that I knew my life would be spared. God would make a way.” During the 25th anniversary of the Rwandan genocide, Fr. Ubald Rugirangoga tells the dramatic story of how he survived while losing more than eighty of his family members and 45,000 of his parishioners in the killings. In the aftermath, Fr. Ubald experienced a renewed sense of purpose as a minister of reconciliation and a healing evangelist in his homeland and around the world. In Forgiveness Makes You Free, he offers five spiritual principles that can help those traumatized by the past to experience healing and peace in Christ. In 1994 the world looked on in disbelief and horror as Rwanda erupted in violent bloodshed. All across the landlocked African country, militant Hutus rose up to exterminate the Tutsi population, including women and young children. One hundred days later, a million bodies littered fields, streets, and even churches. Now, on the twenty-fifth anniversary of the Rwandan genocide, a powerful testimony emerges of the power of God to bring peace and reconciliation into hearts full of fear and hate. In Forgiveness Makes You Free, Fr. Ubald Rugirangoga shares his own dramatic story of how he survived the genocide and its traumatic aftermath. He testifies about how God spared his life so that he might help others with deep physical, emotional, and spiritual wounds to experience peace and healing. In retelling the story of how he forgave the man who killed his family and cared for the man’s children while he was in prison, Fr. Ubald demonstrates how showing mercy can facilitate true forgiveness even in the most painful circumstances of our lives. Throughout the book, Fr. Ubald teaches about five spiritual keys that draw us to Christ, the only source of lasting peace: be thankful and have faith choose to forgive denounce evil decide to live for Jesus claim the blessing Each chapter combines Fr. Ubald’s story with reflection questions that guide readers along their own path of healing: from fear to faith, from shame to freedom, from isolation to reconciliation, from resentment to mercy, and from conflict to peace. The final chapter offers a guided meditation to help those who need to experience the power of God to release those held in bondage by fear and hate and to find the secret of peace. An appendix contains information about “The Mushaka Reconciliation Project,” a catechetical tool that has been used successfully by parishes in Rwanda, and could easily be adapted by parishes in the United States, to mediate reconciliation between individuals and groups who have become estranged by violence, trauma, and ethnic or cultural divisions.
Throughout the Church's history, holy men and women have found that one of the best and most reliable ways to get close to Jesus is through the Eucharist. By reading and sharing their stories in our families, we can imitate Jesus in a very important way, extending his mercy again and again, that the Kingdom of God might shine a little more brightly in the world. Stories of the Eucharist invites families to celebrate the transforming power of the Eucharist in our lives by exploring eucharistic miracles and saints who had deep devotion to the Real Presence of Jesus. This book celebrates in word and illustration forty people and events that reveal how Christ has bestowed graces and even miracles on his people through the Eucharist. As you read these stories from the span of Christian tradition with your family, you will experience in a new way the power of the Eucharist and teach your children to open their hearts to the greatest mystery of our Faith.
When she converted to the Catholic tradition in 1994, Saxton says she initially found it difficult to "get close to Mary." This difficulty resolved itself over time . but she never completely understood her own initial reluctance until she became a foster parent in 2002, and experienced the children's initial resistance to her parenting efforts. Behold Your Mother contains three short stories from the author's life that illustrate Mary's "spiritual motherhood"; then a series of forty-eight short reflections, based on Scripture, on the life of Jesus' mother. This is a second, expanded edition of Saxton's book With Mary in Prayer (Loyola Press).
Throughout the Church's history, holy men and women have found that one of the best and most reliable ways to get close to Jesus is through the Eucharist. By reading and sharing their stories in our families, we can imitate Jesus in a very important way, extending his mercy again and again, that the Kingdom of God might shine a little more brightly in the world. Stories of the Eucharist invites families to celebrate the transforming power of the Eucharist in our lives by exploring eucharistic miracles and saints who had deep devotion to the Real Presence of Jesus. This book celebrates in word and illustration forty people and events that reveal how Christ has bestowed graces and even miracles on his people through the Eucharist. As you read these stories from the span of Christian tradition with your family, you will experience in a new way the power of the Eucharist and teach your children to open their hearts to the greatest mystery of our Faith.
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