I needed her to tell me what I should have done

My sister had been fighting with a friend for months. I invited her to my house one day to try and help her make peace. Before she arrived, however, I told my granddaughter Sandra, aged eight, about the problem and asked her to help me. She gladly said yes. I went straight to the point with my sister, but there was nothing I could do. She did not intend to forgive. Before leaving, she approached Sandra who was playing, and asked her about school, if she had learned to write: “Yes. If you give me a page, I’ll show you.” She casually wrote something. When my sister read it, she immediately became pensive, and her eyes filled with tears. Sandra had written this sentence: “To live the art of loving, you have to love everyone, be the first to love, love your enemies…” My sister said, “I needed her to tell me what I should have done a long time ago!” And immediately, she went to make up with her friend.

(N.G., Cameroon)

Taking the step to forgive

When I was nineteen, my father abandoned us, and the pain and resentment that came out of this accompanied me for years. As if to make up for that emptiness, when I got married, N. and I always tried to keep our family together. Our children absorbed this atmosphere of love to the point that, when my husband was anxious, lost his patience and raised his voice, it was touching to see how the children, not at all frightened, embraced him, to appease his agitation. Their tenderness towards their father helped dissolve the anger I felt towards my own father, and the wound I still had because of the suffering of that abandonment began to heal. Then one day, I strongly felt a push to forgive my father. I did it deep in my heart, but that wasn’t enough. So I talked to N. about it, and together, we went to look for him. We found him and, though I was shaking, I was able to make peace with him, also on behalf of the others in my family. I will never forget the serenity and freedom I experienced on that occasion.

(N.M.A. – Philippines)

Meekness wins over the neighbor

I live in a neighborhood of houses separated from each other only by a wall on which we usually hang our clothes to dry. One day, realizing that my neighbor’s laundry was already dry, I asked her son to remove it because I had clothes to dry too. They took offense and started cursing. There were two plants on that wall that I had grown with great care. In the evening, I heard a thud. When I went to see what was happening, I realized that my neighbors were dropping the vases. Deep inside, I felt myself seething with indignation, but Jesus’ words about the meek inheriting the earth came to me, so I said to myself: “It doesn’t matter.” When my mother-in-law saw that I was not reacting, she said to me: “Give me the cane, I’m going to teach them a lesson.” I had to persuade her to be patient, too. The situation remained tense for some time. Then one day, to our surprise, the neighbor knocked on our door. There was no water in her house, and she asked if she could do her laundry in our house. It was an opportunity to reconnect, and, in welcoming it, I realized how much she had changed.

(R., Pakistan)

Compiled by Maria Grazia Berretta

(taken from “Il Vangelo del Giorno,” Città Nuova, year VIII, n. 2, May-June 2022)