Marian Helper Fall 2015

24 M arian H elper • F all 2015 • marian.org One way to understand forgiveness is to see it in action. The Marian Helpers who attended the Third World Apostolic Congress on Mercy in August 2014 heard Colombians who had endured incredible acts of vio- lence testify about forgiving the perpetrators. Marcela Murillo, a native Colombian and a longtime Marian Helper, found the testimonies uniquely powerful. “One of the witnesses was named Pastora Mira Garcia,” Marcela recalled. Pastora was from a small, poor town, constantly under attack by armed groups. Her father was murdered when she was just a girl. At 18, she married and had a child. When her daugh- ter was only 2 months old, tragedy struck again: Her husband was killed. But the worst was yet to come. Years later, her 22-year-old daughter was kidnapped. During nine months of captivity, this mother never ceased to search for her daughter. She eventually learned her daughter had been killed. Pastora then sought to find her remains. In her search, she found several bodies. Horrifying though it was, this gave her a degree of peace because she was then able to help other mothers who were looking for the remains of loved ones. At last, Pastora buried her daughter, but again her faith would be tested when her son was also kidnapped by a paramilitary group. After two weeks of suffering unimaginable tortures, her son’s body was found on the side of the road. “Pastora says that, despite her pain, she had a deep faith, and it was through faith that she could go on,” Marcela continued. A few days after the burial of her son, Pastora found a man who was badly hurt lying on the side of the F orgiveness. It’s one of the hardest challenges of being Christian, and yet it’s one of the most important, as shown by Pope Francis’ emphasis on God’s merciful forgiveness in Misericordiae Vultus (The Face of Mercy) , his papal bull calling the Jubilee Year of Mercy, which begins Dec. 8. But what is forgiveness, and how do we do it? forgive against us as we those who Pastora Mira Garcia had a son and daughter killed during the years of violence in Colombia. Now she devotes her life fostering reconciliation between former fighters and their victims. BBC trespass By Chris Sparks