Tuesday June 20, 2017
What good does it do to love your enemy? Wouldn’t that be against natural justice? Wouldn’t it be dangerous and serve only to make the enemy stronger and us, weaker? The case of Sr. Rani Maria and her family could help us understand how loving one’s enemy can work miracles: Rani Maria was a Franciscan Clarist Sister, who was serving the poor and the oppressed in Udainagar in India. Her service angered the rich and the powerful who had her butchered to death in 1995. Sr. Rani Maria’s family members visited the assassin in the prison, offered their forgiveness, adopted him as a member of their own family, and appealed to the government for commuting the sentence. The assassin repented, received baptism, and upon his release, visited the tomb of Sr. Maria and wept. He fell at the feet of her parents and begged for their forgiveness, and they embraced him as their own. Today he testifies to the power of the Gospel to heal violence, reconcile enemies, and sprout love in human hearts.
How would you have responded if you had been in the shoes of the family of Sr. Rani?
