Experience Making a Difference

Experience Making a Difference

EMMANUEL

by | Feb 5, 2013

He tells us

Rwanda is scarred

Perpetrators, victims

Living side by side.

Reconciliation spoken

Unheard in broken hearts.

 

He tells us

A victim living in pain among perpetrators

Might forgive but not forget.

A perpetrator living in shame among victims

Might confess but not feel safe.

 

He tells us

Existence means capacity to endure,

To believe the unbelievable

Forgive the unforgiveable.

We have no choice.

 

He tells us

He creates prayer groups,

Spaces for the heart to open,

To cry, to tremble,

Places to begin healing.

 

He does not tell us

His heart feels too much pain.

Wrenched with tears he cannot shed

He cannot find the words to speak

The unspeakable shame of his church.

 

Who then forgives?

Who then confesses?

 

John Mac Phee is a first-year Ignatian Volunteer in New England and is a Community Service Coordinator at Emmanuel College in Boston. John helps the Community Service Learning Program provide opportunities for students to grow in their religious and civic commitments to service. John spent three months at Catholic University in Rwanda teaching Conversational English and continues to advocate and support the educational future  of Rwandan children.