What an incredible piece of work.Ana

This article is excerpted from the author's new book The Hope: A Guide To Sacred Activism, recently released by Hay House

excerpt:
An elderly black woman was brought by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission face to face with the man, Mr. Van de Broek, who had confessed to the savage torture and murder of both the woman's son and her husband a few years earlier. The old woman had been made to witness her husband's death. The last words of her husband had been "Father forgive them."

One of the members of the Commission turned to her and asked "How do you believe justice should be done to this man who has inflicted such suffering on you and so brutally destroyed your family?"

The old woman replied "I want three things. I want first to be taken to the place where my husband's body was burned so that I can gather up the dust and give his remains a decent burial." She stopped, collected herself, and then went on. "My husband and son were my only family. I want, secondly, therefore, for Mr. Van de Broek to become my son. I would like for him to come twice a month to the ghetto and spend a day with me so that I can pour out to him whatever love I have still remaining with me. And finally, I want a third thing. I would like Mr. Van de Broek to know that I offer him my forgiveness because Jesus Christ died to forgive. This was also the wish of my husband. And so, I would kindly ask someone to come to my side and lead me across the courtroom so that I can take Mr. Van de Broek in my arms, embrace him, and let him know that he is truly forgiven."

Unconditional love and forgiveness of others is not only for saints and Buddhas. If you think like that you will never explore your own capacity to love and forgive in far wider ways than you have ever imagined. The sublime courage of the African woman is more accessible to us than we think, once we have the heart-intelligence to realize its necessity, and the humility to ask the Divine to help us realize it. One of the things my life has persuaded me of is that we are all capable of both greater acts of destructiveness and of heroism than we want or dare to imagine.
continues>>> https://www.realitysandwich.com/story_sacred_activism

Andrew Harvey is an internationally acclaimed poet, novelist, translator, mystical scholar, and spiritual teacher. He is the architect of a modern day spiritual movement known as Sacred Activism. He has published over 20 books including Son of Man (Tarcher/Putnam) and The Return of the Mother (North Atlantic Books) . Harvey is the Founder/Director of the Institute of Sacred Activism in Oak Park, Illinois, where he lives. His website is www.andrewharvey.net.
https://www.realitysandwich.com/story_sacred_activism