Edith Cavell was a nurse in Belgium during World War I and she helped Allied soldiers escape from behind enemy lines. The Germans captured her, and in a court-martial sentenced her to death. As she was led to a firing squad, she said, ” I realize patriotism is not enough; I must have no hatred or bitterness towards anyone.”
A Catholic Bishop tells his story. He was tortured and barely survived Dachau. Many years later he spied the meanest and worst guard at the prison camp. He went up to the former guard and said, ” I was an inmate at Dachau, and I remember you.” The former guard was clearly upset and frightned, but the priest said, ” I want you to know I forgive you.”
The Bishop says now at the moment he uttered those words he was free of all the horrors of Dachau. He goes on to explain that each and everyone of us has a personal Dachau. It may not be as horrible as the prison camp, but eats at us just the same. If we can forgive it leaves us, forever.
This Lent find that personal Dachau and forgive. It may be a friend, a former spouse, a betrayal, or whatever. We all have one. But the Edith Cavell and the Catholic priest have given us a path to allow us to leave it behind.
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