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Tearing down the walls of hatred

Fr. Mario Pulcini, sx
1119
05 April 2016

Those who have been close witnesses of the events that took place on September 7th and 8th of the year 2014, have a deep wound that is difficult to heal.

From the first dramatic moments after the execution of our Sisters we have all shared the sensation that the evil had taken possession of the spirits of those who projected and perpetrated this terrible crime.

They took the life of Sr. Olga, Sr. Lucia, and Sr. Bernardetta; all whom were massacred in their home.

All who were witnesses were scared of everything that happened and continued to suffer in silence. We all grieved over the lack of reasons that lead to this tragic event; we had difficulties accepting that human beings could imagine and make an infamous project in the home of the Sisters.

The house of our Xaverian Sisters was a place of welcoming, listening, and sharing. Sr. Olga, Sr. Lucia, and Sr. Bernardetta were accustomed to opening the door to the people that needed and wanted to be listened to with respect to their difficulties, offering them sympathy and understanding. Their home was loved by the poor, those people in need, and those who were discouraged; through the Xaverian Sisters these people always found a piece of bread and comforting words.

It was the place of encounter for those unloved or simply a space for a brief stop, before or after a hard day of work. Their Chapel welcomed young people that prayed with the Sisters and shared with them the desire of following their example and missionary vocation. In short, it was the house of peace.

From the day their lives were violently taken away, a group of people have continued to go to their Chapel daily to recollect themselves in prayer and with a desire to maintain the Sisters’ memory alive, and the presence of the God of Peace; that was at risk of losing a place in that space.

A month after their Death, immediately after the Eucharist in their memory, without doubts and with few words we prayed: “Lord, we pray to you, help us transform this place where a lot of innocent blood was shed, in a holy place in which it will be possible worship the God of Peace and Mercy”. This way, we started to imagine the transformation of their rooms in a space in which everyone could find peace in their own heart, in prayer and contemplation. We imagined being able to build a kind of “live monument” that, on one hand, could help remember sufferings, wounds, and the disconcertion of the tragic facts.

Also on the other hand, could give comfort in faith to these sufferings. In this path we were not lead by hatred or by the desire of vengeance. Building this Chapel, we tore down a lot of walls that were part of their rooms, without touching their Chapel and keeping the sign of their rooms. We also teared down walls in our hearts; we had to tear down the walls of hatred, vengeance, ethnic or political division. We teared down these walls in order to speak clearly to anyone who is thirsty of love, peace, and forgiveness; so they may be able enter in this holy place where it is possible to receive and give forgiveness.

In our minds, also there were those who planned and perpetrated this massacre. There is place for them in the heart of God, who is immensely merciful. This doesn’t exonerate us from asking firmly to know the truth of this event. The truth will be the best medicine to assure the eternal rest of our Sisters and the healing balsam for us, who should continue our Mission following the footprints of their courageous testimony of life.

On January 23rd, 2016, our Bishop of Bujumbura, Most Rev. Evariste Ngoyagoye blessed the “Chapel of Peace and Mercy” in the presence of the Secretary of the Nunciature, a hundred of religious women and men of everywhere of Burundi, a decade of local priests, of the Xaverian Sisters and Xaverian Fathers close to Congo and with a Parish Church packed of parishioners.

The Chapel will be a place where everyone can pray in silence and in adoration to the Blessed Sacrament in order to remember all those who have given their lives for peace in the countries of the great African lakes. At the entrance, we put the pictures of some of them; along with our Sisters, there are also pictures of Msgr. Countney, Msgr. Ruhuna, Fr. Ottorino, Fr. Aldo and Katina, killed in Buyengero, our Xaverian fathers killed in Baraka, Msgr. Munsihirwa, killed in Bukavu, and the seminarians of Buta and others more.

We didn’t want a shrine, rather a place of prayer and silence, a place of refreshment for the soul, and overall a place for the religious women and men. A good number of them want to promote some moments of recollection and reflection to ask for peace and pray for the forgiveness of all of those whom have believed or believe that peace could be achieved only through the use of weapons, violence and the suppression of the others who are different.

Even our people will find a spot in this holy place; the poor, the weak, the wounded in the spirit, and for those who use weapons of violence. Also our Catechumens will enter, those that are preparing to receive Baptism and the Sacraments of Christian Initiation.

The example of those that have given their lives for the Kingdom of Peace must be for them – and for each one of us- a living spring of faith, peace, and forgiveness.