Walking the walk

I find it very moving that in the immediate aftermath of the tragic murder in Maryland of an Episcopal priest and a church administrator, followed by the suicide of the homeless man who committed the crime, that the church offered not only forgiveness, but also a funeral.

Psychologist Fred Luskin, director of the Stanford Forgiveness Projects and author of "Forgive for Good: A Proven Prescription for Health and Healing," said it was unusual and "quite beautiful" for a wronged party to offer forgiveness so quickly. The most famous example, he said, was Indian civil rights leader Mohandas Gandhi, who appeared to make a gesture of forgiveness toward the assassin who shot him in 1948 even as Gandhi fell.

"It's a wonderful counterpoint to the more prevailing hardness in response," Luskin said. "We certainly live more in a payback culture than one of graciously offering to host a funeral for somebody who has just murdered somebody."

THe testimony has been striking.

[W]e reach out arms of love, not hands of hate. I pray for the repose of the souls of Mary-Marguerite and Brenda. I pray for the repose of the soul of Douglas. I pray for my wife and the so many others of our communities who knew Mary-Marguerite and Brenda as colleagues and friends. I pray for the safety of all who work with the marginalized, the desperate and the dangerous. And I pray for the transforming grace of God that will show a hurting world a yet more excellent way, a path to love and reconciliation that cuts across the empty cycles of retribution and hate.

A graceful, thoughtful reaction. Well done.