"I bear them no ill will ..."

An interview with Ireland's Senator Gordon Wilson by contributing editor Hazel Joynes

It has been said, "Forgiveness is the perfume a flower sends back to the heel that has crushed it." It seems everyone is challenged in some way to learn to forgive his brother man without conditions. True forgiveness is a kind of spiritual leaven at work in the hearts of men, helping to bring peace and harmony to the world. The following is an interview with one man who inspired millions with his sense of total forgiveness in the face of adversity.

Seven years ago in Northern Ireland a bomb was planted by terrorists in the border town of Enniskillen. It went off while innocent people were gathering to pay respects at a war memorial. It was a meaningless act that killed eleven people, one of whom was a twenty-year-old student nurse, Marie Wilson. That same night, the media interviewed her father, who was with her when the bomb exploded. His words to a reporter that night turned the international media away from focusing on evil, to a view that touched millions as they heard this declaration over the airwaves: "I bear no grudge. ... God is good. And we shall meet again."

Gordon Wilson's faith in God, and his obedience to his understanding of Jesus' commands in the Gospels, gave and continues to give him a basis from which to view those who were responsible for the bombing.

Send a comment to the editors

NEXT IN THIS ISSUE

Article

Preparing for seekers of Truth