A revenge of LOVE

The story of one young Brazilian girl who was able to forgive in a drastic family situation. And the fruits are not lacking…

I was just a girl, stunned by sorrowful experiences within the family and by the lack of real and stable affections, when I met some persons who possessed a joy which I had thought impossible to experience in life.

They shared this gift with me and through them I discovered God and His love towards me.

For me, it was like perceiving a light during the night that guided me safely along the way of love, which was exactly what I was looking for.

The youngest of four siblings, I’ve always had a difficult relationship with my parents which was marked by many clashes, quarrels and discussions that ended up in violence. Besides our family, my father also had had children with another woman. For this reason and for the aggressive behavior he exhibited towards my mother, we brothers and sisters rejected him as our father and instead of loving him, we hated him even more.

Then little by little, my brothers and sisters all left home, to study or to get married. I was the only one left with my parents. One day my father beat up my mother so badly that I had to bring her to hospital. After that, she went to live with my sister, and I was the only one left at home with my father.

The Gospel gave me support; yet, within me, I thought I could never forgive my father.

One day, during this difficult period when I was compelled to live with my father, he chased after me in order to beat me up, but I managed to escape just in time. I re-entered our home through one of the windows after he had gone out. It was in those moments of fear and sorrow that I decided to live the words of Jesus radically. The time had come to take revenge on my father, however, I decided on a revenge of love!

I put everything in order at home and cleaned the house. Then I prepared lunch for him and left for work. When

I returned home in the evening, my father was waiting for me. Although I was trembling, I had decided to love him no matter what. He then asked me to call for my mother and my sister because he wanted to speak with them too. I had a hard time overcoming their resistance and persuading them to come over, but at last, I succeeded.

My father was shaken: he asked us for our forgiveness for everything he had done and he promised never to go back to that other family. He also asked our permission to be able to support his children through a monthly quota, for they were born outside wedlock and were not guilty for the mistakes he had committed. Though our financial situation was not so good we immediately agreed, and ever since then, the situation at home has really changed: peace has returned to our family.

R.B. (Brasil)