Angelus News | April 21, 2023 | Vol. 8 No

the sword into ourselves by being
revengeful.”
He then puts the matter positively
and urges us to think of our offenders
as benefactors. Their offense is an
opportunity for us to forgive — and
so open ourselves to greater forgiveness
from God. “For [the offender]
has given you an opportunity to wash
away your sins — so that the greater
the injuries he has done you, so
much more has he become for you a
cause of a greater remission of sins.”
Easter is our annual reminder that
we have the power to do the impossible,
because in baptism we have
already died and risen with Christ,
whose power is forgiveness risen from
the grave. “It is no longer I who live,”
said St. Paul, “but Christ who lives
in me” (Galatians 2:20). And also:
We can “do all things in him who
strengthens” us (Philippians 4:13).
We can do all things. We can even
forgive sins.
History shows us that this is true.
The saints, beginning with the first
martyr (Acts 7:60), forgave those who
wronged them.
Consider the story of Marietta
Jaeger, a Catholic woman whose
7-year-old daughter was abducted and
killed in 1973. She chose to forgive
her child’s murderer, even though
she did not know who he was.
A year after the kidnapping, the
man called the family to taunt them.
He was taken aback by the love he
encountered in Jaeger’s voice. He
stayed on the phone and talked with
her, even though he suspected the
call was being traced. Jaeger told a
reporter years later, “I believe God
loved him through me, and it penetrated
through and touched him.”
When the killer was apprehended,
she visited him in prison and persuaded
him to confess to the crime
— and to three other murders. Thus
she brought closure for other families
who, until then, had not known the
fate of their missing children.
Jaeger became an activist opposing
the death penalty. Her husband, Bill,
could not bring himself to forgive
and died relatively young from
illnesses brought on by the heartache.
Hers is an astonishing story, but it is
not uncommon. She managed to do
something that is humanly impossible
— forgive — because she called
upon the divine life that was available
to her.
Most people, perhaps, aren’t called
to forgive murderers. But what about
a co-worker? A family member? A
neighbor? A classmate? An ex?
What if on Easter every Christian
forgave one person who seems impossible
to forgive?
It’s possible, since today “forgiveness
has risen from the grave!”
Mike Aquilina is a contributing
editor for Angelus and general editor
of the “Reclaiming Catholic History”
series for Ave Maria Press.
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