A Light for the World

“A living example of faith put into action,” is how many describe Immaculee Ilibagiza -- a young woman whose life was transformed dramatically during the 1994 Rwandan genocide. Immaculee and seven other women spent 91 days huddled silently together in the cramped bathroom of a local pastor's house. She entered the bathroom as a vibrant, 115-pound university student with a loving family. When she emerged, she weighed just 65 pounds and discovered most of her family had been brutally murdered.

Overcome with grief and hatred, she began praying the rosary as a way of drowning out the negativity that was building up inside her. Now whenever she talks about her ordeal at workshops or lectures, she explains that she found solace and peace in prayer ... and began to pray from the time she opened her eyes in the morning to the time she closed her eyes at night. She even found it possible, and in fact imperative, to forgive her tormentors and her family's murderers.

Today Immaculée is regarded as one of world's leading speakers on peace, faith, and forgiveness. Indeed, “we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.” (Romans 8:28)

For more information on Immaculee’s amazing story, go to www.immaculee.com.