Forgiveness...
In Galway...
Fr Paul Murphy, an Irish Army chaplain, was brutally attacked by a knife-wielding teenager at Renmore Barracks in Galway on the 15th of August 2024. He suffered multiple stab wounds. In court this week, Fr Murphy, in his victim impact statement, forgave the boy.
Alison O’Riordan
The excerpts below are from the Irish Times report on the sentencing hearing this week:
Delivering an emotional victim impact statement on Thursday, Father Paul Murphy told the sentencing judge: “My only desire is that the young man before you would learn to see the error of his ways and, when the time comes, return to society to make a positive contribution to the world as a wholesome, happy, and loving person”.
Fr Murphy said if it wasn’t him that night it would have been someone else and he was convinced, “without a shadow of a doubt”, that he was “the right person, in the right place, at the right time”. He told the court: “Out of all the members of our Defence Forces, I was best placed to take the knife.”
He added: “I thank God every single day that the knife tore through my skin, and not through the body of one of my comrades. I consider it an honour and a privilege to carry those scars until my dying day”.
He said “heaven wasn’t ready for me that night”.
Turning to the 17-year-old boy in the dock as he read his statement, Fr Murphy, a native of Waterford City, said that he was “in the business of forgiveness” and offered “the young man standing accused before me, the forgiveness that will hopefully help you to become a better person. I believe you are 17 now so you will hopefully have another 80 years of living on this earth”.
“My hope and prayer is that you will use whatever resources are put at your disposal, in prison or beyond, to learn a better way of living and that you will use your energy and your talents to make our world a better place for all people to live. Life is for living and for loving, and, I promise you, your life will find its ultimate joy when you live honourable and love generously,” continued the priest.
At this point, the teenage boy, who had his parents sitting near him, interrupted Fr Murphy and said aloud: “I’m sorry”. The pair were seen to embrace after today’s sentence hearing.
In the United States...
Imagine wrongly spending 36 years in prison for the murder of your wife, then forgiving the real murderer:
In General...
Whether you're religious or not, there's no doubt that this was a deeply Christian act by Fr Murphy. This prompted me to see what Jesus may have said on the subject of forgiveness.
Jesus, apparently, said quite a bit on the subject. See some 'quotes' here: https://jesus.net/articles/jesus-about-forgiveness. I use the word "apparently" because, while I believe Jesus lived and died among us, I can't be certain he used these words. Nevertheless, it seems like something he'd have said and there's wisdom in the words.
I then wondered what others might have to say on forgiveness. A lot. Here are some I like.
Here's one that provided me much comfort.
I'll finish with a quote from one of my favourite writers, the Lebanese mystic and poet, Kahlil Gibran.
I'll leave the last word to Mr Gibran, quoting him with my tongue firmly in cheek.
Forgive me...
