Justice, Forgiveness and Bearing a Little Shame

March 15, 2016 Fr. Stephen Freeman

This morning I read a headline in the newspaper: We will get justice. In the relentless
cycle of the daily news, the report was of the discovery of a young woman who had
been murdered. It seemed a completely appropriate response by the law officer in
charge of the investigation. His words doubtless echoed the sentiments of everyone
who knew the young woman. The desire for justice is primal, and among the earliest
thoughts of our childhood. But what is justice?
Essentially, justice is a desire for things to be fair or even. A young child, noticing that
something has become uneven will quickly announce that it is not fair! One persons
gain often comes at the price of anothers loss. This instinct for justice never
disappears. A crime such as murder provokes this response at the deepest level. One
person has gained something (however perverse) at the expense of anothers life. We
demand retribution (meaning literally the restoration of value). It is the instinct
behind the lex talionis (An eye for an eye and tooth for a tooth).
But such justice never seems to satisfy it is never enough. A human life has been
destroyed. However, the destruction of the killer does not restore value it does not
bring anyone back from the dead. It is, sadly, only a fulfillment of the maxim: An eye
for an eye and the whole worlds blind. Imagine the tragic case of one brother killing
another. The family has lost an irreplaceable son. Justice demands (within the law) the
loss of yet another son. There can be no justice in such a plight, only the abyss of
grief. And, of course, when this occurs between two families, after justice is acquired,
the result will be two grieving mothers. Things are now in balance, but it is a balance of
emptiness and the abyss.
Justice, the desire for fairness, is both primal, rooted deep within our psyche but also
fraught with complex ironies that cause layer upon layer of sin and darkness. One of
those layers is envy, the desire for someone else to get whats coming to them.
Because fairness is almost always illusory, the envy that it provokes can be radically
incommensurate. An angry politician recently denounced protestors and called for
their arrests saying, Ruin the rest of their lives! That is simply envy, an angry
demand for some infinite justice. It is also evil.
However, beneath the desire for justice is an even more primal emotion: shame. What
is lost in our lives is not just the object of our desire (a child, a job, a political
campaign). The loss itself is shaming we feel that we ourselves have somehow been
diminished, that our life has now been devalued and made smaller. What is at stake in
shame is who I am. We find loss that is associated with this very deepest of instincts
to be largely unbearable. In the oriental phrase, We have lost face.
This takes us to some of the core emotions surrounding forgiveness, and points to why
we find it so difficult. It also points to the only way forward: The way of shame is the
way of the Lord, in the words of the Elder Sophrony.
The heart of the Christian gospel is the story of a God who, in an act of supreme self-
emptying, humbled Himself to the point of bearing our shame. It is the ultimate loss
of face. His crucifixion was utterly unfair and unjust. He is the one truly innocent,
who willingly endures the death of the most shameful criminal. And it is this very path
of self-emptying that He offers to us as the way of salvation. The reality of this
invitation reveals the mockery that extrinsic descriptions of salvation have become in
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 contemporary Christianity. That someone professes that they have accepted Jesus
Christ as Lord and Savior, meaning that His death on the Cross has done something
for them, external to their own actions and path of life, is simply not salvation. The
shame and self-emptying of the Cross are the content of the commandment, take up
your Cross and follow me.
The daily expression of that way of self-emptying bearing of shame is displayed in
other commandments: forgive your enemies, do good to those who hate you, give
without expecting in return, rejoice in your sufferings, etc. All of these involve the loss
of face. All of these feel, on one level, like the diminishment of our lives. How could we
expect self-emptying to feel like anything else?
The path of forgiveness, of love towards those who hate us, of unrequited generosity
and thanksgiving for all things, represents a decision to step away from the protected
life of the guarded self. It accepts injustice towards the self, the loss of what is rightfully
due, and giving what is not deserved or merited. None of this would be possible to us
apart from the example of Christ and our mystical union with Him.
It seems to me that we have acquired the spiritual habit of making our salvation an
abstraction. We speak of being crucified with Christ, and of being Baptized into His
death, language that holds a prominent place in the lexicon of the New Testament.
But we tend to treat these as though they were happening in a manner somehow
distinct from our experience. Neither crucifixion nor death should have an association
with things that seem pleasant. Christ Himself constantly makes reference to very
unpleasant things: forgiving injustice towards the self, the loss of what is rightfully
due, giving what is not deserved or merited, etc. These are all things that we seem to
instinctively loathe. The shame we encounter through such acts of self-emptying is
invariably painful. But this is the gospel.
It is in this vein that the Elder Sophrony speaks from within the Tradition saying that
we must learn to bear a little shame. There is much that must be said in this regard.
First, bearing shame can only be voluntary. Involuntary shaming is always toxic and
leaves very deep wounds. The experience of such wounds (which underlies and
provides the vast source of pain associated with forgiveness) surrounds the entire
experience of forgiveness. To be told, You must forgive in such circumstances is
tantamount to saying, You must endure the shame. This can easily be nothing more
than an invitation to more toxicity. Thus, the moral use of the commandment, You
must forgive, can inadvertently be another tool in the hands of others to drive the pain
and burden of shame ever deeper.
We must understand first and foremost, that the bearing of shame can only be
voluntary, and then, only a little at a time. Only Christ dies for the sins of the whole
world. It is indeed possible that great saints unite themselves utterly and completely in
that shame-bearing self-emptying entrance into Hades. But they did not start at that
point. It is the gift of God and a work of grace.
For us, we must, in the words of the Elder, learn to bear a little shame. By the same
token, we learn to practice a little forgiveness. This is not abandoning the
commandment of Christ, but is rather a sober reflection of precisely the truth of what
forgiveness entails.
Forgive you enemies. This means voluntarily bear the shame of the loss involved
with forgiveness. Enemies will not love you for loving them. They will hate you and
despitefully use you and do all manner of evil against you for the sake of Christ, whom
they unwittingly hate. Our voluntary bearing of that little shame unites us with Christ
who took the whole of all shame upon Himself and said, Father, forgive them.

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 Bearing shame requires safety. Shame involves deep vulnerability. We feel exposed and
naked even abused and raped. Like victims of trauma, we can only visit the
memories of such things when we are assured that we are not walking again into fresh
abuse. Christ dwelt in the bosom of the Father. The Father never abandoned Him
(pace those who misunderstand His words on the Cross). In the Garden of
Gethsemane, Christ reckons the full cost of His self-emptying, but He does so in utter
communion and knowledge of the Father. He goes to the Cross for the joy set before
Himdespising the shame (Heb. 12:2).
In our communion with Christ, and in the bosom of the Church, it is possible to know
the safety sufficient for forgiveness and bearing its shame. But, again, it must be
voluntary, the acceptance of Christs Cross, in union with His own joyful acceptance
and not through some moral compulsion. One enemy at a time, we make our way into
the love of God, learning step-by-step the joful way of Christs self-emptying.
St. John of the Ladder wrote: You cannot escape shame except by shame. It is one of
the great paradoxes of the faith. A paradox resolved only in the Cross of Christ.
1. Michael Lynch says: Interesting perspective on forgiveness. Modern psychology has demonized virtually
all forms of shame and I think most Christians particularly clergy have followed suit.
Thanks for challenging that kind of thinking.
2. Fr. Stephen Freeman says: Michael,
Youre welcome, though I must note that it is simply the tradition which has spoken carefully and wisely
about shame for many centuries.
Michael,
I think that modern psychology doesnt know what to do with shame. Its toxic variety is an absolute
crippler and terribly destructive. Religion has frequently abused shame and used it incorrectly as a cudgel.
The moralists are like bad parents who think that if shame motivates you to try harder, then its a good thing.
Ive seen very considerable damage done to souls by moralists and those who misuse shame.
Not understanding it, its not surprising that contemporary therapy treats it as bad and something to be
gotten rid of. Toxic shame is indeed bad, and needs to be relieved.
The mystery of the Cross and the role of shame, I will readily admit, was closed to me until about 4-5 years
ago when I began to do research into shame as I was dealing with some very important things in my own
life. That search led me to begin noticing the legitimate place shame has in the Tradition and I began
studying it.
The most important thing for me was a private conversation with Fr. Zacharias of Essex who pointed me in
the right direction regarding the teachings of the Elder Sophrony. His words have allowed me to go back
into the Fathers and re-appropriate the Tradition. I will also say that most priests do not understand this
dynamic of shame. Ive begun writing about it, and emphasizing its understanding when Im all giving talks.
Many priests are interested and Ive had some very good private correspondence in the matter. But it is a
vital piece of the Tradition that has been neglected and needs to be recovered.
So, Im just a voice in this, drawing our attention to what the Tradition says and hopefully shedding some
light. The wisdom of the Fathers is amazing.
3. Mark says: It is, perhaps, a play on words that only works in English, but the word despising from Hebrews
12:2 means to think little of. But it can also mean to look down on. Oddly enough, the place that the Lord
was looking down from was a vantage point from which all of our shame could be seen, our brokenness, our
desperation, our blindness and it was all this that He was taking upon Himself to restore us.
4. Corey says: Its deeply cyclical as well. In order to protect ourselves from our own shame, we judge others,
enhancing their own toxic sense of shame.
5. Fr. Stephen Freeman says: Corey,
Yes. Only the way of the Cross breaks the cycle.
6. Karen says: This reminds me of the anecdote I read in a book on the nature of Gods grace many years ago.
It was the story of a Christian who was arrested by the Communists and had all his secret sins (his crimes)
thrown in his face by his Communist accusers, who had thoroughly researched his background. They
expected to be able to use this information to manipulate and blackmail him into submission and

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 compliance, but he had already come to terms with his sinfulness and accepted grace and forgiveness from
God. Because of his confidence in Gods grace, he could bear his shame. He readily admitted to all the
failings that were thrown at him and replied that there was even more that they didnt know about. They
couldnt blackmail him because he had already confessed his sins and had no need to hide anything. He
wasnt invested in trying to be seen as something he wasnt, and this totally disarmed his persecutors. In the
same way in Confession, we disarm the enemy of souls!
7. Margaret says: Thank you for this blog post, Fr. Stephen, and thank you also for your response to Michael
here in the comments concerning your research on the subject of shame.
8. Lynne says: However, beneath the desire for justice is an even more primal emotion: shame. What is lost in
our lives is not just the object of our desire (a child, a job, a political campaign). The loss itself is shaming
we feel that we ourselves have somehow been diminished, that our life has now been devalued and made
smaller. What is at stake in shame is who I am.
Father, thank you for this explanation. For me, this shows both why forgiveness is so difficult, and the way
forward to forgive.
I believe you have expressed the crux of the issue. (Pun intended.)
9. Sunny says: Excellent article, as always. Fr Stephen, your blog is one of the few reasons I use the Internet.
If the Internet ever stopped working, right after thinking to myself, Our civilization has come to an end,
how will we survive? I would probably think, I hope somebody recorded all of Fr Stephens blogs on
paper!
But even if your blog was lost forever and you never posted again, the synthesis of your thought that I have
been acquiring will be a treasure I will carry with me throughout my life, helping me grow in salvation. In
my own experience, you have served a really unique role in presenting the timeless faith of the Church to the
post-modern, post-Protestant soul in a really robust, expansive, and eye-opening way, from the heart to the
heart.

But for real, I hope for the day that this blog gets made into a book *cough*
10. Fr. Stephen Freeman says: Sunny,
Im really wanting to go traditional with the blog/book and have it copied by handsomething for monks to

do.
Thank you for the kind and very encouraging words. God is truly merciful.
11. Rob says: Father Stephen,
Im really struggling with some of what youve said here and previously concerning shame and forgiveness.
As a recovering addict, I really grasp fully how damning toxic shame is and how it was a constant
contributor to the cycle of addiction. Shame in general terms is something we in recovery try to either
ignore or move away from as a wholly negative thing that will drag us back into resentment.
So Im having a tough time with re-aligning my thinking with what the Fathers are saying here about shame.
Your statement voluntarily bear the shame of the loss involved with forgiveness is confusing to me, but I
think thats partially because I dont really understand forgiveness, either.
A short story: My wife and I have struggled with broken relationships and dysfunction within our respective
families to varying degrees over the years. One of her relatives suffers from a variety of mental disorders
and has been very abusive toward my wife over the years. The difficulties escalated to a point where my
wife had to put up boundaries and separate herself from the family to remain safe. Other family members
have been pushing her to forgive him and let it go, while we contend that because he has no willingness to
make amends, their form of forgiveness would amount to co-signing misbehavior.
So, how could we in this situation, truly forgive if the other party isnt asking for forgiveness (nor desires a
relationship)? Is it just a matter of praying for him? I desire to forgive everyone, for everything, but how
do we really do this? How I can bear my brothers shame? What ought we actually do?
12. Fr. Stephen Freeman says: Rob,
These are very good questions. Ill do my best to answer them. I will stay with the image of addiction
recovery. When someone hits bottom and is willing and able to say, My life had become unmanageable,
that is bearing a little shame. There comes to be an acceptance of that fact. And, in the life of recovery,
you never say, I used to be an addict/alcoholic, etc. There is a willingness to recognize that what is taking
place in recovery is because of a Higher Power. One day at a time. There is, at the very core of all of this, a
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 willingness to bear a little shame. It is helpful, though, that in 12-step groups, everyone else in the room has
been where youve been. And that collective acceptance makes it safe and possible to bear a little shame.
You can say, I am an addict, without fear. But to get there it required some initial willingness to bear the
shame. Frankly the same is true over the years as you face various character defects.
Now the interpersonal stuff is very difficult. Often, there is very little safety, or even continuing danger. In
such cases, we have to forgive at a distance sometimes. One of the ways I pray for such enemies, is to
say, Lord, do not hold this against them on my account on the Day of Judgment. I feel safe enough to say
that.
There have been some individuals and wounds in my life that I found too painful to even pray about. I took a
few names off my list for prayers for a while because even thinking about them was like an invitation to a
panic attack. Some relationships can be that abusive. I slowly found a safe place to be able to talk about it
it could have been a priest, but in my case it wasnt. I was able, in time, to bear a little shame, to
acknowledge the shame that these situations/individuals had inflicted. But instead of reacting, defending,
arguing (in my head), etc., I just sat with it in Gods presence. I allowed myself to feel it and acknowledge
it. And then, as Fr. Zacharias taught me, I prayed, O God, comfort me! God delights in comforting us
and He did and continues to do so.
But I have not gotten to a place that I would re-enter those relationships at least not without some caveats.
One of those caveats would be, Do I know how to take care of myself in this? Or am I simply inviting more
abuse? Sometimes you have to put a distance in place. I continue to pray and ask God not to hold it against
them (or me).
Please note that Ive written that the simple moral injunction you must forgive, is very problematic and
can even be used for spiritual abuse. But it can only be voluntary. In such situations, we can volunteer by
saying, God, make it possible for me to forgive them. Only grace can get us to these places. If youre in
recovery, then you know that lots of things take time. This is one of them.
In the meantime, be safe. Protect your wife. Its ok to say not yet, or it still feels unsafe, etc. Families
are often quite pushy. They just dont like conflict.
Is that useful information?
13. Rob says: Father, thank you very much. That makes a lot of sense. I appreciate your time responding to my
questions I think it will be very helpful as we try to heal and trust in God to heal these wounds.
14. Agata says: Father,
Thank you for sharing your lessons from Fr. Zacharias. His teaching is always so heart-warming and
therapeutic for the soul
15. Randy says: As an addiction counselor for 12 years, working with so many struggling with slavery to
alcohol or drugs, I have continually confronted folks with deep,often generational, toxic shame and
dysfunction. They struggle with forgiveness of deep-seated resentments, and I have tried to convince them
that forgiving them does not require the return to the same destructive dynamics of the relationship. Not in
any way.
Of the various articles where you have discussed shame and its many faces, I believe this latest is the most
helpful.
16. dan says: Father,
Forgive me if I am not comprehending your full meaning. My reaction to this (and its a very challenging
issue for me) is that you address forgiveness with regard to the wrongdoer and from the perspective of the
individual, but what I think you miss is the perspective of the victim.
I have happened to be intimately connected with several people who have been victims of horrible crimes. I
think what we often miss is the value of anger and the desire for justice to these individuals. In a materialist
sense, nothing is restored through justice, but from the victims perspective justice and even more so the
desire for justice from their family and community is restorative and healing. It takes the chaos and turmoil
of earth shattering events and re-orders them in the light of Goodness. We can leave these victims swimming
in a vacuum of amoral confusion when we as a community do not clearly respond with love for the victim
and the corresponding anger. Its not an unnatural anger. Its a normal, natural and good anger when it stems
from love for the victim. If it is based on hate for the wrongdoer I think its a different situation.
Anyway, its always been a challenge to fully embrace this aspect of Christianity because it leaves behind the
victim. I dont think its possible for these victims to simply forgive because we tell them they should, I think

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 they can only forgive when we bear witness to their outrage for them, and allow them to heal. Thats been
my experience.
17. Fr. Stephen Freeman says: Dan,
I have myself worked with victims, in particular, families who have lost members to violent crimes. And
you are very correct. I used to say to them Vengeance is mine saith the Lord, I will repay, is often used as
a saying to tell victims they should not desire vengeance, when, in fact, it is a promise.
It is a starting place. If youll read carefully what I have written, youll see the emphasis on the voluntary
aspect of bearing shame (which is at the heart of forgiveness). I have had two members of my family
murdered over the years. Its how I got involved at one point in dealing with victims ministry. Vengeance,
justice, etc., have a place in the process of healing. But, it will finally come to another place. I appreciate
your pointing this out. Its important to remember.
18. Karen says: Dan, I frequent a discussion site for the survivors of an abusive Christian cult (headed by one
man) where the Bible was twisted and its meaning turned on its head to bring people into intensely legalistic
spiritual bondage and subjection to this groups leader (and in completely unhealthy ways to husbands,
fathers, and parents) in the name of the protecting umbrella of biblical spiritual authority. Of all the
forms abuse can take (and let us admit they are all horrible), spiritual abuse that not only takes advantage of
and injures the vulnerable, but does so in the very name of service to the Christian God, has to be among the
most perverse and difficult to heal. Laying responsibility for abuse and of its effects not upon the
perpetrator, but on the victims is a veritable hallmark of the perverse teaching of this false teacher. In that
context, I agree that a proper anger on behalf of the victims and stemming from love for them plays an
important, perhaps even critical role in their healing.
I believe Fr. Stephen to be addressing a quite different context, however. He has already made it clear that
blame (demanding that others shoulder the shame of their own true failings and weaknesses, never mind
those of a perpetrator for which the victim is in fact blameless) is very toxic. What he is addressing is how in
response to the conviction of the Holy Spirit the believers freely chosen bearing of shame (a willingness to
confess our failings to God and those we may have injured and relinquish our right to vengeance against
those who have wronged us) for the sake of sharing in Christs kenotic Self-giving suffering in identification
with sinners brings us into healing communion with Him.
19. dan says: Thanks Father,
I agree with what you are saying about the relationship of shame and forgiveness. It is a good insight. I just
wanted to amplify the place for justice and righteous anger, and its value for victims. Its hard for me to not
want to keep the flame burning for those people, especially as we seem increasingly calloused and
relativistic as a society.
Discussions about justice, the death penalty, etc so often focus on the person who has done the awful thing,
as though sympathy for them, or recognizing the catastrophic tragedy that it is to end their life, mean we
should forgive them, spare them, etc. Im not trying to take a position on policy, just commenting on the
logic and patterns of discussion about the policy.
Other times discussion focus on our spiritual being, and that bearing anger does harm to ourselves.
What I have found to be an important idea is the distinction between anger born from love, and anger born
from hate. The biggest reason to be angry with the murderer, rapist, etc is because of our love for their
victim. The next biggest reason to be angry with the murderer, rapist, etc is because we love them! In truth, I
think there are (or certainly should be) two mothers mourning whether the murderer is executed or not.
20. Sharon says: The preceding few posts about victims and justice brings to mind a story in Everyday Saints (I
think recounted by Fr. John Krestiankin) in which a priest drives out from a community two members who
may have brought harm to the community and then calmly returns to participating in Forgiveness Vespers
(? I gave my book to someone so I may not be remembering the details correctly).
In any case the priest thought it important enough to the safety of the flock to drive out two members
(temporarily?) but was also able simultaneously to then turn to members of the same flock and humbly ask
forgiveness. This is an example of what I would call a Gentle Protector and I think a sign of spiritual
maturity that is rarely seen, much less experienced by many Christian religious, and one of the reasons our
family is becoming Orthodox. I think the fruit of the church are elders such as this, and I have only found
them among the Orthodox.

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21. Byron says: Vengeance, justice, etc., have a place in the process of healing. But, it will finally come to
another place.
I hear much of the conversation being directed toward the actions of the community. Am I correct that the
victim themselves must voluntarily make the decision to forgive? Is the anger for justice and the pursuit of
it, perhaps resulting in taking the life/freedom of their attacker, justifiable in Christ? I understand that there
is positive anger and desire for justice but at what point does one step outside of healing and into
vengeance?
It is difficult to draw lines in any situation as tragic as these but I think it is valid to think of what is expected
by the victim in seeking justice. How is this best approached, both by the victim and by the community?
22. Irini says: Dear Father,
This journey you have taken me on in understanding the shame that I carry and the hurt from it, has been so
incredibly helpful. I heard a taped lecture from Father Zachariah on this topic years ago. His teaching of
Christs shame through the beautiful words of Elder Sophrony, began my liberation from my shame. For the
first time, I heard the story of Christs suffering through the emotion of shame and I felt at that moment that
He knew mine.
It was around that time, that I understood the meaning of the prayers/hymns that said that Christ hung naked
on the tree. I didnt see it any more from a physical aspect of nakedness, but from shame. It humbled me to
the core. I was suddenly, emotionally, without legs to stand on. All the remembrance of wrongdoings I
carried, disappeared. It was then that I saw the people who harmed me through the eyes of an outsider and I
felt sorry for them. I was ironically, liberated from myself.
It was during this time that I saw the gifts God had given me throughout my entire life in the form of truly
kind, good family and friends who selflessly out of love, carried me through it all. I felt suddenly aware of
my profound selfishness. Realizing that hurt more than the shame. That great selfishness was, no , is, my
character.
The attacks to remember the wrongs still surface, sometimes they are very strong and sudden, but I pray for
watchfulness so that the time span between the painful memory and asking God to bless that person,
becomes shorter. I have no delusions that this cycle will end, but I have seen that the more I try to regularly
self examine and honestly confess my character, (which remains a very painful process ) the less wounded I
am from those memories or new experiences of shaming.
I understand the place my feelings of shame, serve in my connection to Christ. Less self pity , more honest
shame. It is then that I am closest to Him
Your blogs have brought me great strength, joy and many times to tears, as you so steadily and gently guide
me through this. In gratitude, I promise you my simple prayers for you and your family.
Kissing your right hand, I am.
Irini
23. Anon says: I am a survivor of a violent crime. This was very helpful. Thank you and God bless you, Father
Stephen.
24. AtP says: Besides your wonderful writing on this topic, where can we find the teaching of Elder Sophrony
and Achimandrite Zacharias? Ive pulled an unread copy of The Hidden Man of the Heart from my
bookshelf and see that there is a chapter titled Awakening the Heart by Bearing Shame in Confession.
Would you recommend starting with this?
Thank you, thank you, thank you.
25. Fr. Stephen Freeman says: AtP
Yes. I would. Follow with Enlargement of the Heart. Also listen to these two podcasts by Fr. Serafim Aldea.
Very good.
http://www.ancientfaith.com/podcasts/monkseyes/confessing_to_grow_closer_to_god
http://www.ancientfaith.com/podcasts/monkseyes/continuing_in_confessional_growth
26. Fr. Stephen Freeman says: Reply to Chuck,
Not interested in a political argument. I did not, however, describe the politician himself as evil. I said that
what was said was evil. Discernment is not all that heart sometimes. If you are politically engaged with this
person, you may be blind to certain obvious things. It is being said in poll after poll that the electorate is
angry. It makes sense. Im probably angry about many of the same things. But anger is very blinding. It
darkens the heart. If my words cause you anger, then forgive me. But they are true.

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27. Aleksander says: Thank you very much, Fr. Stephen, for your many wonderful, insightful writings. Ive
been particularly reading your posts involving shame recently and am wondering if youve read the book
The Soul of Shame by Curt Thompson? It was recommended to me (by a counselor) with the additional
comment that it has an excellent explanation of ancestral sin. Of course, being Orthodox, Im a little
suspicious of reading something non-Orthodox on such a key issue (especially since so often (incorrect)
ideas have a way of sticking around in my brain).
28. Fr. Carlos Raines says: Fr. Stephen,
I have been reading all your posts on shame and thank God for your work in this area. It has been very
helpful to me and, I hope, to others that I in turn reach out to help. With regard to this post in particular I
expect you have already seen this, but the following link connects with an extraordinary example of what
you are sharing here. It is the sermon from a Coptic priest in St. Marks Cathedral in Alexandria the very
night after the murders of over 40 Coptic Christians in two places on Palm Sunday including the very church
the sermon is deliveredon the very night after the attack to a packed Cathedral. Here is the link:
http://www.copticdadandmom.com/fr-boules-george/ The sermon is entitled A Message to Those Who Kill
Us. Thanks again for your blogs; they are blessing many of us. May the Lord continue to give you light!