A true story !

Over a hundred years ago in France, a butler attached to a wealthy family knew where the family kept all their wealth, hidden in a vault underneath the château. He methodically plotted to kill everyone in the family and steal the treasure.

One night, when everyone was asleep, he murdered first the father and mother, and then, one by one, the children. Only the youngest escaped because he had heard noises and couldn´t sleep. When he realized what was happening he quietly slipped out of his room and hid in a closet under a pile of clothes.

For years he wandered the streets as an orphan, and later entered the seminary and became a priest. Eventually he was assigned to Devil´s Island as a chaplain.

One afternoon a convict came running in from the fields, frantically calling for the chaplain: "There is a man dying out on the field, Father, come quickly."

The priest ran out with him and reached the dying man. Kneeling down beside him, he lifted his head onto his lap and asked if he would like to confess his sins. The dying man refused.

"Why, my son ?" the priest asked. "Because God will never forgive me for what I have done"

"But what have you done so bad ?" the priest continued. And the man went on to tell the story of how he had killed this whole family so he could have their money, and only the little boy escaped because he couldn´t find him.

Then the priest said to him, "If I can forgive you, certainly God can forgive you. And I forgive you from my heart. It was my family you killed, and I am that little boy."

The convict cried and told the priest how he had been haunted all his life over what he had done, though no one else knew about it. Even the authorities never found out.

The two men cried together. And, as the priest was giving the dying man absolution, the man died with his head resting on the priest´s lap.

That story is a true story and serves as an inspiration whenever people hurt you. It shows how beautiful and godly is the kind of forgiveness that Jesus taught.

Trying to forgive like that can bring a lot of peace into your life.