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Antoine Cardinal Cabandas found that in order to heal the wounds of others, you should first heal your own
He reiterated this at the conference held from August 26 to August 28, 2024 on healing trauma and building unity, reconciliation and integrity.
Antoine Cardinal Kambanda said reconciliation with the history a person has gone through can help him heal his wounds and that he can forgive those who killed his family.
He confirmed this during a discussion chaired by Fr Donatien Twizeyumukiza, the president of the Justice and Peace Commission of the Archdiocese of Kigali, where he met with recently retired Bishop Fillipe Rukamba of Butare, Sister Uwamariya Immacule, Fr Augustin Karekezi of the Jesuits and Fr. Marcel Uwinesa
Antoine Cardinal Cambanda said the role of monks in healing wounds should be to heal themselves first and then others.
Talk host Father Donatien Twizeyuremyi asked the cardinal how one could look back at history with anger and at the same time help others to live healthy lives.
They held a conversation designed to provide ideas for healing the soul
Cardinal Antoine Kambanda explained that what a person achieves is first of all reconciliation with God, reconciliation with his history, reconciliation with himself.
“When we talk about making peace with ourselves, you know your wounds, then you know your illnesses, your disabilities, you know where you’ve arrived, whether you’re healed or not. And when you’re healed, you can help others heal,” he said.
He cited the history Rwanda has gone through as an example and said that when you share life and bear witness to what one person has gone through, it helps heal each other’s wounds because the history your partner has shared is stronger than yours.
“At some point you realize you’re not the saddest person, and you put your sadness aside and comfort your partner,” he said. “I liken it to going to the doctor and finding out there’s a patient who’s sicker than you, which can help you come to terms with your own illness.”
Cardinal Antoine Kambanda said that when listening to monks and others involved in spiritual, solidarity and righteous activities, they should put aside their sorrow so that they can listen to others and help them heal.
Pain and forgiveness are related
Cardinal Antoine Kambanda said sharing traumatic histories allows a person to overcome their own history and then gain forgiveness, reconciliation and integrity.
This is a conversation that shows how to reconcile with others first requires reconciliation with oneself
He said: “I tried to follow up and found that reconciliation meets the cross because it has been helping us to reconcile with our history, accept your wounds, and be able to accept each other. For a Christian to be healing, he needs to understand his own pain and the pain of others, agree to tell the truth, and cooperate with others in the process of healing.”
The church developed this program for the Unity and Reconciliation Journey because Rwandans are hurt and traumatized in various ways by the bad history of the Rwandan genocide against the Tutsi people.
Father Marcel Uvinessa said the charity work was to help people clean themselves and recover from injuries.
He said: “This is done to reconcile with history, with you and with the Nyawanda community, but we focus on the painful history because people were affected by the genocide against the Tutsi because it left many wounds, including the loss of loved ones and some were raped and had unwanted pregnancies, some contracted chronic diseases, and those children who were born injured can also recover, our goal is to heal the wounded hearts so that people can live a good life.
The meeting was attended by different religious and people connected with church activities
“The purpose of this conference is to empower actions aimed at healing the wounds, for us to accept and appreciate who we are, accept the gravity of what happened and find the right way to heal the wounds,” he said.
The seminar on healing trauma and strengthening solidarity, reconciliation and integrity was organized by the Commission for Justice and Peace (CEJP Rwanda) with the support of the AGIAMONDO project.
The theme of the conference is “Rwandans, Rwandan women, let us join hands to heal the wounds and help us build a country of unity, reconciliation and integrity.”
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