BOOKS: Left To Tell: Discovering God Amidst the Rwandan Holocaust

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By Immaculee Ilibagiza. Has anyone read this book? I’ve just finished it and would like to discuss it with others, if there’s any interest.
Pax Christi,
Ann
 
I read it several months ago. I hope others read this book.
 
I read the book all in one day. ironically, I didn’t realize what day it was last winter but it was the Feast of the Martyrs.

It is such a haunting, sad yet in the end is a wonderful, remarkable book.
 
I read this book and loved it. I am always trying to promote it in my book club, but no one seems interested.

I would love to discuss it.
 
Oh, good, good! I’ve just finished it; I too couldn’t put it down…Where to begin? I think it’s totally amazing how her life was spared, and how she was able to forgive. It is a testimony to any atheists; I’d recommend this book to any who doubt in the existence of God and or Satan. I once chatted on line with an atheist who used Rwanda as an example, saying “Where is Your God?” Now, I’ve said a prayer that God would lead that person to this book, and that he’d read it.

I remember when it all happened, and at the time no government was willing to help these poor people while they were all being hacked to death.

At the end of the book, in her acknowledgements, the author thanks the Blessed Mother for appearing in Kibeho. Curious, I Googled ‘Kibeho’ to see what I’d find on the subject. Evidently, I think it’s been approved by the local Bishop. It appears that some young people were given warnings about the Rwandan Holocaust ten years before it happened.

This is a nation that really needs our prayers; it could easily happen again. Few and far between are the people willing and able to forgive the way that Immaculee has.

Pax Christi,
Ann
 
I was completely amazed about her brother’s dying words…how he forgave his executioner…the man who swung the machete down into his skull.

If that doesn’t qualify a person for sainthood, I don’t know what does.

I’ve recommended the book to several others, too but no one else seems to want to read it either. But it almost seems like a modern day gospel in some aspects.
 
gradstud35 said:
I was completely amazed about her brother’s dying words…how he forgave his executioner…the man who swung the machete down into his skull.

If that doesn’t qualify a person for sainthood, I don’t know what does.

I’ve recommended the book to several others, too but no one else seems to want to read it either. But it almost seems like a modern day gospel in some aspects.
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The brothers dying words I think will always be with me. I can only hope I would have the strength to face death the way he did.

I really love the way our Lord was with her the whole time in the bathroom.
 
Something else that struck me was how Immaculee said that, at one point during this terrible ordeal she didn’t ‘feel like forgiving her tormenters.’ So she *acted *like she forgave them. Sorry, don’t have the page for reference…

Once my nine year old daughter said to me that, “Saints are people who act really holy.”

Perhaps this is how it starts: with us acting when we don’t feel like doing God’s will, and then God will make up the difference and help us to go the full way.
Pax Christi,
Ann
 
Oh, I agree completely. I know I try to pray for people I dislike, fight with are mean to me or have been unjust to me. (Not always successful with this but I try.)

Sometimes, I even start out my prayer rolling my eyes, and I’m basically like, Lord you know I don’t even mean this but since you told me to do this, I’m doing it. I do find it helps. You have to place your trust in the Lord.
 
This was required reading for my 14 year old last year, as his religion/social justice class spent 8 weeks studying the genocide. This year his teachers are visiting Rwanda. Absolutely amazing!
 
I thought the book was very good, but she seems to get a little bit “name it-claim it” at the end. Isn’t there a movie too?
 
Name it claim it is like things happen because you believe they will happen…say what you want and you will get it.
 
dostoyevsky said:
Name it claim it is like things happen because you believe they will happen…say what you want and you will get it.
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Yeah, I know: I wondered about that too. It sounded too ‘New Age’…But you know, she’d lost her entire family. So by no means did she get everything she’d prayed for…So I don’t think that was her message. Rather, I think the book shares her message of hope.

I do think that Immaculee is operating on a different level than most of us. Her ability to forgive came out of this same sort of visualization, through prayer.
 
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