‘The worst time of my life was the five years which passed between the separation of my son from his wife, and their divorce. The more time passed, the more infected the wound became. At the time of the divorce, Sonia unleashed an avalanche of accusations. I will not go into detail. But the worst thing was that their child, Manuele, my grandson, had become caught up in this infernal whirlwind.
He was repeatedly interrogated by a social worker and submitted to psychological tests which were inhumain for a little boy of this age. He suffered very much. He felt torn between the love of his father and that of his mother, so much so that he felt forced into saying things that he did not want to. All of this caused me to suffer terribly, to such a degree that I began to howl with grief and sometimes to utter curses against my daughter-in-law.
During the mass one time, when the priest invited us to offer the sign of peace, I gave the kiss of peace to all those around me. Then I closed my eyes and with enormous effort by will, I asked Jesus to help me. I visualized my daughter-in-law interiorly. In spite of the strong resistance which I felt within myself, I asked her forgiveness for having offended her and I forgave her for having broken my heart. Then, still interiorly, I embraced her saying: ‘I give you the peace of Jesus. May the peace of Jesus be in your spirit and in your heart!’
Since that day, I have repeated this prayer at every mass, every day, at the moment of the sign of peace. I had to persevere with it for several months. Little by little my hatred and bitterness decreased until they disappeared altogether. The transformation was incredible. My son asked me: ‘But mother, how have you managed not feel any hatred for Sonia?’ I replied to him: ‘Luigi, I pray!’
Now the divorce is finalized. But Sonia comes willingly to my house, we greet each other graciously and we hug, and we talk calmly together about our little Manuele. It is the Lord who has done this! If He has done this for me … He can and He wants to do it for you too!
Sor Emmanuel´s diary, March 2012