This man is a monster. But he is also a soul Jesus loves and died for so that he may have eternal life. We need to pray and make reparation for his conversion as difficult as that may be. We can only do this by deciding not to look at him through the lens of our memories of his actions, but rather to look at him through the lens of our memories of Jesus on Calvary. Can you imagine meeting him in heaven and Jesus saying he is only there because of your prayers and sacrifice? Think of the happiness of Jesus with a soul snatched from hell.
Truth! A very good reminder. When Jesus says we must forgive the "aught against any" he is not excluding this man or any other sinner. We must make an act of will to forgive and send up a prayer for his soul. The commandant of Aushwitz--mass murderer--received the grace of repentance two days before his execution in a Polish prison. And guess who had prayed for him? St Maximikian Kolbe and the men who died with him in the starvation bunker. God honors prayer! ( Fr Reehil tells the story--Rudolf Hoess raised in a devout Catholic home but turned from his faith and joined Hitler as a very young man. His sins were as public as it gets. Yet God spoke to his heart and Hoess received the grace to ask for forgiveness. An interesting addendum to this. The priest they found to hear his confession was praying in front of the original image of Divine Mercy when they found him. It was Good Friday!!! And...other priests had refused to go because of the heinous crimes the man had committed. )
