Is any current world news more disturbing than accounts of returned Kosovars taking revenge upon the Serb residents of their district? Stories of murders, tortures, burning, and looting must upset anyone who believes that revenging oneself upon others is both morally wrong and spiritually disastrous.

One can easily understand how those who have returned from exile feel. After all, they have seen almost unimaginable horrors inflicted upon themselves, their families, and their communities. At the hands of Serb forces, ethnic Albanians have witnessed the raping of their women, the massacre of their children, and the wanton destruction of their homes and all that is dear to them.

Were I among the returning exiles, I too would be outraged by the violence done to me by my fellow countrymen. Most probably, I would lack the spiritual strength to forgive those who had violated everything I love. Chances are that I would be among those seeking vengeance.

But still, thanks to the spiritual traditions handed down to me by my parents and others, I would know that revenge flies in the face of God’s law. Thanks to sound religious teaching, I can never forget that I am obliged never to hurt someone else even when that other person has hurt me grievously.

Most spiritual traditions go further and require me to forgive my enemies, again no matter what they have done to me. This is what Jesus of Nazareth teaches. “ Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.” And again he tells his followers, “In everything, do to others as you would have them do to you.”

In the prayer that Jesus told his followers to recite each day they say, “Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.” He himself said upon the cross, “Father, forgive them because they do not know what they are doing.”

Revenge-takers turn their backs on a powerful force that could give them many benefits. That force is forgiveness, a spiritual gift which can rebuild community like no other.

That is the lesson taught us by Mahatma Ghandi, Martin Luther King, Nelson Mandela, to mention only three spiritual giants of the modern world. Each in his own country showed those ready to revenge themselves, how much more the non-violence of forgiveness could accomplish. Whole societies – – India, the United States, South Africa – – owe their souls to the courage of these men.

Forgiveness is the only way to break the endless cycle of violence that can tear apart a society. Without this breakthrough, enmity can endure for centuries, keeping individuals, families, and whole populations at sword’s points with one another.

To forgive someone, you do not have to pretend that something bad has not in fact happened to you. You can admit fully that you have suffered unjustly at the hands of another. You may continue to feel badly about it and wish not to have anything further to do with those who have injured you.

But by forgiving others you pledge not to hurt them or to wish them harm. You cannot wipe the slate of history clean but you can reverse some effects of that history. The persons whom you forgive must still accept the consequences of their sins and you, by your act of grace, have perhaps given them greater motive to do so.

The subject of forgiveness is currently of surprising interest to scholars. In particular the Templeton Foundation, an agency interested in connections between religion and science, expected to raise over ten million dollars this year to fund more than fifty research projects designed to further the scientific understanding of forgiveness.

So difficult is it to practice forgiveness (at least in violence-racked situations like that of Kosovo) that it must be regarded as a spiritual gift given by God. Left to ourselves, we cannot take this great leap that makes so little sense to the world. Only God’s grace makes possible such an against-the-grain action.

If prayer for the Kosovars makes sense, then perhaps we should pray above all that they, the victims of violence, will find a place in their hearts to embrace their neighbors with the kind of forgiveness that is of God.

Richard Griffin