Hundreds of women heard Warren, the wife of American Pastor Rick Warren, state that forgiveness is the first step in a genuine process of reconciliation. She used the Bible passage from Matthew 18 about the unmerciful servant to show that humans are able to forgive because they have been forgiven.
"I believe in this story that Jesus is calling us to forgiveness, saying, 'It is time to let it go,'" she said on Saturday.
"It is time for us to understand this concept, that nothing we do to each other is as awful as what we have done to God," Warren said. "We need to take our bitterness and the things that have wounded us to Jesus and nail them to His Cross."
Forgiveness is a poignant issue in Rwanda, a country still struggling to reconcile after the 1994 genocide that killed nearly 1 million people in 100 days. The genocide was primarily the action of Hutu extremists against Rwanda's Tutsi minority and moderate Hutus.
"My prayer for every woman in this place is that you would feel and experience forgiveness from God, and that out of grateful hearts for His mercy toward us, we would all find ways to release others who have been wounded," said Warren.
Prior to Warren's address, an American researcher visiting Rwanda gave her testimony about the good that can come out of painful experiences.
Susan Hills, a researcher with the Center for Disease Control in Atlanta, said her 10-year-old son was hit and killed by a car during a family biking trip. She thought she would never recover, but God turned her sorrow into joy.
