Catholic Faith Moves Man to Forgiveness after Murder of Wife and Daughter
July18, 2012: Arturo Martinez-Sanchez a lifelong Catholic, says he had no choice
but to forgive the man suspected of sexually assaulting and killing his wife and young
daughter in an April 2012 attack that also left him seriously wounded.
“I have
to forgive him, to go the way of life,” the Las Vegas resident told CNA in a July
17 interview. “It's in the Bible … I forgive him because I believe in God.”
“The
Bible says: You forgive this gentleman, and you are forgiven yourself. That's the
way it is,” said Martinez-Sanchez, who said his Catholic upbringing and education
in the Church impressed on him the need to forgive Bryan Clay.
Martinez-Sanchez
recently held a press conference to declare that he forgave the 22-year-old Clay,
who is accused of raping Arturo's 38-year-old wife Yadira and their 10-year-old daughter
Karla. Both were beaten to death with a hammer by the attacker, who also inflicted
severe head injuries on the father.
Clay and Martinez-Sanchez did not know
each other before the home invasion, described by a Las Vegas police lieutenant as
“a random, savage act.” The 39-year-old father and his wife also had two sons, Christopher
and Alejandro, who were spared in the attack.
Arturo underwent two brain surgeries
along with extensive physical therapy. He still speaks with difficulty, and continues
to receive six hours of treatment each day. But he has summoned the strength to reopen
the boxing gym he ran before the murders. And through his faith in God, he has set
aside any form of hatred or desire for personal vengeance against the suspected killer.
Accompanied
by his sons, he stunned listeners at the July 12 press conference with his response
to a reporter who asked what he would say to Bryan Clay, given the chance. “I would
say, 'I forgive you,'” he responded. “If he kissed me on the cheek, I would kiss him
back.”
“I love my Yadira. I love my Karla. I love my sons,” Martinez-Sanchez
said at the press conference. “We all love Jesus. Through his strength, we will survive.”
If Clay is found guilty, Martinez-Sanchez expects him to be punished appropriately,
with the death penalty if necessary. But this decision, he said, is not his to make.
“My
command,” he maintained, is simply “to forgive him.” That responsibility was “something
between me and God,” with “nobody else involved.” After Bryan Clay was arrested, the
murder suspect reportedly told police he wished they had simply killed him rather
than apprehending him. Martinez-Sanchez says he has prayed for Clay to be able “to
know God” and receive the mercy available to all who sincerely repent.
No one,
he stressed, is without sin in the eyes of God. And no one, according to Christ himself,
will receive his mercy unless they show mercy to others. “As a believer in Christ,
I know that God forgives all the sins of those who have faith in him,” Martinez-Sanchez
said in his July 12 “Forgiveness Statement.”
“In this, I am instructed to forgive
first. Knowing that God will forgive even murders if there is true repentance, Bryan
Clay will stand in judgment before Him.” His choice to regard Clay with love does
not take away his pain, nor does it absolve the suspected killer of his responsibilities
before the law and before God. But for a victim of injustice, “forgiveness is not
a choice that God leaves to us,” Martinez-Sanchez said in his July 12 statement. “It
is a commandment.”