"I honestly would like to see him. I would like to talk to him. I'm a man of deeply devoted faith," O'Farrill explained. "Jesus is my world, and Jesus is how I get through every single day, and that's how I got through this ordeal."
O'Farrill said that he has been praying for Holmes, and if he had the chance to speak with him, "the first words that I would say are, 'I forgive you, James.'"
The 28-year-old, who works as the vehicle donation coordinator for the Denver Rescue Mission, said that he "was blessed" to survive the shooting and emphasized that what happened was "not God's fault."
He also said that he believes Holmes should receive life in prison rather than the death penalty.
Archbishop Aquila said that O'Farrill's willingness to forgive such a "heinous evil" shows "the depth of his faith."
"Christ himself is the one who has conquered sin. He has conquered death," the archbishop said. "By recognizing that, one's heart can be moved to forgive the perpetrator of this kind of violence."
He stressed that while it might take time, forgiveness is important in ultimately healing the wounds left by sin and avoiding continued resentment and bitterness.
"Forgiveness for the Christian is absolutely essential," he said. "We have to remember that Jesus Christ himself died a violent death and that he forgave from the cross."
Archbishop Aquila recently visited the parents of one of the victims from the July 20 shooting. He told them to think of themselves as standing under the foot of the Cross with Mary and John, and he encouraged them to go to Mary, a finite human being like themselves who "watched her son die a violent death."
"She knows the suffering that is present in the hearts of these parents who have lost their child in the shooting," he said.
The archbishop encouraged continued prayer during the coming weeks and months that God may bring comfort and peace to the victims of the shooting and their families.
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"The Holy Spirit is present," he said.
Michelle La Rosa is deputy editor-in-chief of Catholic News Agency. She has worked for CNA since 2011. She studied political philosophy and journalism at the University of Dallas.