Lockerbie residents have been described in the Holyrood chamber as a "shining jewel in the crown of Scotland".
The comments, by The Very Rev Patrick Keegans, comes three days before the 20th anniversary of the Lockerbie bombing, which killed 270 lives.
Father Keegans, a former priest in the town, told MSPs that from the darkness of the tragedy came the light of love and concern for those who suffered.
He spoke during the parliament's afternoon time for reflection slot.
Father Keegans told MSPs he was at home in Lockerbie with his mother, Mary, when the plane came down in December 1988.
'Genuine love'
"The darkness came. The lights went out. The house shook violently," he said.
"An almighty explosion tore Sherwood Crescent apart and then there was a silence and stillness and still the darkness."
He went on: "Then another kind of darkness took over - the thick, suffocating darkness that comes from extreme grief, the darkness that invades the human spirit, that threatens to crush and destroy."
A total of 270 people had been murdered - 259 passengers on Pan Am Flight 103 and 11 Lockerbie residents, said Father Keegans, now the administrator of Ayr Cathedral.
But he said that into darkness came light from the people of Lockerbie.
"It was the light of genuine love, care and concern for all who were suffering," he said.
"The people of Lockerbie, shocked to the core, looked not to themselves but to others.
"They are a shining jewel in the crown of Scotland."
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