A Prison Mentor’s Reflections

(This blog is written by a Christian volunteer who has been mentoring at a Federal Women’s prison for approximately five years through the Life Connections Program, a faith based organization bringing the message of faith and hope to those anticipating release. It is the reflection at the close of a single evening.) 

This evening, as I drove home from the prison after an hour of mentoring with the light of a full moon and listening to Andrea Bocelli singing Ave Maria, I could feel God's presence all around me. I told the Lord I was tired as I usually am after an intense hour of dialogue with a prisoner.  Emotions run high.  But knowing God was with me, I told Him I had missed that feeling of closeness with Him on occasion this week, mostly due to my wandering mind; not being focused on Him and letting other things invade my space.  Prison mentoring brings me back to center.  My inmate is grateful for my presence; it gives her chance to vent, share, cry, and wish for freedom, privacy, and time alone with her Lord.  We on the outside have freedom. We are not locked up and no, we have committed no crime for sure.  All they want is to know that someone cares; someone from the outside; someone who can bring the outside inside with a message of hope and of God’s love.  We get so caught up in our own petty worries and fears that we really do not realize those who are trapped behind bars, admittedly through their own fault, but never the less still are looking from behind bars for a glimpse of freedom, while we look from the outside through the bars with freedom at our side. When the sound of the gate closes as we enter or leave, there is a large "bang". When entering the prison we are subjected to the usual security measures similar to the airports; pat downs, metal detectors and hands being stamped for our safety and God forbid, we become involved in a prison riot. We realize we cannot leave unless granted permission with an escort to take us back out of the confines of the unit.  Freedom is precious.  The slamming of the gate is a reminder of just how precious it is.  It is a sound that resonates throughout the room and one a person never forgets or gets used to.  

We all tend to get caught up in the moment but I realize every time I enter those prison gates, how grateful I am for that freedom which God has blessed me with and all of us with.  I wonder sometimes how the early martyrs felt when the gate slammed behind them.  When their freedom was extinguished because of their faith, did the sound of the gate, the dark of the dungeon, the loss of light and separation from loved ones cause them anxiety, fear, doubt and pain?  

When walking through Mamertine Prison in Rome where St. Peter was imprisoned for some months awaiting his death, I pondered all the feelings he must have had.  Interestingly enough, he converted almost all the guards who watched over him. 

I have been asked many times “how can you go to the prison?”  I could never do what you do”, they say.  Of course I remind them of Mathew’s passage in chapter 25: 35-36 “For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, a stranger and you welcomed me, naked and you clothed me, ill and you cared for me, in prison and you visited me.” (NAB)  I continue to tell them, it is a “calling” that I cannot ignore. 

I read an article recently that said “Each year, more than 700,000 individuals are released from state and federal prison.  Another 9 million cycle through local jails.  When reentry fails, the costs—both societal and economic—are high.  Statistics indicate that more than two-thirds of state prisoners are rearrested within 3 years of their release and half are re-incarcerated.” (Taken from Reentry in Brief, a product of the Federal Interagency Reentry Council) 

I hope I can, at the very least, bring the light of God's love to those I mentor.  If I can even save one soul for Christ out of all I interact with or at the very least keep one inmate from returning to prison, I will feel some sense of accomplishment.  I do not ask for God's glory, just his love and strength to do this which gives me the confidence and courage I need to show the outside to those on the inside. To soften the "bang" of the gate a little and give hope to the hopeless, love to the loveless and the love and peace of Christ to all who desire it........ I continue to thank my Lord and Savior for this opportunity.

 JRB (A Contributor to SDM)

A Lesson in Humility

Written by a follower of SDM

It has occurred to me within the last week, the very thing causing me to anguish over loss of previous church relationships of another denomination, abundant blessings from ministries in that denomination and recognition for those ministries, is the virtue of humility. This very virtue if not recognized, can cause prideful feelings to creep into the soul which in turn can keep one from intimacy with Christ.

I recently was privileged to attend Vespers with the Conferral of Pontifical Honors at the Cathedral of St. Patrick’s in downtown Ft. Worth, Texas. A new Catholic friend of mine and future spiritual advisor was receiving the Benemerenti Medal for her work within the diocese in forming the Permanent Deacon program. This medal was created by Pope Pius VI in the late 1700’s in recognition of those individuals who have exemplified service in the Church. Following this service all were invited to attend a reception in a very large and new parish hall adjacent to the Cathedral. It was an enormous hall with many faces, none of whom I knew. Fifteen individuals received the various medals and of course many families and friends from local parishes were in attendance.

As I made my way around the room with a friend from St. Andrew’s, which is now my parish, I came to the realization this was the first very large reception I was attending at a Catholic function in which I knew no one. Having lived in Ft. Worth for the past 30+ years, been active in the Methodist community and a part of the pastoral family of ministers, this was an eye opening experience and very humbling for me. Had it been at a Methodist gathering, I would have known many of the pastors and laity and felt very much at home. Here I was just another Catholic in a sea of faces unknown to them and likewise they were unknown to me.

Meaning of Life - Why did God create us?

Out of God’s Love Comes Life

Perhaps we may find it easier to comprehend God’s intention for our existence, the meaning of life as it were, by considering in our limited capacity how He may explain it to us as we may explain to our own children. In many ways and limitless circumstances, Scripture tells us of our relationship with God; our varied levels of devotion and with some of us our departure from Him. It expresses to us His never ending love, forgiveness and acceptance of us should we seek to return to Him. This essay does not claim to be a transcript recorded directly from the mouth of God. It is a mere human perspective of the unimaginable, the flawless, incorruptible love only Our Heavenly Father could have for us. It has however, been written fervently attentive to the relationship between God and man as expressed throughout Scripture. Perhaps Our Father may say to us:

So many times my children, I have heard you question, why would God bother to create man; why would He love man? In a way that you may better comprehend the depth of love I have for you, I will express Myself according to your words. First, I ask the question of you: why do a man and woman so sincerely devoted in life and love to one another, long to bring forth children? Is it not the procreation of life in the sharing of that love that expresses the deepest respect, trust and surrender, devotion and freely given commitment between a man and a woman? As a man and woman become of one flesh in their sacramental union, is not their child the perfect expression of that unification into one flesh born of that love? Yet this testament to creation is less than a passing thought compared to that which rests within Me. For this reason I have bestowed upon you the gift of bringing forth children, directly sharing in My creation of life so that you may experience that most Blessed expression of love and the creation of human life made in my own image and likeness.

The foolish man of little faith may say it is a natural animal instinct to reproduce, degrading man to the level of a thoughtless beast. How foolish can intelligence render a man? For animals have no conception of love nor emotions, no pleasures derived from their day to day witness of their children as they grow and interact in their parent-child relationship; they cherish no memories and they know no guilt for wrongful acts a husband or wife may commit in offense to their loved one. They have no thought or desire in the willing commitment of a relationship with their beloved. Is it not true that man well knows his being is above all creation? Although many of My children have abused this precious gift I have bestowed upon them, there has never been a child conceived that was not My child. There has never been a soul brought into the world that I did not love, and never a child I did not wish to share in eternal life. Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you. It is because of these I have so long ago proclaimed, for every human life I will demand an accounting; even from animals I will demand an accounting of human life and from man I will demand it, for each and every one is My child whom I love. Yes, I love you.

So deeply I desired you, to love you and be loved as your true Father; to give you life and bestow upon you the heritage of eternal joy in My Kingdom, My Heavenly Universe. A magnificent Kingdom existing beyond all realms and limitations of beauty, purity, time and distance and the longing that you may share in this never ending paradise with Me if only that you may freely choose to return my love. Of this Kingdom no mortal can conceive, for this is the ultimate gift of life in its fullness and majesty.

Before you, My child, I created the angels, but then they had no lacking in their knowledge of Me or in their immediate relationship with Me. Although they also have been gifted with free will, theirs is an existence that left them no real need for choice of one path over another because they were created into Heaven and received fulfillment in their creation. They never experienced a life of choices. For My beloved angels to choose anything otherwise would be to choose wantonness; to reject all for part; satisfaction for dissatisfaction; contentment for discontent and absolute for uncertainty. Their love is true for Me as is Mine for them founded upon that which they knew of Me upon their creation and there was never the need for any other consideration on their part simply because they could only choose less. Yes, they choose Me lovingly and devoutly in the most sincere angelic way but in a sense their free will was hampered by the instance of their most intimate relationship with Me without alternatives to choose in their existence.

But what, I pondered, of a being that would be born in My image and likeness yet possess no true pre-knowledge of Me to interfere with his or her free will?

The prodigal son or daughter

Falling From Faith