A weekend spent in jail

My life has been blessed in so many ways. Over the course of many years, I have had many profound weekends; my marriage, my ordination, countless weekends spent with great friends, weekends traveling the country, weekends with huge family events.

Now, one of the most memorable and moving weekends of my life happened in jail. As readers here know, my prison minsitry led me to participate in a Kairos weekend retreat that I have been preparing for over the past 3 months. On Thursday morning, the adventure began.

Gathering with many faith-filled Christians from a number of various faith traditions we approached the Rayburn prison as a team early Thursday afternoon. We first met with a dozen or more inmates who have already attended a Kairos retreat, have been walking with God and who came forward to be the new retreatants table servants for the weekend. Watching them joyfully serve their fellow inmates, as well as all of us on the team, was like imagining the service of those early deacons in the church. Their contribution clearly allowed the team to preach and pray and bring the new guys closer to God.

The new guys came in Thursday and were obviously a little shy and curious. For the most part, they come to the retreat not knowing what to expect and not sure if this is going to be something they want to be involved with. Carefully, through a series of talks, prayers, reflections and plenty of songs, they settle in and listen. And we, on the team, listen to them. There is plenty of time for table discussion, prayer and share and even one-on-one prayer and counseling.

All I can say here is that I witnessed firsthand lives changing over the course of these past 4 days. If the eyes are the window to the soul, then I know souls were changed and won for Christ. Their eyes often told the story. Grown men who have comitted a crime that has landed them in jail; many for years and years to come, have made a decision to walk with Christ.

Now there may be some among them that backslide. There will be pressure inside the inmate population to abandon their new found love for Christ. But that is no different for the Christian on the outside too. Now, we fortify these men with prayers and return weekly to continue to pray and share.

I am most thankful to God for my prison ministry and the opportunity to participate in this weekend retreat. Don't get me wrong, it was long and at times tiring but overall, very fulfilling and spiritually uplifiting. The inmates never realize how in many ways they minister to me. Their openness and willingness to accept me as one who comes to be with them is gratifying. And as I have said many times before, when I go to the prison, I encounter Christ. And I most certainly did this weekend.

While so much time has been spent recently preparing for this retreat, our Catholic ministry inside Rayburn Correctional has also been producing much good fruit. Our weekly attendance has increased and a local priest has comitted to come often to hear confessions. Many more inmates are returning to the Eucharist. Just this past Wednesday evening, the night before we left for the retreat, we had our first adult baptism in years. And we are preparing another for baptism and another for confirmation. The sacraments are coming alive inside our prison community.

So this morning is back to work; back to reality; just as it is for the 30 men in jail who are changed men this Monday morning. Please join me in praying for them that the journey may change their lives forever!