[The following is excerpted from my book, Fleeting Glimpses of the Silly, Sentimental and Sublime.]
When we read or hear the
Scriptural reminder of the eternal consequences for our failing to visit the
imprisoned (Matthew 25: 31-46) more often than not the image that first comes
to mind is of those locked behind bars in the far too numerous Federal and
State prisons and local jails that saturate the landscape of this nation – some
2,266,800 adults in 2010 according to the U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics.
More than 2 million! Many of them are Catholic and none of them are there
voluntarily!
Admittedly, Jesus is not calling
every Catholic to be His representative and ambassador to our forgotten
convicted brothers and sisters. Certainly though more are being invited to this
needed ministry than are responding. Is God calling you? Is fear holding you
back?
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(Photo©Michael Seagriff)
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But there is one prisoner you
need not fear. One that each and everyone who professes to be Catholic, without
exception, are being called to visit. He has been imprisoned and been ignored
for more than two thousand years. Unlike his 2,266,800 incarcerated brothers
and sisters in the U.S.,
He is imprisoned voluntarily and out of love. Yet, the majority of those He
loves and who profess to love Him ignore Him, rarely if ever visit Him.
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