You can’t quite see it, but trust me: it’s there.
“It”, being the Chapel at Menard Correctional Center…situated at the far east end of Front Street, just beyond the fence, razor-wire, wall and cellblock pictured here.
“It” also being the Spirit of the Risen Lord, inside the Chapel. The Holy One was present (for sure) during our recent Kairos (#25 at Menard)…along with offering unmistakable signs of consoling Presence at other times of year.
Cell phones and cameras aren’t allowed on the inside, so I can’t exactly show proof. But I can try to describe the transformation that takes place in the Chapel over the course of our four-day retreat.
One vital element of the transformation? Color!
Most days of the year, the Chapel’s environmental palette is decidedly uninviting:
- …jet-black metal bars and stainless-steel razor wire framing the barricade-enclosures on either end, along with a safety cage placed smack-dab in the middle of the floor-space…
- …all this, surrounded on either side by rows and rows and rows of ancient orange-plastic theater seats, bolted to a dingey gray concrete floor…
- …and bounded by two-storey walls of brick, painted a pallid yellow (think “rancid butter”).
When we come into the Chapel for Kairos, though, we come bearing color!
Color, significantly, supplied by the Body of Christ.
For instance: Each person who promises to pray back home for us – we turn their name into a link on our Prayer Chain. All told, we brought in something like 700 links, with names inscribed on an arresting array of bright pink, yellow, green, orange and blue paper strips. The Prayer Chain is one of the first things we show our Participants…and it makes an impact – literally encircling (and transforming) the Chapel space where we meet most often.
But that’s just the start. Colorful banners and posters are unveiled throughout each day … and taped to the dreary walls. In addition, delightfully decorated placemats adorn the tables in our dining area – all materials that are produced by members of our Christian community back home.
Even perfect strangers get in on the act: We send out requests to Kairos communities across the country and around the world … and they respond with still MORE colorful messages of encouragement. When we started the retreat, there was a stack of at least 750 flyers in our bin … from Kairos communities in Indiana, Missouri, Arkansas, Texas, California, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Georgia, Florida, Idaho, Mississippi, Alabama – even Australia!
I had the happy duty of posting all this stuff – what we lovingly call agapē – on the Chapel walls. And when I was done, we’d covered just about every square inch of pallid yellow brick, covered it in love and encouragement and color!
None of that would have been possible without the help of folks (like you!) on the outside … so on behalf of the Team and the Participants – THANK YOU for making Menard’s Chapel sparkle (at least for a time) with love and color! and grace.
In today’s gospel, the cynical crowd asks Jesus for proof of his saving Presence:
“What sign can you do, that we may see and believe in you? What can you do?
Let me assure you: That wasn’t a problem for any of us at Menard last week: We saw abundant signs of the Holy Spirit’s presence – thanks to all of you! God bless!
Let us pause now…to recall that we are in the presence of the Holy & Merciful One.
IHS
With Us Still 