It’s a good 400 paces, maybe 450, heading north from the Visitor’s parking lot to the Gatehouse at Menard Correctional Center. Once inside, you retrace almost every one of those steps, heading south along Front Street, in order to reach the Chapel.
No big deal on a nice day. But when nasty weather rears, the walk can be brutal.
Continue readingIt tickled me to see how joyfully The Matriarch held court at her 92nd birthday celebration yesterday.
Is it enough?
The question popped briefly into my consciousness yesterday, as we spent some time ministering inside the prison.
I was a witness this week to technical difficulties that nearly derailed not one…but two different presentations on missionary spirituality.
I could hear the piston engines – their menacing murmur – long before I actually saw the planes the other evening.
For those in prison…and for those imprisoned by any deadly sins in their lives…we look with hope and expectation toward Jesus, the Key of David…in the fourth O Antiphon that’s prayed during these final days of Advent:
O Key of David,
opening the gates of God’s eternal Kingdom:
come and free the prisoners of darkness!
We (Gerri and I) spent the early afternoon helping a dear elderly auntie prepare for her second household move in 13 months’ time.
I’ll admit it: I’m a bit of a wimp. And there’s something about visiting men inside a maximum security prison which tends to remind me of that fact.
With Us Still 