I had the privilege to celebrate and pray with our brothers who have been detained. It was a very emotional celebration and God was praised. It was a grueling day because it’s a 4 hour drive one way to celebrate an hour and a half with them and then drive back four hours.
Though I was ready to celebrate Mass, the policy of the Prison is that no alcohol of any kind at all can be brought in. Therefore, I couldn’t today celebrate Mass with them but we made the best of it and prayed the different parts of the Mass that they have not been privileged to celebrate, meditated on this Sunday’s Gospel and then blessed them ALL individually with the relic of the true Cross that I brought with me.
To help maintain their Spiritual lives, the diocese will make the sacrifice of once a week a priest will dedicate their day to celebrate with our dear brothers who are incarcerated as we await permission from the Warden of the jail. So please pray for our dedicated priests as they sacrifice so much to make Christ present in a powerful way with those in need.
God bless you all and keep working/praying for them. I was moved to tell them that it isn’t I who has come to pray with them, but the whole community is here because the WHOLE COMMUNITY was there praying with them, advocating for them, blessing them, in tears for them and strengthening them. I must say, it was powerful for me and there were many tears shed by the inmates.