Benedictine Sisters of Mount St. Scholastica, Atchison, Kansas

December 15, 2007
Reflection for the Vigil of the Third Sunday of Advent 2007 (Year A)
Matthew 11:2-11

Suzanne Fitzmaurice, OSB

As I read tonight’s Gospel it brought to mind the image of the Maximum Security Federal Penitentiary in California were I worked the last two years. Since most of you have never been in a Penitentiary let me help you envision it. Imagine a hallway as long as our hallway from St. Scholastica chapel all the way to Dooley Center. Instead of a nice clean carpet there is a cold concrete floor lined with two chipped and faded white lines running down the length of the floor. The walls are made of cold grey cinder blocks void of any color or design and the only decorations are words of warning and caution. There are no windows and the only light is from bright bulbs hanging down from the ceiling far above your head.

My first trip down this cold hallway was one of the most terrifying experiences in my life. After having been processed into the prison as a presenter, I started the long walk down that hall. My senses quickly became overwhelmed with the foul order of dirt, grime, filth and unclean human bodies. As I continued walking, prisoners passed on either side of me (outside the white lines) and as they passed they cursed, threatened, taunted and barraged me with words of anger, hatred, mockery and sexual innuendos. All I could see, hear and feel was despair, despondency and hopelessness. As I got to the end of the hall, I continued up a flight of stairs to the second floor and had to walk all the way back down another cold long hallway to get to my classroom. This time I was accompanied by an armed guard for this floor was even more dangerous than the first.

Not a place any of us like to imagine and yet John the Baptist knew what this was like. While the prison John occupied was a bit different than the halls of a penitentiary today, much remains the same. John was being held in a dungeon with little hope of ever seeing the outside world again. He was surrounded by filth, cold, despair, fear, dejection and doubt. And yet even in the midst of all this, John remained a man of hope. He believed with all of his being that the Messiah was coming and that he was coming soon.

That first night at the prison, I met a man who for me has become that image of John. “Jay” as I will call him was the one to welcome me that first night I arrived. Knowing I was obviously terrified, Jay got me situated and calmed my nerves by talking non-stop about himself and the group. Jay, I learned, had committed murder as a young man and was sentenced to life without parole. Yet now 20 years later, he was not bitter, he was not angry, instead he led a group of men--half lifers who would never be released and half young men who would one day return to society. Each night this group met for classes to better themselves and so the older men could help the young men have a chance of never returning when released. They not only worked on survival skills but worked on anger, forgiveness, restorative justice and their own faith. Like John the Baptist, Jay and the men in this group were men of hope. Even in the worst of circumstances, they believed in the message they heard. They believed things could be changed and even if they never saw that change, what mattered is that it changed for others.

What John the Baptist and Jay both knew is that even when we are surrounded by despair, we are called to see beyond the pain and to remain people of hope. John the Baptist and Jay are reminders of the power of spreading that hope to the world. We may see poverty, homelessness and hunger caused by a lack of resources for those in need and feel overwhelmed but can we also see the millions who are reaching out to others through donations of food, clothing and shelter and be encouraged? We see the senseless violence of the war, domestic violence and random shootings and fear it will only get worse but can we also see those who are dedicating their lives to working for peace in the world through demonstrations, advocacy and education and join our voices with theirs? We see the persecution and exclusion of those who are “different” because of nationality, religion or gender and shake our head in sadness but can we also see those who are welcoming the stranger, encouraging understanding and tolerance and believe in the future?