Thoughts on Freedom and Celebration

            The month of May brings to mind a number of celebratory occasions with memories of the yearly events in one’s life such as First Communion, Mothers’ Day, Pentecost, Graduation. For me May is the month to visit the people I know in Kentucky’s prisons. I don’t know why the visits fall in May, it just happened over the years that this is when my parish work slowed down and before summer activities co-opted my attention.
            The first week in May I visited Karen at Kentucky Correctional Institute for Women in Pewee Valley. I have known Karen for about 25 years since our Exodus Jail Ministry group took a field trip to KCIW in the early 90’s to learn about the state facility in order to better understand what some of the women at the local Northern Kentucky jails were facing once they were sentenced. Karen was our inmate guide, a role she performed very graciously. Karen and I have visited occasionally over the years and maintained a fairly regular written correspondence. I have visited her bi-monthly in a pastoral capacity since last November.
            The second week of May occasioned the yearly Shakespeare Behind Bars event. This year’s play, Julius Caesar, performed at Luther Luckett Correctional Complex in La Grange, marked my 10th year as an SBB fan. Several sisters usually join me in this celebration of arts and the inspiration that comes from witnessing the power of beauty to change lives and worldviews of the performers, friends and patrons.
            Now in mid-May I am planning for the yearly prayer visit of religious women and men to the men on Death Row at Kentucky State Penitentiary in Eddyville. Several of us women and men religious from around state gather to have Mass and a visit with a number of the 30 men on the row. Over these 15+ years we and they look forward to reenergizing our friendships. It has become an important expression for us and our communities of the immense and unconditional value of human life.
            May brings us sunshine, warmer weather, longer days, opportunities for outdoor activities – many marks of freedom from indoor confinement and of happy gatherings. Visiting those who are incarcerated stirs up a great compassion for the inmates because of their lack of freedom to move around freely in and out of doors, to engage in safe activities with persons of their choice, and mostly to be with their loved ones for family events to be grieved or celebrated. I invite you to join me in prayer and advocacy for all who are incarcerated, for the persons they have injured and all involved with the justice system.
          Sr. Dorothy Schuette, OSB

Independence Day

“Freedom Isn’t Free…You gotta pay a price...You gotta sacrifice...for your liberty” – words from a song spread by an international group of young people called “Up With People.” They’ve been traveling around the world singing and spreading the message for 50 years, and I am reminded of this song as once again our holiday nears.

It’s July 4, 1967. I’m a student at CUA in Washington DC. At our Mass the priest uses an excerpt from my brother’s letter from Vietnam. Weeks later I visit him, wounded, in Andrews Air Force Base Hospital.

It’s August 1976, our Bicentennial year. I’m in Philadelphia for the 41^st Eucharistic Congress, attending Mass at JFK Stadium sitting next to a man from Bangladesh, and surrounded by Catholics from around the world, making us aware of their hungers for freedom of religion, for justice, for peace, for life itself in repressive countries from which many of them come. I can barely make out a tiny blue and white figure near the platform for the altar, and I know it is Mother Teresa. That’s as close as I get!

It’s July 19, 1986, Cuernavaca, Mexico. I’m in the cathedral with several other Benedictine Sisters from around the USA. We silently pray for the rest of the group carrying a large banner in a parade celebrating Nicaragua’s independence under the Sandinista government, after overthrowing Somoza. His terrorist troops have reunited; now call themselves “contras.” Our banner reads, “Benedictines for Peace Oppose Aid to the Contras.” Remember the Iran-Contra scandal? The Nicaraguans celebrate their hard earned freedom on this day. It’s threatened by US aid to the contras.

                 It’s July 1, 1989, Paris, France. I’m touring with a group of high school students. It’s the centennial of the Eiffel Tower which is lit up: “100 ANS.” (for the tower) The French are celebrating the independence that began with the storming of the Bastille on July 13, 1789, their bicentennial. We can see the outline on the ground where the Bastille had been, gilded gates through which executioners took the unfortunate prisoners doomed for the guillotine. We are told that it took 100 acrobats to build the Eiffel Tower; every seven years it is repainted by acrobatic painters to protect it from rust. The French treasure their freedom.

It’s June 20, 1990, Vienna, Austria. Two teachers and I had taken a tram to see the Belvedere palace. An elderly woman gets off with us. She overheard, and understood, our conversation on the ride, and is eager to tell us to be sure to visit the red marble room in the palace. This was the scene of the signing of the Austrian State Treaty by the foreign ministries of Great Britain, France, USSR and USA on May 15, 1955 with Austria, officially ending World War II and the subsequent 10 year occupation by the four Allied Powers. Austria had been annexed by Nazi Germany at the beginning of World War II. (Remember “The Sound of Music?”) She very proudly shows us the entrance way and proceeds to tell us of her feelings while her country was occupied and then freed again after ten years. It is touching. She points out to us on the map all sorts of wonderful places to visit after the Belvedere.

It’s July 1, 2003. I’m concluding my Jubilee trip with my three sisters and we have to catch a plane in Montreal, Canada. We come across a parade downtown featuring the Royal Mounties. They are celebrating the passage of the British North American Act, establishing Canada as a self-governing entity within the British Empire in 1867, and their Independence Day.

Then on July 29, 2014 my two Vietnam war veteran Marine brothers stand, holding the folded American flag presented to them at the funeral of our youngest brother, while the poignant melody of “Taps” resounds outside the entrance to the church. They had been ready to pay the price, for “Freedom isn’t free, …you gotta pay the price,… you gotta sacrifice,… for your liberty…

”

Were these occasions coincidental? I have much to think about on this Independence Day 2015. 

Sr. Mary Carol Hellmann, OSB

Fireworks, Gun Fire, Hope, Freedom, Grace and Prayer

     With a post due on July 2^nd the only topic that immediately came to mind is the 4^th of July. Since childhood I have enjoyed this day of being with family and friends, grilling, parades, and firework displays. While I do pray for our veterans this day, I was surprised that I failed to mention prayer or put it at the top of my list of enjoyments. Another surprise was that the thought of fireworks felt like a jab in my heart. 

     The word fireworks conjured images of the gun fire and violence throughout the world. I thought of the many places where people wonder each day whether it may be their last on earth. Many even fear of being captured by the enemy to live long days of torture and abuse. In an area close to home there have been so many shootings that children fear to walk on the street.  Then I questioned whether it is even logical to hope and pray for freedom throughout the world? 

     Actually, it isn’t logical. Only God’s grace empowers us to pray for freedom for all people. I pray also that those who define freedom as license will learn the true meaning of the word. While for much of my life I believed we were guaranteed freedom in America, I now realize that the only guarantee of freedom is in Christ. Scripture attests to this in many places, e.g.:

“There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death.” Romans 8:1-2.”

“You will know the truth and the truth will set you free.” John 8:32

     This 4^th of July, I will often say this little prayer in thanksgiving for freedom. “Lord, thank you for giving your life that we may be free. Bless all those who have served our country and continue to give their lives for our freedom. Meet their needs and watch over their families with favor and bounty. 

      Help me live my life in a way that glorifies You. Give me the strength to be a blessing in someone else’s life each day. Grant me the opportunity to lead others into the freedom that can be found only in knowing Jesus Christ.”--Adapted from “Prayer for Fourth of July from a collection by Mary Fairchild.”

                                           Sr. Victoria Eisenman, OSB