Category Archives: Prison

Will Emotion Override and Cloud the Spirit’s Path to Logic and Truth?

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I listened to a young man pour out his emotions as he spoke on TV about the terror and trauma he experienced during the mass shootings that took place at the Parkland High School in Broward County, Florida.   It was gut wrenching to listen to.  My heart was torn as I listened as his words.  It caused me think of my own children and grand children.

Emotions are a vital part of our human condition.  More than that they are truly a gift from our creator.  Emotions serve as the only source capable of taking a human on a journey to the core of our soul where we encounter our human values.  But more importantly, they take us on a journey so we can see ourselves face to face as in a mirror.  It is as if we must be dragged kicking and screaming into a Garden long ago set aside as the place where blo0d is sweat as the human heart engages the battle where emotions attempt to drive us away from looking into the mirror of truth.  Said another way, emotions seek to focus on a simple solution rather than confront the ancient symbolism hidden in a seamless garment.  The truth of the temple of our soul is intimately connected to the human search for the purpose of a people so loved they have been granted free will.  The pain of emotions can distort truth as one who seeks to avoid the journey to the only source with the potential to wash the human family clean and make us whole again.

Hold on to that image of the seamless garment for within it’s creation lies the secret of one who is willing to offer up life as the price of penetrating the human heart and restoring mobility to a stiff neck!  The truth found in the blood found on the ground speaks to a hope beyond measure!

Here in this mirror lies a treasure, a gift from our creator where the real possibility exists to confront and overcome human natures original sin!  Sin the modern world seeks to ignore and worse deny!  In this mirror the image and likeness of our creator one cannot  ignored or escape!  The source of truth is dimly lit to a new arrival and the values buried within are designed to lead us to the truth in the beginning hearken to a soul thirsting and longing for an answers!  Here in this garden of agony one encounters the potential to ingest the breath of ancient truths again as in the first time.  Emotions erupt from deep within our gut as they crawl upward into our heart and mind creating the only unrest that can open the door that can lead to the search for hope we can find again the sacredness and treasure of life!  The question is  will take the time necessary to endure the journey to the core of our soul where we can encounter the spirit and wisdom that created us.  It is in the deeps of our soul where emotion can be balanced with the gifts of logic, wisdom, understanding of the purpose of the creator’s plan that calls people to freely choose the journey with the potential usher in real hope for a healthy human family.

A gun on the other hand is just metal and cold.  It has no spirit, no emotions and cannot make a decision.  It can not pick itself up, load itself or pull it’s trigger.  It lacks warmth or breath.  A gun has no emotions and cannot reflect upon anything that happens to it or it’s impact on any living being.  Why are we investing so much time on an inanimate object with no potential to save us?

As I listened to this young man, I too was sent on a journey to the core of my soul and began to ask the spirit in the mirror questions.  Who was this young man who picked up that gun?  What happened to him?  Who were his parents and how did he get that gun?  What questions are being asked about this young man and his environment?  Guns were allowed in school when I was a kid and this kind of event never took place.  What has changed?

Can we examine the seamless garment without being executed?  Do we really have an understanding of who we were created to be?  Is our focus on an inanimate object or the core of the soul of humanity?

If you made it thus far, will you come with me on a journey through the flawed memories of a child beginning to digest and grasp at the seamless garment and how it runs through the whole of humanity where not a single soul is without impact?

Is anyone willing to ask, have all the political attacks over the past several years on the police had an impact?  he alone the associated demand for body cameras?  Have we  pushed our policemen into political correct precautionary non life saving behaviors?  Someone with courage needs to be willing to ask?  Have our emotions and power agendas overridden our ability to have courage under fire?

How about the violence in so many neighborhoods?  How about the self inflicted wounds of gender-ism?  Isn’t the DNA we are born with the DNA we will die with?  Did God make a mistake when he created us?  Is there something else in play?  Have we now declared ourselves to be God?  How about the breakdown of families?  How about the destruction of life for those who cannot speak?  How about a feminist movement that does not include mothers?  How about the stripping of a mans ancient obligation to the mother and their children?   In the beginning God created man and woman and it was good.  The two became one flesh.  Abortion kills not only the child but the father for the two are no longer one flesh!

Do we have any real men in political life?

Why are so many people today taking drugs for everything?  Why are TV commercial’s full of advertisements for new drugs?  Does a pill correct every situation?  Do our brain’s work any more?  Why do we want to stop letting boys be boys?  Why are so many young men in prison and why are they so angry with their parents?  Why are we afraid to ask these questions?

When I was a kid we allowed prayer to be taken out of school about the time I finished.  We allowed abortion to begin to flourish at about the same time.   Why do our politicians support the abortion of 60 million babies and then insist we need 60 million immigrants?

Does anyone recognize the abortion decision declared a death sentence on a father’s right to protect his children?  Do gun free so called safe zones override the right of a father to protect his child from a principal whose policies do not report crimes which undermines the law intended to keep guns out of the hands of individual’s with histories of violence?  Are our police and sheriff’s bullied by the politically correct and unwittingly unleashed the violent and mentally unstable on society.  Has politics destroyed common sense?  Have we become so smart and tolerant that we are now become our own worst enemy?  Have we declared that sin is dead and people are just misunderstood?

Have we allowed a judge to override the voice of the people?  Have we allowed a judge to declare the father of a child has no rights even in a marriage?  Why do we want to destroy men and the potential father many are created to become?  What has this done to our children and does anyone care what the the impact is on children and family?  Is anyone looking at the success of children brought up in a traditional family versus the new so called norm?

About the time I was just a kid contraception exploded.  I thought it was good!  Has anyone opened their eyes lately?  Is sex no longer about children?  Have we advertised the impact of contraception on the human breakdown of the family?  Divorce has sky rocked.  Single parenthood in many neighborhoods is 70% and higher.  What is the emotional cost and impact on children from all of these changes?  Our prisons are overflowing with angry, upset young men most from single parents homes.  Discipline in schools is major growing problem.

Are we in denial about the nature of our humanity and natures use of hormones?  Do we not know what takes place year in and year out in natures survival of life?  In many parts of our world cultures are approaching self annihilation because of the refusal to birth children.  Anyone talking about the death of Christianity by those who [profess to be Catholic’s and Christians.  Who has muted the voices of our Bishops and Religious leaders?

Has anyone noticed the changes that have taken place over the years in Hollywood, TV, movies, entertainment and video game industry.  Do they glorify violence and shoot em up adventures?  Is promiscuous and raw sex displayed as normal?  How about the impact of the internet, the smart phone and sexting?  And what about the explosion of porn – the objectification of women, children and sex?

We have become a people who lack the courage to ask ourselves tough questions!  What is the stumbling block that prevents us from asking the tough questions that affect people with the potential to pick up and use a gun?  Why are we so afraid to ask these questions?

What is a safe zone?  Shouldn’t a mothers womb the safest zone every created.  Ask a small kid?  Who is the enemy of that zone?  Is it a gun or is it man?

Aren’t a mother and a father supposed to be the protectors of their children with the duty and responsible to assure their safety?  Who overrode those parental rights?  Why do we entrust our children to people who have allowed the children to run the school?   What system or systems in Broward County failed the students and faculty in that school?  Do we not know our government has encouraged the non reporting of violent crimes in schools?  If you see something – say something!  Did that work?  And what is the FBI doing these days – does anyone know?  So how can a system based upon reported crimes prevent someone from purchasing a gun when the system rewards non reporting?  Have emotions overtaken and all bet eliminated logic and leadership?

My brother tried every kind of drug while he was in college.  He took his own life!  So we ant to legalize pot!  Emotion has overridden logic!  What about all the drugs people are using today?  Is anyone paying attention?  Can we ask?  What is the drug overdose rate today?  Does anyone notice all the drug commercials on TV?  What is our society selling – a quick fix – just take a pill?

And we have just entered the arena of social media and new technology?  What about social media?  Will the children of the future develop social skills to interact with people face to face?  What again about the deterioration of the family and why is it children with a mother and father are so much more successful on average?   Do we have the courage to ask the questions that we get to the heart of the problem or have our emotions trapped us in a dialogue with a gun issue?

Folks, we have a culture problem.  Our values are in the toilet!  It’s time for our emotions to take on a trip back to source when we look ourselves in the mirror of truth so the door of hope is opened and we can begin again to reach for the full potential of the gift of life!

Finally, does anyone know that true love will piss of an awful lot of people?  Didn’t the people of his own family take the one who came to testify to the true to a cross?  Weren’t they jealous and envious of his courage to speak the truth?  And they didn’t like the way he preached because it forced them to look into the mirror of truth!  So I ask, do we modern day sophisticated people really want to hear the good news or do we just want happy talk?

Self examination in the deeps of ones soul is where forgiveness and healing begin.  Love one another as I loved you!  Lord have mercy!

Language that Speaks to the Heart

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A couple weeks ago I signed up for a Spanish on-line class being offered by my diocese. I have young “espanic” speaking inmates who attend the Catholic service I support at the Burruss Correctional Training Center (- state prison).

Started the on-line class last week and realized I didn’t know where I had put my ear phones with mic when I bought this pc.
Class is recorded so as I tried to listen while I searched the God lord had me look in the right place.

I was reminded my dad’s parents where immigrants as children through Ellis Island. My dad told me when he was a boy and the immigrant children in his neighborhood mostly refused to speak their parents native tongue because they were now American’s.

Years later, my dad told me he regretted that decision because he lost the ability to speak the language of his parents.

So if you know someone young or old do not be afraid to tell them it is not un-American to be fluently bi-lingual. A human being is capable of cherishing both.

And if your English only tolerant – ease up a little.

A secret key lies hidden in desire to reach the heart of the listener where the door of hope is found for every human!

Sometimes one must grow old to begin to understand the fullness of the language of life, hope and love!

A Cell Phone — Isn’t that a felony in Prison?!?

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Called an inmate today who was transferred to the governor’s mansion where he has begun the process (work release program) in preparation to renter the world as a free man. I told him I was thankful for my time with him.

He has been in prison for years. He told me he was an angry man who often found himself in solitary confinement. Then one day he heard a voice calling and began to search for the source! The truth will set you free – and for this reason I came to testify to the truth spoke the voice!

Freedom in the modern world can be overwhelming. We free people seldom recognize the leap of faith and courage required to remain free.

He has been given a cell phone – a privilege we all take for granted and a felony for anyone who enters a prison. I am required to leave mine in my 🚗 every time I visit. Can you imagine the hope that cell phone represents! There really is hope for me and maybe next year I can walk free!

I have an extra kick in my step Thanksgiving this day.

So I ask what do we take for granted that we should give thanks for? Thank you Lord for leading me to a real encounter with the tears of hope you planted in every soul!!

I ain’t worth a S___!

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In prison this week a new guy came. He said he was searching and had always thought he wasn’t worth a s___! Every where he went he was the problem! And he was no young man! Amazing how long we can hold onto a child’s wounds! Amazing as well is how difficult it is to reach out beyond self. Most can’t admit it but many are looking for a savior and don’t where to look. We all need someone capable and willing to hear our cry and be willing to just listen! ‘‘Tis the season when we get ready for a baby who came to open hearts so they might be healed! The child in me needs to hear Merry Christmas!

Where do I find Church?

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My church’s name is the “AL Burruss Correctional Institute”! I know, I know I never heard of a church with such a name! But think about it!!! It’s place that causes it’s residence to do some serious soul searching. They find themselves suffering in many ways and anger often lives very close to the surface. Each is guilty of some sin they can’t hide from and over time forces each inmate to begin searching to confront the unhappy soul that lives within. It’s a church for the lost, forsaken, guilty and everyone there traveling a similar road with pit falls, trickery, and encountering others who maybe more skilled at manipulating a brother. One could conclude many find themselves abandoned by friends and family.

I found myself walking among people often forgotten even thinking of themselves as throw away people.

God tricked me into going there to experience how it feels to be thrown away myself. What I found is the thirst for hope that can be passed through the breath of unspoken words to those thought to be unqualified souls who in turn begin to open windows to their souls which allow hope to wash over them and it begins to radiate out and within the walls of the prison.

If you were able to hang in here with me – there’s a really good chance you can help a soul who has been thrown away by opening your windows to let the breath of hope pass through you and on out to penetrate self constructed prison walls and possibly never speak a word! It’s a gift from a baby!

Evil Hides in Darkness and Seeks to Surround

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Darkness slowly creep-ed up upon me and wrapped it’s arms around me and began pressing in from every angle as it long sought to squeeze the light from my soul. Evil and sin are spreading their wings across the land to test the soul of a nation.

The lord gave me a gift I could have not received except by walking through the valley of darkness hidden in the bowels of human passions. A gift I never asked for , prayed for, dreamed of or sought. I was sent to stand as a witness to the self destruction humanity unwittingly set free. The”HIV” crises of the late 1980’s and 90 is alive and as well today as then. I was sent into prison to encounter the anger of young un-churched men who could not articulate the reason for their anger. Could it be the love of a father for his son? Does anyone see what I see in the darkness that seeks to blind me? Anger permeates the air!

Why I cry out?!? And a whimper of a voice thought unheard speaks To the soul of man. We live in this modern society of where humans are routinely thrown away just like things. The darkness has managed to turn a mother’s womb into a battleground where death is more and more often the victor. The unborn are throw away humans and worse. The unborn are for the Rick nothing more than pieces parts. The soul is tossed into the darkness and every human that survives eventually sees what takes place in the darkness. Life is no longer a right or sacred! Where is my father and mother asks every child? The question is planted in the soul of every human creature. But darkness seeks to extinguish the question that seeks to find the light of truth. The father has no voice says the law. We have rendered him tossed out. Of the two it takes to make one – the father does not exist. Just ask almost any young inmate if he knows his father?

I look all about the land for a leader with the courage to speak with eyes undefeated by the darkness. Is there anyone I wonder with an ember of fire in the furnace of the soul who has been prepared for this day and this battle as humanity seeks to replace God with himself?Man must render himself deaf and blind to the cries of men being tossed about in the wind of selfish pleasure which seeks to make them unaware of the darkness closing in!

How deep into the darkness must I pass before the promised one wraps his arms around me and tells me – son a long time ago I paid the price for every man and opened the doorway that passes from darkness to the light?

Thank god for the blessings of all those human creatures who walk with us through the darkness, especially children who depend upon our ability to see through the darkness and those who help us find the light!

The Dangers of Whispers = Prison

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Prison tonight – what on earth do I have to offer?

Messages are passed through every conceivable method all day long – in or out of prison!

Whispering from all sides fills my ears. Those who walk as my friends, yet look for opportunity to set me low! Friends who in secret watch for my every misstep hoping it will entrap me so they can prevail and take vengeance upon me.

Check out the words of Jeremiah 20: 10-13!

A prophet who answered the call only to discover the message he was to deliver would bring him persecution.

Can I move forward even as the whispers of those, who in secret seek to pull me down?

The LORD is with me, like a mighty champion:
my persecutors will stumble, they will not triumph.

Hope no matter what, where or when exists when ones spirit is open to the whisper of the wind that caresses my cheek as it passes by even though I may not see it!

Prison Walk

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As I walk amidst the wounded from the field of battle within our culture, I asked a couple young inmates if they had anything they wanted to pray for tonight????

One young inmate said he had 4 kids ages 6 and 7.  I repeated what he said because I thought I heard wrong. I asked about the mother. That’s when he told me the children were from four different girls. The kids are being raised by the grand parents. Wow do they need our prayers. The young man has a tear tattoo on the lower corner of his left eye.

Another asked to pray for his daughter who is age two. When I asked I was told the mother is not part of the family. She is in another kind of prison I thought to myself!

These young people should still be just kids to me.

Who drove prayer out of our schools? Who seeks to remove God from everything? Who clings to the destruction of life before it arrives? Who remains silent while so many seek to silence the voice of the tear that speaks for a young man who does not know what to say or how to pray!

If there appears some intensity to my writing or when I speak from time to time — forgive me — the voice of that tear I hear penetrated my soul and I could not hold it in!

Suffering — the Doorway to Truth

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Is there anyone who came to teach people that suffering has meaning and a purpose?

We should do all we can to avoid and prevent suffering – right?  There is nothing to be gained through suffering?  No one should ever have to suffer right?

Are there any lessons to be learned when one suffers?  Does suffering lead one to seek the cause of the suffering.  Can suffering be self inflicted.

Do we not have a free will to choose in every situation?  Could Free Will be a gift of Love?  Could that gift of Love be the necessary teacher of the consequences of free will choices?  Could that gift of love actually be digested discerned by humans through suffering.  Could the avoidance or intervention and prevention of suffering actually be an act of leading one into spiritual  captivity, bondage and slavery from which one increasingly is unable to escape?

What is the Cost and Consequences of Free Will

Have we humans been granted an unconditional gift of free will?  And with free will do we get to choose the consequences of our actions?  When we ignore the warnings and advice of those who know us best and love us the most do we open ourselves to the risk of failure and self inflicted wounds?  Do we sometimes follow those who mislead us with none living images, idols and in the long run treat us as receptive fools lacking wisdom, knowledge and the courage to seek and discern the truth?

Could suffering actually be a building block gift which opens our minds to the “Good” and the “Bad” of free will choices?

Suffering in my life lead me to pray for an openness of mind and soul to identify what caused my suffering.  Suffering lead me to develop an unquenchable thirst for the truth though I did not recognize it often for days, weeks and yes even years.  Suffering gave me a unique spiritual scale to balance joy and sadness and lead me to recognize and understand the most power gifts and talents I have.  From my suffering came my most prized and treasured success’s.

Suffering always leads me back to the one who came to earth to teach the most basic and powerful blessings of suffering.  We refer to that teacher as the one who shows us how to serve, cuts through the smoke to the truth, shows us the way to live and the way to encounter heaven on earth and prepare for the heaven perfected yet to come – known as the “Already and the Not Yet”!

 

Fathers Day and the Destruction of Dad

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Holy Scripture speaks of having eyes but not being able to see!  Of course scripture is speaking of both physical and spiritual eyes!  With our human eyes we can see while simultaneously we are often unable to see the spiritual implications of what is directly in front of our nose.  Watch Out or we will bump into the wall we are constructing of unintended consequences!

Brace yourself to confront the truth.

We honor our fathers while all around us we are eliminating to the presence of dad.

We only need a few statistics to see this modern day battle taking place to remove dad from the equation of family.  How’s your eyesight?  Can anyone see the consequences of good intentions actually resulting in the destruction of dad and the make up of the ancient traditional family model described by Abraham the father of faith for the Jews, Muslims and Christians?

Boy, that brings up a lot of philosophical and faith questions.  Aren’t we all from the same family and father?

And if the father is missing from the modern family equation who then is replacing dad?

Remember the story of Abraham?  What was so important to Abraham?  We know he already had a son, Ismael by his wife’s slave Hagar?

Yet Abraham was not satisfied.  What is it about the human condition that made Abraham dissatisfied?  Put on your spiritual eyes!

Thirteen years after Ismael is born – a long time to wait, finally miraculously along comes Isaac the son of Shariah!

Humans are mamal’s and as such have animal survival instincts.  God placed us here on earth to procreate – participate in the creation of new life!  But we humans are also created in the image of God therefore have a spirit or soul which separates humans from animals.

It is this spiritual dimension that Abraham longs to satisfy.  The Lord God promised Abraham he would be the father of a great nation – not any nation but the Jewish nation, a nation chosen to be a light to the world for the one and only true God.

Why was it so important to Abraham to have a Son?  Didn’t he already have one?

To fulfill this spiritual dream, Abraham instinctively knew he needed to have a child with his Jewish wife Shariah creative a pure blood son of Jewish ancestry.  It could be no other way from Abraham.

Ever pay attention to the animal kingdom and the great sacrifice and effort animals instincts play in the procreation of their offspring.

A mother always knows, without exception the child she bears is of here seed.  But what about the father.  A father can not automatically be so certain.

Therefore, in nature for every species, a father has an inherent instinctive need to assure within his capability the child born is of his seed and not someone Else’s child.

For example, with homing pigeons the male pigeon begins to drive his mate about the time she is ready for her egg to be fertilized.  This behavior is called driving the hen.  The male pigeon will essentially wear himself driving his hen.  He will not let her rest, stop to eat or drink until she lays those two eggs.  This behavior is designed to keep another male pigeon from mounting her and thus assuring the resulting offspring are truly and purely his.

This behavior and instinctive drive is natural in every male.  Conversely the female always knows the child is hers!

Your spiritual eyes open yet?  The story of the first born son is from antiquity!  Why a son and not a daughter?  Because it is a lesson about a relationship of faithfulness and purity.

The life seed of a father requires complete faithfulness on the part of the mother.  The life seed of a father demands action and behavior by the father to protect, defend and assure the mother and child conceived are nurtured and protected.

Marriage – What is Married???

Marriage is a word used to describe this unique relationship of faithfulness between a man and woman where the purity of children born into this family are pure.  It is a relationship where a man and a woman open themselves up to the most intimate of relationships that open the possibilities of being responsible for the children brought into the world through this intimate relationship.

The fullness of the spiritual story is woven into the fabric of the human story of the journey of life on earth.

When the father of a child is destroyed by circumstances of life, every child born into this circumstance instinctively searches for the father who by nature is called to protect and defend that child.  A single mother can raise a child but she can not completely replace the spirit of a missing father.

In the world of 2011, over half the children being born in the land of the free and the brave are born to single unwed mothers.  These children face a life time of wondering who their father is and why he was not present to protect, defend and nurture them?

And who are the mothers turning to replace what nature created – a father.  More and more women are turning to a federal government, who itself is turning toward a political correctness value system unfriendly to the father, that not only defies the spirit of truth but seeks to replace the father with an image, a pagan idol which is not alive.  A progressive secular humanism God is seeking to become the new religion of the land.

Open spiritual eyes are required to see the battlefield unfolding before our eyes.

The Truth will set us free!  Only the truth can save us from human natures desire to replace God with self.

Children without a father and a mother who places her trust in a government to nurture defend and support her increases the potential to lead an unaware and unseeing population into a new form of bondage and slavery.  A form of share croppers who owe their survival to a human god who seeks to become the land baron who owns the flesh & blood of it’s citizen slaves.

Destroy the father, destroy dad and with them one begins to replace the one true God with a self serving human idol.

The battle has long been underway and the casualties many.  Yet the War is neither over nor lost!

For the Truth is always the Truth – no one can change the Truth and the Truth can set every spirit free!

The questions is???  How many angry young men will be sacrificed on street corners fighting mad over abandonment by an unseen or unknown dad?  How many children will these young men create themselves?  How many new single mothers are being created with this model of indentured servant implanted upon their spirit?

To be continued ……..