The meditation course at the prison in Monroe is now well underway. This is an outreach service of the Community of the Lamb supported by you in your prayers and donations. And already I feel confident in saying that this ministry will thrive.
I can see right away that this meditation course will need to have great flexibility. I am quickly learning that the schedule in the prison is subject to instant changes for seemingly infinite numbers of reasons. The volunteer training prepared me for only just so much. Most of my familiarization with the prison environment will happen spontaneously as events occur.
The first session gave me a good example of this. I arrived in the middle of a lock down due to some incident, and so I sat with a number of other staff and a few volunteers in the waiting room until everything was clear for “inmate movement.” It was a good opportunity to get to know other staff, but left me with only about 45 minutes with the inmates. Since that first day, things have run more smoothly, and I have been able to have the full two hours with the inmates. Currently ten men are attending.
The men who have showed up for the class are ready to get down to business. For the most part they are clear about why they want to meditate. Essentially they are looking for an escape. What do men in prison think about? – Jail break, of course! And why wouldn’t they? The environment they live in is intense and stressful. There is little space for peace and quiet. The need and hunger for a time and space free from these stresses is consciously felt. We on the outside can pick and choose our environment with greater freedom. The work environment may be stressful, but we can escape at the end of the work day. Or the home environment may be a stew pot of stressful relationships, but we can always escape to work or school.
Prison walls are all around us, most of them invisible and interior. The men in Monroe can see their prison walls most clearly. We do not see ours. The advantage of seeing the walls is that one recognizes more readily the need for mercy, grace, healing, forgiveness. These are the ones about whom the Beatitudes are meant: Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. So spiritually we could say that these inmates are one up on us! If we want to break free into greater expansion of awareness and liberation, then may the Holy Spirit show us our own prison walls.
For the men in prison, meditation might look like an escape, but what I always say is whatever it takes to get you to start meditating, fine. The first rule of meditation is show up. Whatever the suffering, whatever the stress, whatever the hunger, show up, sit down, close your eyes and offer the Prayer. Jesus, Yeshua, have mercy on us. And we turn our attention to what is simply present before us – our breath. And as we sit and observe the breath as we silently repeat the Prayer, a quietness settles over the body. It is then in those moments that we may come to be more aware of the aching heart, and we offer compassionate and loving attention to the being who is sitting there. The Mercy begins to make its presence felt. The body relaxes, the breathing softens. A deep unseen spiritual healing is taking place.
Yeshua is the healer, and meditation opens the way for his healing love to move effectively in the wholeness of our lives, not just as we sit in meditation, but as we live each day. Meditation practice provides moments of perfect spiritual wholeness, healing, and communion: communion that flows from the one sitting in devotion to Yeshua and communion that flows from Jesus as the offering of his love. The healing is the result of our mutual, loving devotion there in that space and time of practice. This devotion places our suffering into a new setting of his love.
If we hear what is being said here and respond with further opening of devotion in our meditation practice, then this will draw us more closely into his heart. And we will experience more fully this spiritual healing in all aspects of our lives – in relationships in families, in work, in community, in prison. In all these places, as we offer our heart’s desire and suffering more fully to Yeshua, we become a source of radiance.
The men in Monroe in the prison may not realize it yet, but they are not meditating just for themselves. The healing effects of meditation within them is already becoming a radiance that will affect their environment. Please pray for them in this healing and transforming process of meditation.
