HOLY HOMEWORK

When Freedom Fades

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The young man, JD, committed a series of horrendous murders when he was an 18-year-old adult. So the justice system sentenced him to a life behind bars without the possibility of parole. Because of his violent tendencies toward other inmates he lived in solitary confinement. After 47 years in a maximum-security prison he was transferred in 1932 to an even stricter segregation at a super-max facility in upstate New York. His only forms of recreation consisted of exercise for one hour in a secluded yard and drawing miniature murals in the loneliness of his tiny cell.

In 1933 the warden announced that he wanted a small chapel constructed on the penitentiary grounds. Several convicts volunteered to build it. As soon as the simple structure was complete they asked the warden if a picture of the Holy Family could be sketched on the wall behind the central pulpit. One of the guards assigned to the isolation block suggested that JD had the talent to paint this picture. So the now-elderly felon, who had lived the majority of his life separated from all human contact, was escorted to the little church where he created a portrait of Bethlehem. From a distance, his Nativity scene was truly striking, but on closer examination his canvas became rather strange. The faces of Joseph and Mary were, appropriately enough, the faces of adults. However, Jesus, lying in the manger, had the body of a baby but the face of a grownup. Apparently the years of solitude had deprived JD of something more than his freedom. He had also forgotten what a child's face looked like.

This Fourth of July we celebrate 238 years since the birth of our nation. When visitors come to New York City, one of the tourist attractions on their list is, naturally, the Statue of Liberty. Inevitably they have to strain to see this once tallest monument to freedom and friendship and often remark how dwarfed she has become against the backdrop of progress. From head to heel, her 111-foot height was formidable 128 years ago when the people of France gave this shackle-crushing gift to the people of the United States. But today there are skyscrapers that stretch much higher than her seven-spired crown and nightlights that burn much brighter than her golden torch.

Is there a danger that, like JD, we Americans can also lose sight of the face of freedom? Is it possible for us to take for granted the significance of our struggle against tyranny and our passion for independence? Are the truths of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, which we once professed to be God-given and self-evident suddenly in jeopardy of being exchanged for abortion, addiction and self-centered apathy? Is the generosity contained in the legal name-Liberty Enlightening the World-of this Colossus who welcomes huddled masses to America being reduced to the meager thickness of her copper skin-less than the width of two pennies?

For Holy Homework:

This month, as we commemorate our unalienable rights, let's take a moment to revisit our Declaration of Independence-or at least the preamble of it-and offer a special prayer for those who gave their blood and those who continue to stand in harm's way so that we can remain one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Comments can be sent to: FatherBobPagliari@Yahoo.com