Brad Rozairo, OMI – The Holy Doors in Rome’s four major Basilicas are St. Peter’s, St. John Lateran, St. Mary Major and St. Paul Outside the Walls. Pope Francis inaugurated the Jubilee Year of Hope on Christmas Eve by opening the first Holy Door at St. Peter’s Basilica. He will open the Holy Door of St. John Lateran on December 29th and St. Mary Major and St. Paul Outside the Walls on January 1st and January 5th, respectively.
Have you heard about a Holy Door in a prison? The day after Christmas, for the first time in the long-standing Jubilee tradition, a fifth Holy Door in a Roman prison chapel was declared opened by Pope Francis as a symbolic sign of “inviting all prisoners to look to the future with hope and a renewed sense of confidence”. Prison for Pope Francis is one of the “peripheries” out in the world and it is a place where he feels his closeness with the inmates as they are distanced from society.
For the outside world, prisoners may look like outcasts and sinners, but they are the children of God who need dignity and compassion. I became aware of this when I was involved in the ministry to prisoners in two prisons for nearly twelve years. My first encounter with a group of inmates in a classroom is something that I cannot forget. Through eye contact with them, I could feel the harshness of detention and lack of love and affection. In facing them I became more nervous than them as I was a stranger and not used to a prison setup. However, it did not take much time for me to get familiar with their sad faces. Aside from what I taught, I could also make them smile and create an atmosphere for them to relax for at least an hour, once a month.
Preparing a one-hour talk for the inmates is difficult because you do not know what they want to listen to. Finding a topic was always a challenge for me. Sometimes, I would make them write what interests them on paper so that it could help me prepare talks. Also, at the end of the talk, I would open room for interaction, and a few would express what touched them most or what they would like to hear from me.
Looking back at what I shared with them, I see that my message was mostly about hope, love and forgiveness. Through some stories based on the Bible and video clips, I was trying to tell them that we are all sinners and there is always a second chance and hope of a tomorrow. There were also times I shared a few letters written by Pope Francis to the inmates and his way of showing love and compassion, especially on Holy Thursday through his act of washing the feet of prisoners by going beyond gender, nationality and religion.
As a past prison chaplain, I was happy to learn about a fifth Holy Door in a prison chapel in Rome. Prisons have big, heavy doors that are always locked, but a Holy Door will always remain open “even to those who have committed the most heinous crimes”. I pray that whenever the inmates look at the Holy Door, they may be reminded of God’s mercy and redemption and that this symbol may give them hope for a better future.
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