FEBRUARY LENTEN CALL FROMTHE PRISON DESERT

“The desert is an invitation and purification for the soul.”—Blessed Charles de Foucauld (Charles of Jesus)

As we begin to enter into Lent, I would like to emphasize why I have called this ministry to prisoners Desert Prison Ministry. It was not an idle thought that prompted me to do this. Standing at the head of a Wadi canyon in the Sultanate of Oman a few years ago, I was impelled to cry out that I was reclaiming this desert in the name of Jesus Christ. Before Muhammed began the great jihad that took over much of the world for Islam, the Arabian peninsula was spotted with synagogues and monasteries. Within a few years, all traces of Judaism and Christianity had been purged by the armies of Islam and, of course, they have not been able to return. If you are interested in this subject, you may wish to read “The Cross and the Desert,” on my other blog, http://failedhermit.blogspot.com/2010_04_01_archive.html

In recent years I have entered more into the spirit of hermitage and the Desert Fathers of the early centuries of the Church. Like Monsignor Hugh Benson, the author of the apocalyptic The Lord of the World (1907), I can easily foresee a Europe as a dying sunset, Rome as a heap of ruins, and the Papal chair removed to a white-washed hut in the desert near Jerusalem. I also think that it is now time for the Church to return to the spirituality of the Desert Fathers and the hermits of every age.

My contact with prisoners across the country brings me shocking stories each week. Prisoners on death row or in long-term sentences such as life without parole are daily subjected to abuses I would blush to describe. No, dear friends, it is not true what you may hear in the bars—that most prisoners are living in the lap of luxury with nice gyms, free TV, and coddled therapy groups. It just ain’t so. Even when they live in almost tolerable conditions, they are often deprived of the Sacraments or the visitations of priests and deacons. To many prisoners, deprived of even basic necessities, five dollars a month to purchase stamps, paper, or a few snacks, means a great deal.

Thank you for the outpouring of donations in January and throughout 2012. Thanks to you, over sixty packages of books, catechisms, Bibles, religious publications, and good literature have arrived to lighten dreary cells, and small money orders have made it possible for prisoners to write their families and lawyers.

Blessings! Please pray for this ministry, for the prisoners throughout the world (think of Korea! China! and the Islamic countries!)

-Ken Craven
661 S. Edgewood Drive
Sparta, TN 38583-1105
www.kencraven.blogspot.com
kentoncraven@hotmail.com