On this Good Friday, at 3:00 my parents and I searched for a Stations of the Cross that we could pray. We came across the recording of Pope Francis and started watching. He was once again in a mostly empty St. Peter’s Square, with a handful of people who would be processing with the cross. As we listened, we learned that the people were connected with a prison in one way or another. One was a freed prisoner, one was a family member of a victim of a violent crime, one was a guard, one was a man who was falsely imprisoned for 8 years, and there were others. The meditations for each station were written by prisoners. After the introduction of the first station, the meditation was read. The person who wrote it was currently serving a life sentence. His father was also imprisoned, but had died. His story was heart-wrenching. He said that he can’t take away the evil that he had done and that he thought about it constantly. He talked about his childhood of stuttering, lack of education, and bullying. In Jesus’ Passion story, he saw himself as Barabbas. But in all the pain, he said that prison was his salvation. That is where he met Jesus. There was hope in the darkness and in the suffering. It was all a little too intense for my parents, so we didn’t continue watching. But what we did see stuck with me. On this night when we remember Jesus arrested unjustly, tortured, and put to death as an innocent man, the real people and real stories of similar circumstances was very powerful.

I Found God today in a powerful story of salvation.