From a Death Row Inmate

I never met Bill personally. We corresponded through letters and through Deacon Jim. Bill was much better about writing to me than I to him. For a year or so, Bill made rosaries and sent them to the bookstore for us to sell. We gave him all the proceeds from the sales, knowing that his rosary ministry gave him purpose and gave our customers a connection. At Christmas this past year, I received a letter that explained that he was able to buy himself and his co-worker a "Christmas basket". I had sent payments back to back because we had sold so many of the rosaries for Christmas gifts. I received another letter a week later from Bill that said, "We were trying to find a way to tithe and the second payment for the sale of the rosaries allowed us to buy a Christmas basket for an inmate who did not get anything. Thank you." Really? Worried about tithing? Tears rolled down my cheeks at the thought of it all. In my small mind filled with judgment, I could not understand why a man on death row was worried about tithing. The fact that he made rosaries to spread the message of Our Lady was difficult enough to fathom, wasn't it? Jim shared that Bill was "tremendously moved by our willingness to share the rosaries he made with the Catholic community of Nashville. He often told me how pleased he was that through your generosity there was now a prayer link between the prisoners and free-world Catholics."  Jim told me not too long ago that Bill was diagnosed with Cancer and this past weekend, Divine Mercy Sunday weekend, Bill died. We will miss not having that little bit of prison ministry on our counter. I will miss the letters and the boxes of new, brightly colored beads that arrived on occasion. I never knew him, nothing about his past, only about the rosaries, and yet...