![]() She mentioned that TSW inspires her “to want to be a better follower of Christ and to accept the things I cannot change in my life.” You might instantly recognize the latter half of that sentence as a reference to what is now commonly known as “The Serenity Prayer.”It’s one of the most famous prayers in common use in Western culture, and a portion of it adorns the walls and literature, of every meeting of Alcoholics Anonymous in the world, as well as most other self-help endeavors based on the Twelve Steps of A.A. THE SERENITY PRAYERThere is an answer to that question, but first let’s get back to the pre-Christmas letter cited above from an Ohio reader. Mtaxas calls ‘the great decision.’ What would animate someone to leave comfort and security for the depraved Nazi Germany, where he would surely be arrested for supporting the Jews?” He elected to return to Germany, what Mr. “recalls how in 1939 Bonhoeffer was sitting safely in New York at Union Theological Seminary. I wrote of the great Lutheran Pastor Dietrich Bonhoeffer in “ These Stone Walls: The Hits and Misses of 2015.” That post mentions a superb interview with Eric Metaxas by Kate Bachelder entitled “ The Death of God Is Greatly Exaggerated” (WSJ.com, Dec. Talk about pressure!The two letter writers are thousand of miles apart, but their letters are connected in an odd sort of way. in which he wrote that my TSW posts remind him of Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s famous Letters and Papers from Prison. Your light is still shining” On the same day, I received another letter from a reader in the U.K. The writer added, in a paragraph later, “You are doing so much good despite what was done to you. You inspire me to want to be a better follower of Christ and to accept the things I cannot change in my life.” (Letter dated Dec. It did not take me long to have your blogs come right to my inbox and I gobble up everything you write. I became very concerned when I looked you up online and found your blog and read some of your articles. I am always so inspired by other people’s conversions! When I read the chapter about Pornchai Moontri I was very touched by his story and remarkable conversion and, frankly, I was shocked by your story. “Dear Fr MacRae: I first learned about you when I read the book, Loved, Lost, Found: 17 Divine Mercy Conversions. This excerpt from a letter received just before Christmas from an Ohio reader is an example. Sometimes I try to incorporate responses to letters into a TSW post, and hope that readers can see some of their letters between the lines. I hope it doesn’t discourage you from writing. So some of my mail tends to pile up until I am able to respond.I am so very sorry for this, but prison is one reality I wish I could change, but can’t. 49¢ stamps, and has a purchase limit of twenty per week. It’s especially difficult to respond to overseas mail because the prison commissary sells only U.S. So I find myself writing much of the same things over and over. A part of my excuse is that I can purchase only six Smith Corona typewriter ribbons per year, so that means having to hand write most mail. Of course, every prisoner loves mail, but when it comes to replying to it all, I get a C+ at best. When I explained all this to our friend, Pornchai-Max, he said, “maybe in a thousand years, going off on long, boring explanations about history will be called ‘gordonian.’” HMMPH! Anyway, back to mail call. Draco was notorious for imposing the death penalty for both serious and trivial crimes, thus giving rise to “draconian,” a rather uncomplimentary word named after him. Though technically the capital isn’t necessary, the word refers to the application of harsh laws codified by Draco, a legislator in the city-state of Athens, Greece in the Seventh Century, B.C. Some people spell it with a capital “D” because it’s one of those words that came into English from the name of an actual historical person. I’ll keep you posted on the outcomeThe word “draconian” is an interesting word. A few days before Christmas, the New Hampshire office of the American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit against this prison declaring the ban on cards to be an infringement on your First Amendment rights. ![]() At this juncture, no one knows whether or for how long that ban will hold up. That was largely because of the draconian ban on greeting cards, including Christmas cards, imposed in mid-2015. From Thanksgiving through New Year’s Day these past months, mail call in this prison had a more sullen air about it. ![]() I’m not complaining, mind you, for mail in prison is the life blood of a psyche and a soul. “Forgiveness is to give up all hope for a better past.” It’s a vital petition to recover from spiritual wounds. The Serenity Prayer by Reinhold Niebuhr is much more than a few verses on the walls of a Twelve Step program.
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