8th Sunday of Ordinary Time - Feb 26, 2022

As I began my reflection on this Gospel I was struck by a truth that I didn’t realize until now.
It is a truth as deep as any I have ever experienced.
Here is that truth….the last 10 years and 7 months in prison has changed me! 
Some might say….well duh…..
Yet I was kind of blind struck.
Because I came to ministry in prison as I thought, a fairly open book, fairly nonjudgmental, person, who was aware of my own brokenness and willing to walk with others in theirs. 
But after all these years, I have come to realize, that I wasn’t as open and nonjudgmental as I thought I was.  And while I was aware of my own brokenness and woundedness, I have come to an ever deeper appreciation of the extent of that brokenness and the healing power of compassion.
Several years into my service in prison I had an encounter, which forever changed how I looked at myself and others…and which I will always carry with me.
A resident of the prison at which I was serving asked to come visit with me in the Chapel.  It seemed a bit odd as this guy never graced the doors of the Chapel and his reputation preceded him and his request.  Time and time again, officers and staff said to me….be careful when he comes, make sure you are on camera, make sure the bubble knows so they can watch….be careful…over and over….
The day came and I will call him Shawn…Shawn came to my Chapel office.  Shawn was all ink…every inch of his body was covered in ink…tattoos from the top of his head to the soles of his feet…even inside his lips.  He looked scary and if you looked closely there were many words in his ink…words, many of which I cannot repeat, but were quite startling once you actually read them.
I will admit, with all the ink, it was very hard to focus on his eyes..even his eye lids had ink…when he came in he sat down and we did the usual small talk introductions stuff.
I said to him….Shawn would you mind if we just took a moment to be with each other. I said I am certain there is a story behind all the ink, but it is so overwhelming that I am finding it hard to focus on our conversation and I really want to be present to you when we talk.  Do you mind if we just sit for a few moments?  Dead silence and I thought to myself…OMG I hope my bubble officer is watching the camera…but Shawn said…sure we can.
We sat just looking at each other, and after a while I said, thank you Shawn.  He said…for what?
I said for allowing me to get a glimpse of what you want others to see and think about you.
But I wonder if it is what you believe and if you believe it is all true?
Shawn sat there and said….let me tell you Chap.  All this ink, it is all things that I heard about me in my arrest, trial and conviction and all the various things I have heard about me in the prisons I have been in since that happened. 
You see he said; I came to prison at 17 and am now 36. 
This is 19 yrs of what others think, and I thought, what the hell, I might as well put it on my body so that others don’t have to guess. 
I know I will never get out, so might as well save people the time guessing, and it is a bit intimidating too so that helps sometimes especially here inside, you know what I mean.
I was struck by the pain behind his words, those spoken and those imprinted on his face and hands and arms…I asked him….do you believe those words and those symbols?  Well he said; why wouldn’t I?  I have heard them over and over and over again…so….they must be true.
Then he said…you know, I see many of the same things on your face too…but rather than ink they are printed in wrinkles. 
I had to be honest….in some ways he was right….I had felt some of the things he outwardly had etched in ink. 
Yep I said, I am broken just as you are.  Yet I believe that is exactly what makes God’s love so amazing. 
That even in our profound brokenness, we are loved.
He said:  I never felt that and never believed it…..but maybe there is something there.
Then he said, well Chap I got to get back to the block.  Thanks for chatting.
I said well Shawn we didn’t even get to talk about what you wanted to talk about.  And as he stood up he said…yes we did…I just wanted to see if you could see me and not just the ink that everyone else sees, and you do.  Thanks….I will be back. And with that he left the Chapel.
In the moments as I sat there in my office reflecting on the experience I remembered the story of the Ancient father of philosophy, Socrates…the teacher of Plato and Aristotle and sometimes known as the Oracle of Delphi who formed the fundamentals of the philosophical movement.
One of the most influential stories of Socrates, is one of his legacies as well, it has been dubbed the Socratic Triple-Filter Test.
By using this test in our daily lives, we can learn to become much better and more caring people. The story goes a bit like this:
An acquaintance of Socrates one day came up to him and said, “Do you know what I just heard about your friend?”
“Hold on a minute,” Socrates replied. “Before you talk to me about my friend, it might be a good idea to take a moment and filter what you are about to say. This is what I call it the triple filter test.
The first filter is Truth.
Have you made absolutely sure that what you are about to tell me is true?”
“Well, no,” the man said, “actually I just heard about it and…”


“All right,” said Socrates. “So you don’t really know if it’s true or not.
Now, let’s try the second filter, the filter of Goodness.
 Is what you are about to tell me about my friend something good?”
“Umm, no, on the contrary…”
“So,” Socrates continued, “you want to tell me something bad about my friend, but you are not certain it’s true.
You may still pass the test though, because there’s one filter left — the filter of Usefulness.
Is what you want to tell me about my friend going to be useful to me?”
“No, not really.”
“Well,” concluded Socrates, “if what you want to tell me is neither true, nor good, nor even useful, why tell it to me at all?”
You see my friends I believe we can all take something from these two stories and implement them into our daily lives.
If we have nothing true, good, nor useful to say about another, why bother saying it at all?
And
What we see is not always what is in a person’s heart. 
It’s just a part of their journey and our journey too and we are more similar than we are different.