The Idente Family in the Philippines visited a women´s jail in Quezon City, on April 9, 2018. They went there to present a play about the resurrection of Christ. They didn’t’ bring food or new clothes for the prisoners as other charity works usually do. They brought the hope of Christ through the play that they showed and through the stories that they shared with the prisoners. They also gave personalized handmade Easter cards.
The prisoners wept with emotion while reading the messages on the cards, the same feeling that the Idente Family felt as they didn’t want to leave the side of the prisoner after hearing each of their stories about how they ended up in the jail.
It was a heartbreaking experience for them to see young women not being able to pursue their dreams as they were put behind bars because of wrong choices that they had made in their life. These prisoners have realized the consequences of badly using their free will. Little by little they are beginning to go straight as they spend their days in the prison.
One of the members of the Idente Family realized that our mistakes don’t define us and that we are the sum of our Heavenly Father’s immense love. Another member commented: “It is important that we remain in our Heavenly Father’s love, in spite of struggles that we are going through. The more we remain in His love, the more we become His children.” She was so grateful experiencing an outreach program like this. She experienced personally what it means to be an instrument of God’s love, by sharing with the prisoners the hope that they can only get from Christ. Not only the prisoners felt blessed, also the Idente Family themselves. They got to see that the best gift that they can give to others is Christ, nothing else and their greatest miracle is not to be free from jail but to know God.
In the Gospel of John, Christ said: “Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone” It reminds us that Christ doesn’t condemn sinners. He did not condemn the woman who had been caught committing adultery. Still, He gave her a work to do: not to sin anymore. As the Idente Family departed from the jail, through their personal dialogue, they shared that they should ask grace from God for our brothers and sisters who are in jail so that they do not go back in their old habits and they also assured to each prisoner that they will be continuously praying for the change of their hearts. A heart that is free, free in choosing the will of God.
