I was deeply moved by a story that an inmate at Westville State Prison shared with me last Thursday.

This inmate found that his bunkmate was in severe medical distress. He called the guards to take him to the prison medical unit as the bunkmate was vomiting deep red blood with great force or as we may call it, “projectile vomiting.”

The inmate was amazed that his bunkmate’s friends in this prison unit had abandoned him due to their discomfort seeing the blood and hearing the terrible noise of the vomiting. The inmate who was helping has often been the victim of his bunkmate’s jokes and ridicule.

Despite that past abuse, my inmate friend held the bunkmate in his arms, trying to comfort him as he was not only sick but very scared at what was happening to him.

I know the inmate who was assisting. This man is freighted by many things including germs and illness and his anxieties often get the best of him. Yet in this very unsettling situation, his response was to hold the sick man and not just call for help or abandon him like his inmate’s friends had.

Last Sunday was the feast of the Transfiguration. We learn from that Scripture that we are called to ascend to Jesus to be nourished by His help and graces and then descend back to the world with the graces we receive to help others. We learn to share our transformation through the love of God as well as our help, especially to those most in need of God’s healing. We are called not to just do the minimal but to be God’s loving hands. Like the inmate did.

I hope I can be as loving as the inmate in my life. May God give each of us that grace.

The noun, rumination means a deep considered though about something.

-By Deacon Tom Gryzbek