Inherit the Wind

Three Days before Pentecost, Fr Gordon MacRae marks 32 years of priesthood. “Inherit the Wind! Pentecost and the Breath of God” is Part I of a planned June 4 post.It's spring cleaning and inspection time behind these stone walls this week. It means a week of scrubbing all the concrete and steel surfaces of this prison cell, and then stowing away and out of sight the entire contents of two lives to makes it look like no one actually lives here.I have no real objections to this annual cleaning. Last week I reached for a new typewriter ribbon stored deep in the dark recesses of a corner under my steel bunk, and I would swear one of those dust bunnies actually growled at me. I generally keep things clean, but not quite enough for the annual "Good Cell-Keeping Seal of Approval."Spring inspection is especially a challenge for me because, as a writer with no computer and no access to the online world, I have scraps of notes and clippings hidden everywhere. Prisoners who keep scribbled notes are usually suspect. Most such notes detail in-house gambling rings, gang activity, and any manner of trafficking in contraband. My collection of notes and clippings are all about black holes, newly discovered planets, and the peculiar quest of some in science to render God obsolete. Yes, my friends, there's a science post coming - maybe even two!But not right away. This week as we scrape and scrub and store, and then pray the Warden doesn't actually look under the bunk, I will also be writing in my mind our next TSW post, slated for June 4, four days before Pentecost and the day before I mark 32 years of priesthood. I have a few thoughts on both.But first I want to ask you to revisit a post that serves as sort of a prequel to both Pentecost and priesthood. It's a 2011 Pentecost post, and one of my own favorites on These Stone Walls. Please read and share anew, "Inherit the Wind! Pentecost and the Breath of God."Editors’s Note: a continued thanks to TSW readers for their generosity in responding to Ryan MacDonald’s appeal to help with the legal costs, at the Federal level. We haven’t reached our goal yet, so please share this link to Ryan’s news alert post!