Pornchai Moontri: The Duty of a Knight - To Dream the Impossible Dream
. . . Editor's Note: The following is a guest post written by Pornchai Moontri. . . . I was a teenager when I went to prison. Over the years, I was sent back to solitary confinement over and over, for up to three-and-a-half years at a time, because I was so hostile. The longer I was there each time, the more inhuman I felt and became. Living for years on end in solitary confinement joined with the guilt I felt for the life I took during a struggle when I was 18 years old. So I just gave up on myself as a human being. I sank to the very bottom of the prison I was in, and stayed there. Then in the spring of 2005, after almost 14 years in and out of solitary confinement, I was told that I was to be shipped to another prison in another state. I sat for 10 months alone in my cell wondering about whatever hell was coming next, and I told myself I didn't care what comes next. Then one day, guards in riot gear came and chained me up. . . .
Simon of Cyrene, the Scandal of the Cross, and Some Life Sight News
. . . "The Passion of the Christ" depicted Simon of Cyrene just as I have always imagined him: resentful, even bitter at first, about the Cross he was compelled to bear. He was simply a man on his way to something else when fate, on that day, pulled him out of the crowd and into the Fifth Station of the Way of the Cross. In his inspired and inspiring new book, Jesus of Nazareth: Holy Week (Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 2011), Pope Benedict XVI underscored the historical necessity of Simon of Cyrene's role: "The fact that Simon of Cyrene had to carry the cross-beam for Jesus, and that Jesus dies so quickly, may well be attributable to the torture of scourging, during which other criminals sometimes would already have died." (p.198). Critics of "The Passion of the Christ" deride it for its graphic and violent depiction of the scourging and crucifixion of Christ. It is an event of history, however, and it was not a gentle, civil affair. By the end of Simon's brief journey with Christ, he was changed. In the film, he was now compelled from within himself to remain there with Christ, to finish it. . . .
Fifty-Seven Times Around the Sun
. . . Pornchai started his 19th year in prison just before Easter, and now he is entering a life of faith through the narrowest gate, an open and honest witness to redemptive grace.Pornchai has asked Charlene Duline to be his Godmother. They share an interesting bond that Charlene describes in a new post entitled "Pornchai Moontri is Worth Saving" on the Prodigal Catholic Writer blog. Pierre, the visitor I described in my post, "Stigmatized,” has graciously assented to be Pornchai's Godfather. Because this event is happening in a prison, however, neither one of them will be allowed to be present. I will act as proxy for them both because of the unusual circumstances.I call upon the Church to recognize the transformation that has led Pornchai to Her Sacraments. In "Pornchai's Story," the powerful autobiographical essay The Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights, Pornchai described his transformation: . . .