In the gospel’s Jesus teaches us that “no greater love exists than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” The fullness of this teaching extends not only to the shedding of blood but in the case of her story, time. Of all the things we’re tempted covet, I sense that time might be at the top of the list. Most of us lead very busy lives and we often don’t like being inconvenienced unless we have an idea of how long a particular task or ‘ask’ might take. When I first heard of Ginny and her 25 year commitment to writing an incarcerated man on charges of murder whom she had no prior knowledge of, I was more than intrigued. The heroics of her penmanship to a stranger that society and the court of law had essentially thrown the book at for life seemed amazing but unusual, especially given that a friend asked her if she would consider writing the man.
It was only when I began to learn the backstory of her life, the formation she received in the home through the humble witness of her parents that I began to see that over two decades she was also offering an amazing sermon on mercy, especially to her other friends of hers in the pew who thought she was acting foolishly. But for Ginny, her choice to follow God no matter what means that “sometimes you have to take a leap of faith.” I partnered with the Marian Fathers of the Immaculate Conception to produce this story for their EWTN show, Living Divine Mercy available at: DivineMercyPlus.org. Ginny’s witness challenged me on many levels but in the end her great love convinced me and won me over. How closely this experience resembled how Our Lord seeks to also work in our lives.
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