The Prison Angel

Mary Clarke was born with every advantage in life. Her father was a wealthy businessman who moved his family to Beverly Hills, California. Among her friends were millionaires and movie stars. Though surrounded by luxury and all the trapping of wealth, she always felt that something was missing.

As a young girl, she had a dream that she was about to be executed on Calvary. Jesus appeared to her and offered to be killed in her place. However, she refused promising Him that she would never leave His side. This dream stayed with Mary and later helped convince her that she would only find happiness and fulfillment in Jesus Christ.

When she reached the age of fifty, her second marriage ended in divorce. With her seven children already grown, she decided it was time for her to realize her dream to dedicate herself totally to God’s service by becoming a religious sister. However, because of her age and divorced status, she could not find a religious order that would accept her.

Nonetheless, she remained determined. Selling her house and all her possessions, she decided to dedicate herself full time to serving the needy. One of her cherished ministries was visiting prisoners. Eventually she decided that visiting them was not enough. In 1977, she moved into a cell in the women’s section of La Mesa Prison in Tijuana, Mexico. Though free to leave whenever she wanted, she otherwise lived under all the restrictions of prison life eating with the prisoners, using the same bathroom facilities and lining up at roll call. She became a prisoner for the sake of other prisoners and came to be called “La Mama” or “Mother” by the inmates.

Her work in the prison was not limited to providing spiritual advice and guidance. Often she would bring blankets and medicine for the prisoners. When they were sick, she would nurse them back to health or sit by their bedside when they died. Despite her love for the inmates, she would never allow them to forget why they were there, the suffering they caused to their victims and their need to repent and change their lives.

In 1997, she fulfilled her dream of becoming a religious sister by starting her own order, The Eudist Servants of the Eleventh Hour, and changed her name to Sister Antonia Brenner. Her heroic service came to the attention of the whole world when a book about her life, The Prison Angel, was published and a documentary later produced.

After nearly forty years of ministry in the prison, Sr. Antonia died on October 17, 2013.

Like Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta or Saint Damien of Molokai, Sister Antonia decided it was not enough to merely visit those in need. She wanted to share her life with them. She wanted to live among them, to experience what they experienced and  to suffer alongside them. In doing so she was also following the example of Jesus who, though rich, made Himself poor for our sake. Jesus did not descend from heaven merely to rule over us but to share our life. He made Himself poor and homeless for our sake. Eventually He was tortured and killed, refusing to use His power to protect Himself from the cruelty of the Roman soldiers. In every way He lived a human life, identifying Himself with the naked, the prisoner and the sick to such an extent that He can say to us, “Whatever you did for one of the least brothers of mine, you did for me.”

It is one thing for us to serve the poor. But it is another thing for us to look upon them as brothers and sisters. It is one thing for us to share our surplus money, food and clothing with them. But it is another thing to call them our friends, to know their names, to know their background and to allow them to know us. It is one thing to give of our time to those in need. It is another thing to give of ourselves to them, to inconvenience ourselves or even suffer alongside them.

This is what makes Christian commitment to the poor different from other philanthropic efforts or from the welfare provided by the state. When government agencies step in to help the poor, all they can provide is food, money or housing. Of course, that is good, but it is not enough. There is a deeper ache in each human heart that no amount of material goods can comfort. We need love, friendship and compassion. No government agency can provide that.

That need for love, friendship and compassion is not only felt by the poor but also by the wealthy. It is what unites us as brothers and sisters created in God’s image and likeness. It is what made Sister Antonia restless even though she lived in a Beverly Hills mansion. Jesus Himself felt that need which impelled Him to seek out the poor, the blind and the outcast. Only by going outside our comfort zone to reach out a hand of friendship to those in need will that loneliness within each of us be comforted. Only by living among the poor - by being poor alongside them - can we truly discover Jesus hidden among them.

These are challenging words. They should give all of us - myself included - much to think about. For each of us, the call to not only serve the poor but identify with them will look different. However, it is not an option. Jesus, our King, makes it clear that He will judge us by how we treated them. To receive the blessings of His Kingdom we must become poor ourselves. If we put our lives under the Lordship of Jesus, our King, He will provide us with opportunities to do so. In the process, we will find the unsettled feeling within us subsiding and being replaced with the blessings that only come from God.