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eo? , = Bishop Sheen V ut NCE UPON A TIME, there was a ‘visit a people who boasted they were ‘not captive or imprisoned. What made his visit so unique was that this Great Jailer had millions and millions of people in his prison: some of them he put to death before they even got to jail and others who tried to break out of théir jail were driven back with tanks. The problem that faced the free people when the Great Jailer came to their free- country was: “What should I think?” “How should I act?” Visit from the. fires Ja By FULTON J. ro at Jailer’ has, become rath. The touch or Christ's ipa dia not: Great Jaller who was invited to washed, > make Judas less the traitor, The Great . _ BISHOP SHEEN 1. Do not think you will make the . Great Jailer anxious to throw away the keys of his prison simply because " he sees that you have longer automo- — biles, better hair-dos, more electric gadgets, more rooms’in your apart-_ | ment, richer food at your table and the - ” greatest per capita income in the world. Remember that the Great Jailer is . already a rich man—richer than any-, one in America; he owns all the lumber, all the steel, all the railroads, all the’ autos, all the housing in his own land, -The Great Jailer who became rich .through “confiscation,” does not envy your national wealth; he envies your ° personal wealth. Personal. wealth is. the economic guarantee of your free- dom. He knows that your right to call property your own is because you al- ready have a soul which you can call . your own. This is a great’ challenge to the. Great Jaller. lieved in the Spirit, he would rejoice in your well-being, because the spirit- ual man rejoices in the property of others, But being a materialist, the If the Great Jailer be- . Great Jailer envies your freedom; it” embarrasses him before other nations — of the world. - 2: AS.your economic prosperity and. - freedom will never change him, so. neither will a visit to you change his philosophy of life. Remember that the Great Jailer is himself a prisoner. He - is the prisoner of a collectivity from . which he cannot escape. The leopard , cannot change His spots, nor the Ethi- “ropian his skin. In brainwashing others, _. ° Od SEP 23 1959” Jailer’s life is not his own; it belongs ..to the ant hill; the moment he changes . his mind. or heart, he will suffer the Uguidation he has ministered unto others for changing their hearts. There "are some who will not believe, though one rise daily from the dead. His basic philosophy is that freedom . {gs nét in the person, but in the Party; it is the Party which decides who shall live and not live, It is, therefore, not a@ person who js visiting you; it is a Philosophy; it is a Party; it is the , Great Jaildom. * 3. Think not that because the Great . ‘Jailer comes, ‘not with the prison Keys < rattling from his hammer and sickle, that he has nothing to do with bars and cells. In all human relations with the Great Jailer, remember the pris- " oners! Prisoners. who &re so thin they Stand like poles in their imprisonment. -Look then at the Great Jailer as if *.. te he were transparent; see through him ~ a ~ to the millions who weep tears at the . Sight of a free man from a free country; see through the Jailer to the hands - lifted saying: “Betray us not. The world is upsids down! Those who should be in prison are the gaolers. Now is veric fied the words of Innocence behind bars: ‘T was in prison and you visited Me’.” Z. ~~ Finally, do not insult or injure or | be unkind in word or deed to the Great Jailer. Freemen must not lower - themselves to the level of those who would destroy freedom. There must be moments of silence before the Great . Jailer as Christ was silent before the © Jailer Herod because he sent John to his death; but there should be moments — of speech, warm and sincere, as the Great Jailer is shown not just our reactors, but our churches and our | synagogues, Take him to a synagogue, to a Protestant church and to a Catholic church during services, that ‘he may . see that we are great, not because we challenge God and seek to destroy Him as Is‘done in his Jaildom, but because we love and worship Him Who has endowed us with, as our Constitution — says, “unalienable rights” and among ~ _ which are “life, iberty. and the pursuit of happiness.” ~ - Copyright, 1959, Georre Mathew EEA ce, oi \fZ- 4-0359- NOT RECORDED M9 SEP 21 1954 Set semen —— ? Amd th fork WA AMERICAN RSF