Volume 5 letter from Fr. Darragh Connolly
Dear lay apostles,
Greetings in Jesus Christ the Returning King!
We have all received so many blessings from Jesus through this apostolate. How generous the Lord is! It is a great joy for us at Direction for Our Times, to be given permission from our bishop to publish Volume 5.
We are preparing to go to print but could use your help to do so. Factually, the cost of printing Volume 5 will be $12, 200. We are grateful for all of the help we have received and rely partly on book sales and partly on donations, as you know, to cover our expenses and continue distributing books.
Despite challenging financial times, we have kept the book prices intentionally low so that we can continue to get them into the hands of many. We feel this is right because of the many testimonies that come to us from people who tell us that the Volumes and booklets describe their lives as being transformed. For every testimony of blessing we receive we know there are many more we don't hear about.
Here is a testimony we received from a former prisoner:
My story begins in solitary confinement in 2008. I found a copy of Heaven Speaks to Prisoners. It actually inspired me and led me to realize Christ too was a criminal. He broke the law several times in His life. One was a capitol offense. Many people have asked me what the worst part of prison is. I actually have five answers for that. Number one, witnessing a rape. Number two, watching a man die. Number three, feeling helpless no matter how much you are wronged. Number four, longing for freedom and realizing it will be years and years. And number five, solitary confinement (RHU, the hole...etc)
I actually wrote to Direction for Our Times and requested Volume One, Thoughts on Spirituality. Much to my surprise a hand written response came with the book. That one sentence, (if you need anything else let me know) changed so much. There is a moment during a person's change (rehabilitation) when there is a renewed faith in humanity. The note was signed 'Justin.' And I knew that God had gotten hold of Anne and a man named Justin and put them in my path. My spirit lifted. I had many dark thoughts in prison. Several, were during solitary confinement; we won't be discussing them here.
The darkness vanished when I got that single sentence on that single half sheet of paper. My faith in humanity had been restored. So I began to read. I noticed one thing, very quickly. Anne suffered a lot. I began to realize that I too suffer. So, I began to work in tandem with Anne. I never have written to Anne, spoken to Anne, or met Anne. But I feel connected to her deeply. Through my readings of her sufferings I learned to suffer with dignity and humility. I learned then to enjoy times of non- suffering. Then I finally learned how to apply those ebbs and flows into tandem. Especially with Anne. My hope was that, my happy(calmer) times were part of her worst and that vice versa- her being happy were because of my suffering. I thought, if I can suffer and make Anne better or happier in her life then I would gratefully go through it. I don't know if I was following what Anne wrote correctly, but I was learning a profound lesson non- the less.
During the time I was reading her books I was writing to Justin. We developed what I dubbed a 'pen-ship' calling myself "your friend in the pen." Justin encouraged me, gave me purpose, and although I love my family very deeply. Justin was a friend. A non-family person to write to. For years we wrote while my days in prison ticked by.
In 2012 I was granted parole. I spent many hours in prayer thanking God. I went to a halfway house and immediately wrote my friend Justin. Justin was as excited as me. So on September 3rd, 2012 at 1:30pm EST I called Justin for the first time. We talked about a lot of things. I asked him how Anne was doing. He said fine. I think of Anne daily and read her writings often. The Direction for Our Times organization really should take a bow. They calmed me down, leveled me out and gave me purpose. Anne and Justin, I owe you both my freedom and my life. Thank you.
I will continue to thank you both, to my dying day. I finally got what I desired for so long. Freedom physically and freedom spiritually. Once again, thank you.
Your friend, nearly free,
Jason Stover
Jason received the prisoner booklet because a lay apostle somewhere was generous enough with their time and resources to place this booklet. We are very grateful to Jason for sharing his story and allowing us to share it with you. Through your generous support to date we have been able to keep a small staff so that we can maintain relationships such as Justin did with Jason. Please help us with our prison program. It needs significant funding since there is huge demand from prisons for our materials. More information will follow soon.
As you are aware we have translated the writings of the apostolate into many languages. The translation process is often made possible through the generous time giving of a translator who feels inspired to work with us or through the financial generosity of someone who feels inspired to fund the translation. If you would like to contribute to the process of translating Volume 5 or any of the writings of the apostolate into your language please let us know.
Whilst we are organising to print Volume 5, we are also reprinting Volumes 1, 2, 3 and 10 and many of the Heaven Speaks booklets as well as planning the printing of Anne's writings on Heaven and Purgatory in separate small books.
May God continue to bless you and bring you closer to Him,
Fr. Darragh Connolly
Chaplain
* If you feel called to help with prison ministry and outreach please contact Justin at justin@directionforourtimes.org
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