Standing Silently on 24th Street

What does it mean to me to stand silently out on 24th Street in prayer and with our large banners, every time the State of Texas executes someone, and to be there at the same time the execution begins in Huntsville?

I experience being simultaneously powerless and powerful.

There is a sense of POWERLESSNESS but an even deeper sense of POWER.

The POWER is of prayer, witness, community, perseverance, violence, trust in Divine Providence, and of solidarity.

PRAYER because we are doing the most effective thing possible to assist the executed one on the journey from this earth into the arms of our merciful, forgiving, and loving God.

WITNESS because we’re attempting to “talk the talk and walk the walk.”

COMMUNITY because it’s being built among the CDPs, the 24th Street commuters, and maybe even present supporters of the death penalty.

PERSEVERANCE if even one passer-by thinks “those nuns must really believe the death penalty is a violation of God’s commandment to respect life and not kill.”

VIOLENCE discovered in my own heart. Which violent thoughts, though small and/or fleeting, can aggregate and force me to honestly ask myself, “Why do we kill people who kill people to say that killing people is wrong?”

TRUST IN DIVINE PROVIDENCE to allay my fear of being shot from the street.

SOLIDARITY because our physical presence shouts out (even though we pray silently) that we humans are all sisters and brothers, all one in Christ Jesus, and we can help one another as God has urged us to do no matter how difficult it is or how long it takes.

That’s what it means to me to prayerfully stand and witness on 24th Street during each Texas execution.

Sister Patrice Sullivan, cdp