Jean Paul Capet

Jean Paul Capet was imprisoned in 1310 for stealing, a crime he claimed that was not his to bear. Convicted in a French court, he was sentenced to ten years of incarceration. Roughly one year into his prison experience, a fight broke out among a group of inmates. Jean Paul was not part of the argument or the tension that filled the room. But once the fight began to unfold, Jean Paul found himself in the middle of the fists, kicks and elbows. It did not take the guards long to intervene and gain control of the outbreak with clubs of enforcement. Jean Paul was ushered into a submission one of the brawling renegades. He found himself assigned to an indefinite punishment of solitary confinement.

Jean Paul was escorted and introduced to the dark world of the inner prison. The cell was cold, the food was poor, but the most devastating aspect of his life was the darkness. One small window located over 15 feet above the cell floor was boarded up allowing no view of the air beyond. Darkness filled his eyes and mind and soul. Time past, but Jean Paul could never adjust to the oppressive crush of nothingness that surrounded his existence.

Day and night all seemed the same to Jean Paul. He counted his experience by meals. The sound of the plate sliding under the door was his call to food. Delivered in darkness and silence, the nutrition feed his body but not his spirit. One hundred and fifty-two meals into his confinement a life-changing event occurred in the life of Jean Paul. A terrible storm of awesome degree visited the French town that housed the prison walls. Jean Paul could hear the wind even through the thick stones of his darkness. The rage of the tempest continued to shout. Jean Paul found fear and comfort in the wrath of the weather. The crash of thunder brought the terror of impending death, and yet, somehow, the voice of the storm broke the silence of his existence with the sounds of reality. As the wind and thunder began to move away, Jean Paul found himself falling into a sleep of peace.

As Jean Paul came back to consciousness after several hours of sleep, he could not believe what had happened. One of the boards on the window, far above his head, had been removed by the terrible tempest. Staring at him was a crescent moon. Tears of joy ran down his cheeks. The moon light brought messages of hope and broke the depressive barriers of darkness. As the night faded into the dawn of day, the shafts of moon light turned into the glory of the sun. He danced and sang songs of joy that echoed in his head for days.

At last Jean Paul could count the days and nights and not have to measure his time by the silent delivery of the meal plate. The conditions were atrocious, the food became less and less. But Jean Paul was renewed each day by the sun's light and the small picture of the night's sky. Years slowly moved by and one morning he was awakened, not by the sound of the meal plate, but the sound of a key in the door. Jean Paul hugged the jailer with words of freedom and soon found himself breathing fresh air on the streets of France.

Joy to the world! The Light of Salvation has come! The darkness of human existence without God is like the prison without windows. The Incarnation has provided the glory of the presence of God. Follow his star to the birth of the Savior. Hear the key of the cross in the prison door. Breath the fresh air of the resurrection. Experience the freedom found in Jesus. Merry Christmas to all!