Mary Clarke

“Happiness does not depend on where you are,” so says Mary Clarke.  Who is she?  Well, she fascinates me.  She voluntarily lived in a women’s prison for nearly 30 years.  She was known as the “Prison Angel.”  She had a Beverly Hills lifestyle, two divorces, raised seven kids.  She did some small prison visiting ministry in Tijuana.  But she felt called to do more in service to Jesus.  No religious order would accept a 50 year old divorced woman, so she sews her own habit, makes private vows to herself and her God, gets permission to live in a prison cell and walk among some serious felons.  For 30 years!  So I guess she was happy.  She said she was never depressed there.  She had found “a reason for living.”  So if you cannot find a reason for living in your present situation maybe a drastic change is in order.  Anyhow, Mary Clarke is an example of someone who did it.