The Cost of Life

The Cost of Life. . , Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God., Father McGivney did not confine his life to the rectory. He regularly visited prisoners, offering them the gift of his presence and spiritual support. But he was also preparing himself to face "perhaps the most trying ordeal.", James "Chip" Smith was a member of a local gang who after a drinking spree took to the streets of Ansonia with his gun. When the police chief, Daniel Hayes eventually found him, Chip shot him as they wrestled. He wanted - as he further revealed - to set an example for other gang-members how they should treat the police. The bullet went through Daniel's abdomen and was fatal., This tragedy shook Connecticut and overnight turned Chip into public enemy number one. He was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to the gallows. While in jail he met Father McGivney. This meeting, which turned into more than one year of counseling, changed Chip's heart. Father McGivney was to accompany him till execution., "To me, this duty comes with almost a crushing weight. If I could consistently with my duty be far away from here next Friday I should escape perhaps the most trying ordeal of my life, but this sad duty is placed my way by providence and must be fulfilled. If we receive your prayers, Mr. Smith and I shall be sustained by the supreme power in the hour of our great trial." , "High Mass Last Sunday," New Haven Palladium, Aug. 28, 1882, p. 1., Late in the afternoon on the day before the hanging, Smith's mother came for the last time. Chip was trying to cheer her: "Mother, don't cry for me! I will soon be better off. Just think if I had been shot that night and died without a moment's time for preparation, how much worse off I should be than I am now. I have asked God to forgive me my sins and believe that I shall die a happy death." Witnessing that scene, Father McGivney broke down, but he accompanied Chip almost to midnight. The prisoner slept afterwards "as peacefully and quietly as a child." According to his will, among the very few possessions Chip had, he left to Father McGivney a "plant now blooming in my cell.", "I am requested by Mr. Smith to ask pardon for all faults he may have had all offences he may have committed, and at his request I ask for the prayers of all of you, that when next Friday comes he may die a holy death. In saying that he does not care to live longer, I am using his words. This resignation on his part shows that he is prepared for what is to come in a few days. I trust that all of you will offer up fervent prayer to the throne of grace that God will strengthen and prepare us to perform that awful duty which we shall be called upon to perform before this time next Sunday." , "High Mass Last Sunday," New Haven Palladium, Aug. 28, 1882, p. 1., (image caption) , Father McGivney consoling Chip at New Haven jail.