Thinking about this evening’s Good Friday service at our local parish, I found myself reflecting on how brave our POWs were during their captivity.
They had no churches. No stained glass. No choir. No bread. No wine.
Only dirt floors… whispered prayers. They built makeshift altars from scrap wood and crosses from Red Cross boxes or bamboo. In places like Changi Prison and the cells of Hỏa Lò Prison, prisoners secretly communicated by tapping codes between their cells.
Communion was improvised—sometimes using rice and water—and Scripture passages were recited from memory.
But they still proclaimed it: “He is Risen.”
- Guards couldn’t stop it.
- Walls couldn’t silence it.
- Chains couldn’t hold it.
Because Easter was never about comfort—it was about victory through suffering.
One American POW recalled: “We had nothing—but that morning, we had everything. Christ had risen, and so would we.”
And in those darkest places, faith didn’t waver… These brave POWs give me a deeper understanding of the Easter message. Even in captivity, Easter served as a reminder that resurrection follows suffering—a message deeply personal to prisoners.
Even behind barbed wire, the Resurrection could not be imprisoned.
