Every year on Good Friday (the Christian holiday when Jesus was crucified), the Sagrada Familia Catholic Church and CAME, the migrant shelter in Agua Prieta, Sonora, Mexico, hold the ‘Viacrucis Migrante’ or Migrant Stations of the Cross. Beginning at CAME, participants walk through the neighbourhood remembering the journey of Jesus to his death and the journey of migrants to a new life. Please join us in reciting the opening prayer led by Padre Ricardo, who began by saying, “Let us keep in mind the migrants who have died, those who have lost a loved one along the way, those who have been scarred by violence and those who hope to live in peace with a heaven that protects them. United with migrants we say:”
Migrant footprints are the ones they leave along the way;
Migrant footprints are the steps of women, men and minors;
Migrant footprints that mark dreams of living better and in peace;
Migrant footprints that mark the path taken by other migrants;
Footprints of migrants who are fleeing violence in their lands;
Footprints of a migrant woman violated by machismo;
Migrant footprints with memory of a story that was left behind;
Footprints of a migrant marked by pain and destructive violence;
Migrant footprints that are well marked to highlight who has already passed;
Footprints of a migrant lost in the desert and lonely roads;
Migrant footprints that end in a common grave;
Immigrant footprints that leave the aroma of chicken with slices they ate;
Footprints of a solitary and accompanied migrant;
Footprints of a migrant with relatives who seek to live in peace;
Traces of migrants persecuted by migratory and armed agents;
Migrant footprints that mark human diversity and cultural richness;
Migrant footprints that are erased by the wind and in the memory of the peoples;
Footprints of migrants seeking refuge and safe shelter;
Footprints of a migrant with faith in a God who walks by his side;
Migrant footprints with mud, tears and death that remain in the Darien jungle;
Traces of thousands of faces of migrants who have spent these years in “la 72”, Tenosique;
Footprints of some 600,000 migrants who pass through Mexico each year;
Traces of migrants with persecution and blood on the roads of the United States;
Millions of footprints of migrants that mark the human drama throughout the world;
Migrant footprints that push the hope of a heaven and a new earth.
Footprints of a migrant that bring peace closer to justice.
Migrant footprints like the ones left by Joseph, Mary and Jesus when they fled from Herod.
