Christ dies in a Kitchen in Mexico

I write this at the very hour of Christ’s death. The difference is that I am not in church. I will not be able to celebrate the Good Friday service because at 3:30 PM, I will return to my work at the kitchen. At 4PM, I will assist feeding a hundred migrants for their evening meal. The migrants have been deported by the US in the Mexican side of the Arizona border. I will do my own service once I cross the border to Arizona when all the day’s work is done.

Personal belongings of Migrants are placed in a plastic bag with their names written on a piece of paper. The Kino Border Initiative in cooperation with other groups as the Samaritans provide free clothes for them.

But there is nothing as profound as sharing Christ’s death with those who are as dead as He. He, who has been denounced by a friend’s kiss, shares the life of migrants who have been betrayed by the American dream that promised a good life for those within its wings. He, who was abandoned by His friends, unite with the migrants who have been separated from their families in the US. He, who has been stripped of His clothes sympathizes with deported migrants without much to wear (see photo). At the Comedor, I venerate Christ’s bodies and crosses in a much different and meaningful form.

In many Catholic churches, and perhaps others in the Christian communion around the world, the altars now are bare and the atmosphere is solemn. Here at the kitchen of the Kino Border Initiative in Mexico, the altar of migrants’ lives are vulnerable, as naked as their hearts.

And it is within these temples that Good Friday is commemorated, not only in a single day within a year, but every day. At the Comedor, Christ’s passion, death and resurrection has never been so real.

For more information about the Kino Border Initiative, this is the link.

These are ways to help support the ministry of the Kino Border Initiative.

a. Invite the Kino Border Initiative for a presentation or workshop series in our parish, in either side of the border.

b. Volunteer to work at the Aid center for Deported Migrants or the Casa Nazareth Women’s shelter.

c. Provide food and/or clothing for the Aid Center or the Women’s shelter.

d. Make a donation to the Kino Border Initiative.

Contact Fr. Sean Carroll SJ, Executive Director at scarroll@kinoborderinitiative.org. Or call (520)287-2370.