At the Border

A fellow peace pilgrim and pastor once asked me, “Where do you find your ritual?” I had to pause and think about that. Having been raised in the Catholic Church, which is laden with altars, vestments, prayers, songs, processions, candles, incense, standings up, kneelings, and all that, I figured I didn’t have any ritual in my life these days. And his question made me wonder – is that something I’m missing out on? Should I get some of that, for the sake of my spiritual health? Doing this accompaniment work with refugees on the border here is starting to feel like a daily ritual. Especially in the cold semi-dark of dawn. We don our vests imprinted on the back with the words “ Apoyo a Migrantes. ” We leave the refuge of the Migrant Resource Center, locking it as we go. We walk pretty much silently to the tent on the wall next to the port of entry and awaken our brothers and sisters and the ninos there with a greeting and invitation – “ Hola! Buenos dias! Quieres ir al cent...