Seventh Station: Feeding Our Children

Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover them, and not to hide yourself from your own kin? Then your light shall break forth like the dawn, and your healing shall spring up quickly; your vindicator shall go before you, the glory of the Lord shall be your rearguard.   Isaiah 58: 7-8

George set the tone for the Seventh Station by  reading a few verses from Isaiah 58. Kathy followed with a reflection on child hunger in New Mexico. One in three children in our state are at risk of hunger.  When children are hungry, this means that families are hungry. That is not right. School teachers are having to reach into their own pockets to feed hungry children in their classrooms. That is not right. Albuquerque's Urban Way of the Cross was not just about stating the problem, but also about telling stories of redemption. So, we celebrated those same teachers--Sonya Romero, Marvin Callaghan and many of their colleagues--who used their own resources so children would not go hungry.  Kathy asked pilgrims on this walk to think of one word: change. What can we change structurally to ensure that children in our state no longer have to go hungry?

Sonya Romero Smith

Connecting the Dots
The 2016 Urban Way of the Cross was also about connecting the dots. There are deep connections among the issues that we addressed.

The clearest connection was between Station Four (Poverty Matters) and Station Seven.  It was by coincidence that Sonya Romero Smith was offering the reflection on child poverty. She spoke about how she had to provide a home for two children who would have gone homeless. Kathy made sure to connect the dots, mentioning the link between Sonya's reflection and our reflection on hunger.

The pilgrims on the walk also heard reflections about the challenges of women who had been in prison; immigrant children at the detention center in Artesia, New Mexico; veterans; and people who suffer from homelessness.

To state the problem and talk about the challenges was necessary. That's what Good Friday is all about. The stories of redemption were also important. That's what Easter is all about. The biggest lesson this day is that Good Friday and Easter are intricately interrelated. This was a day about connecting the dots. Our journey ended with a dab  of oil on our foreheads and a personal prayer.

Here pictures of some of the pilgrims who walked on the 2016 Good Friday journey through downtown Albuquerque: