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Reflection on the Twelfth Station By The Rev. Jaime Briceño

Dear God! The pain and the suffering of those forced to move away from their homes is your pain and suffering. The pain and suffering of those forced to look for a better way of life is your pain and suffering. The pain and suffering of those forced to seek a better future, those forced to die for the inequality that plagues our world, is your pain and suffering.

You had taught us to see you always in the poor, the persecuted, the sick, the migrant. Yet still, it is so high a price that you have to die for us. What unjust a price it is, that anyone would die for the life of others, that anyone would die for the promise of a better future, that anyone would die for the abhorrent injustice which plagues our world.

Please help us, to all of us who see your crucified people, to have a soft heart: a heart that moves to action, a heart that longs for justice, a heart that never ceases to see you in this world.

Lead us, oh God, by your redeeming cross to never waiver in the fight for a better future for all your people. That our redemption will lead us to fight for justice, that your cross and the cross of your people will move us to action.

May our hearts be troubled, our minds changed, our voices raised, our lives transformed to see what lies ahead of death, to ensure that no one dies in vain, to be at the foot of the cross wherever it might be: in our nations, in our neighborhoods, in our borders.

The Rev. Jaime Briceño is a transitional Deacon for the Episcopal Diocese of Chicago, and is the Director of Admission and Recruitment and Digital Missioner for Bexley Seabury Seminary. Jaime is from Costa Rica, and holds an MA Theology degree in Systematic Theology and Interreligious Dialogue from Catholic Theological Union in Chicago.