Praying With the Headlines: Week 5

In the season of Lent, or the approximately six weeks leading up to Easter, Christians often take on practices of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving in order to grow closer to God through repentance and renewal. One way we can engage in prayer though this season is through intentional prayer for others, particularly the marginalized and impoverished among us.

So often, we breeze through the news, unable to absorb the tragedy contained in our headlines. This Lent, we invite you into the practice of slowing down and praying with headlines, particularly about immigration. We will use the news as a medium to imaginatively pray with and for our immigrant brothers and sisters – and so grow in love, compassion, and nearness to God and one another.

Praying With the Headlines: Undocumented Victims of Crime

Begin by adopting a posture of prayer, wherever you are. Sit back, relax your body, and take a few deep breaths.

Breathe in, breathe out. Know you are in the presence of God.

God, we ask you to help slow our minds and expand our hearts to attend to the suffering of our immigrant brothers and sisters.

Now read the passage from this news story slowly:

"On a winter day in early 2011, Billy Ventura Hercules rolled up to a Franklin County Municipal Court witness stand in a wheelchair. In front of a grand jury, he started recounting a shooting that changed the trajectory of his life.

"Ventura Hercules, now 43, left his home country in El Salvador in 2004 and crossed the border without documentation. In May 2010, he was shot in the back during a robbery outside his apartment in Whitehall. The bullet lodged in his spinal cord, and the doctor told him that he might never walk again.

"Despite the emotional trauma and physical pain, Ventura Hercules offered assistance to the police and prosecutors throughout the process, he said. With his cooperation, multiple men involved in the incident were charged with aggravated robbery, and at least one of them received a sentence, records show.

"He was devastated, however, when the Whitehall police department refused to sign a form to prove that he had been helpful to the officers. Today, more than 10 years after he testified in court, Ventura Hercules still lives with the daily fear of arrest and deportation."

Imagine yourself recounting your story in court, reliving the trauma of the crime committed against you, sharing about your vulnerability – including your lack of immigration status. Imagine the devastation when you learn that, despite this risk you took on in sharing your story, you will not receive help gaining lawful status, as you had hoped.

Breathe in, Breathe out.

Try to imagine Billy’s emotion when he realizes he must continue to live in fear, despite the pathway to legal status that is often offered to immigrant victims of crime who come forward to help law enforcement. Lack of standardized policy leads to some victims being offered this relief, while many are denied it.

Recognize the many undocumented immigrants who are victims of crime, but who are too scared to come forward to seek justice because they fear deportation.

Breathe in, breathe out.

Breathe in, breathe out. As you hold Billy in your mind and heart, recognize that God holds him too. None of his suffering goes unnoticed. He is loved beyond measure. In holding Billy in this way, you are entering into the love of God.

"Do not fear: I am with you; do not be anxious: I am your God. I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my victorious right hand."
- Isaiah 41:10 -

Offer whatever prayers you have for Billy and all immigrants who live in fear due to broken policies, political gridlock and dysfunction.

Breathe in, breathe out.

Open your eyes when you are ready.

Amen.