{"id":24906,"date":"2026-06-16T09:31:48","date_gmt":"2026-06-16T13:31:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.franciscansusa.org\/?p=24906"},"modified":"2026-06-16T09:51:57","modified_gmt":"2026-06-16T13:51:57","slug":"a-friar-on-the-border","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.franciscansusa.org\/es\/a-friar-on-the-border\/","title":{"rendered":"A Friar on the Border"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/div><\/div>
A Friar on the Border
\nby friar Joseph Bach, OFM Conv.<\/span><\/h5>\n

I am a Conventual Franciscan Friar;
\nbut not first by habit,
\nnot first by title,
\nnot first by the grey cloth that brushes desert
\ndust.<\/p>\n

I am Brother.
\nBrother to the migrant mother carrying fear in
\none hand
\nand faith in the other.
\nBrother to the child who knows the language of
\nwalls
\nbefore the language of welcome.
\nBrother to the man who has walked so long
\nhis feet have become prayer.<\/p>\n

I live in the border<\/span>lands of New Mexico,
\nwhere mountains keep watch,
\nwhere the wind remembers names,
\nwhere the desert can be cruel
\nand holy at the same time.<\/p>\n

Here, the land teaches Franciscan spirituality.
\nPoverty is not theory here.
\nIt is the empty water bottle.
\nThe loneliness detention.
\nThe ankle monitor.
\nThe silence of helplessness after deportation.<\/p>\n

To be a friar here
\nis to walk slower.
\nTo listen deeper.
\nTo kneel lower.
\nTo speak less
\nand love more.<\/p>\n

It is to be an acompa\u00f1ante de esperanza,
\na companion of hope.<\/p>\n

The hope that sits beside grief.
\nThe hope that translates tears.
\nThe hope that waits in courtrooms,
\nvisits behind the window in detention centers,
\nanswers midnight calls,
\nand stands at fences
\nwithout becoming one.<\/p>\n

Hope with blistered feet.
\nHope with sunburned skin.
\nHope with paperwork in hand
\nand prayer on the lips.<\/p>\n

St. Francis kissed the wounds of the world.
\nHere, those wounds have names.
\nThey have A numbers.
\nThey have birthdays missed
\nand children asking, \u201cWhen will Papi come
\nhome?\u201d<\/p>\n

So I carry the Gospel
\nnot as a book to wave,
\nbut as bread to break.
\nAs water to pour.
\nAs mercy to risk.
\nAs presence to offer.<\/p>\n

And Our Lady of Guadalupe,
\nMadre of the marginalized,
\nStar over the desert night,
\nshe walks these roads before us.
\nShe appears wherever dignity is denied.
\nShe whispers to the abandoned:
\n\u201cYou are still my beloved.\u201d<\/p>\n

To be a Conventual Franciscan Friar here
\nis to know fraternitas has no border<\/span> checkpoint.
\nThat compassion needs no passport.
\nThat the Kingdom of God
\nhas never been contained by barbed wire or a
\nwall.<\/p>\n

It is to stand in the dust
\nand still sing alleluia.
\nTo witness suffering
\nand still choose tenderness.
\nTo see death-dealing systems
\nand still plant seeds of resurrection.<\/p>\n

I am a friar in the border<\/span>lands.
\nAn imperfect brother.
\nA servant of peace.
\nA witness to holy struggle.
\nAn acompa\u00f1ante de esperanza.<\/p>\n

And until every child is safe,
\nevery family is welcomed,
\nevery stranger is called neighbor\u2026<\/p>\n

I will keep walking.
\nKeep praying.
\nKeep loving.
\nKeep hoping.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>

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<\/span><\/a><\/div>
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<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/section>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A Friar on the Border by friar Joseph Bach, OFM Conv. I am a Conventual Franciscan Friar; but not first by habit, not first by title, not first by the grey cloth that brushes desert dust. I am Brother. Brother to the migrant mother carrying fear in one hand and faith in the other. Brother...","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":24907,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[128],"tags":[173,171,172],"class_list":["post-24906","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-friar-blogs","tag-borderlands","tag-joseph-bach","tag-poem"],"aioseo_notices":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-30 21:15:44","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.franciscansusa.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24906","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.franciscansusa.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.franciscansusa.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.franciscansusa.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.franciscansusa.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24906"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.franciscansusa.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24906\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24914,"href":"https:\/\/www.franciscansusa.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24906\/revisions\/24914"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.franciscansusa.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24907"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.franciscansusa.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24906"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.franciscansusa.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24906"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.franciscansusa.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24906"}],"curies":[{"name":"gracias","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}