Editor’s note: Teresa Linda is a community college Composition and Literature professor. She has raised four children with her husband Mark, who is also her partner in all endeavors, including this site. Teresa is a Formation Instructor in the Santa Clara, CA Secular Community of Discalced Carmelites.

THEY ARE CHRIST                 (Fall 2015 Semester)

Each day, my students walk through the classroom doorway – their threshold of hope.

Girls who are mothers,
Boys who are fathers.
Or overnight, if a parent dies –
from brother to father; from daughter to mother.

Women in their teens and twenties,
Whose faces belie the pain,
Of loving men addicted to drugs,
That make them violent and forget their children.

Young people who care for dying family members,
Squeezing studies between forty-hour work weeks
And visits to the hospital.
Barely adults themselves, they are thrust forcefully into adulthood.

The virility of youth stolen,
Without warning,
By bacterial meningitis, cancer, diabetes – all kinds of disease.
A stray bullet.  Intentional gunfire. Knife wounds.

Hopes buoyed,
By an American Dream that must be delayed,
Seemingly into eternity,
For families who  have trekked thousands of miles by boat, rail, and foot

Only to become scapegoats of the failures of a society,
Bent on self-satisfaction and self-love,
In a land that  has held twisted, broken promises.

Everyday,
The eyes of these beautiful souls
Look up at me from their seats with undying faith,
And I am deeply humbled.

They… they are Christ crucified.
Blessed are the poor, for theirs is the kingdom of God.

Teresa Linda  2017. All Rights Reserved. 

 Try the Daily Disconnect as part of your Daily Meditation

click onto the image or the link above

[sbscrbr_form]