Street Walls #1: A Contemplation of Place

Walls are normally not something you notice. But one day in Juárez one of them said “GOD IS IN THE DETAILS.”

Just around that time God seemed pretty absent from Juarez. At the time every news outlet had a “death count of the day.” For months it was in the 30s. A list made of graffiti on fabric appeared hanging from a bridge listing the names of 20 police officers. Within three days all of them had been murdered, and every morning the names of those killed would be marked with spray paint across their names.

GOD IS IN THE DETAILS spoke loudly, a work of art, where the media were oil and hope. I looked around and I saw my mother driving, and in that detail I repeated to myself: God is in the details. God is in her Love. God IS here.

Another wall one morning said “ALSO LOVE IS LEARNED.”

I cannot put into words just how powerful these signs were to the people of Juarez. There it was in all caps: ALSO LOVE IS LEARNED. Not just violence. Hope was right there in black and white.

Just when you thought darkness had the last word, the light shows its face – and darkness seems so fragile. The Light was so radiant on those walls.

The Pope will drive past some of these walls. He might miss them, which is fine, because he’ll be having an even bigger effect in Ciudad Juarez. The hideous graffiti on fabric is nowhere to be found. Yet, Hope on Concrete is still standing! I hope this visit does something similar to Ciudad Juarez.

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One more Contemplation of Place, and later today I will begin on the ground posts.