Last night, I was awakened by a small voice.

It said, “Mama.”

I waited a moment.

It said, “Mama! Hold me.”

So I said, “Come up here with me.”

The owner of the little voice scrambled up into my bed and squiggled her body as tightly against mine as the laws of physics allow.

“Hug me.”

I felt the miracle of her heart beating against my chest.

I wrapped my arms around her.

I thought of all the little ones who are in cages, with no mamas.

Little ones, just like my little one.

I thought of all of the mamas in cages, with no babies.

Mamas, just like me.

And I prayed.

I prayed for God to carry their grief, because their bodies are far too small to hold it all themselves.

I prayed for God to be their comfort, for the Holy Spirit to encircle them and press in on them with love strong enough to squeeze in past the grief, for God to send gentle arms and eyes that see their humanity and warms hearts and kind bodies to them.

I prayed for God to help them be each other’s comfort, to be the warmth and the love and the connection that keeps them alive through these horrors, as they flee from a different set of horrors.

I prayed for more broken hearts among us, less silence and complicity and horrible justification.

I prayed for action and change and love. Love, love, love.

I prayed until I ran out of words and was left with an ache in my chest and a precious little life asleep in my arms.

But it’s not enough.

There are no hands, but ours.

No voices, but ours.

No hearts, but ours.

So be broken for them, contact your representatives for them (if you don’t know what to say, ask someone. Ask me.), confront complicity for them, shut down justification for them, send money for their court costs and necessities; just find a thing that you can do for them and do it. Keep doing it, until things change. It is going to take all of us.

Contact your Reps here:

5 Calls (they have scripts here after you plug in your zip code)

ResistBot

Donate to court costs here:

RAICES

Texas Civil Rights Project

Donate to physical needs here:

Catholic Charities

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