I am writing this week’s column on Good Friday and am grateful that my schedule somehow parted to allow me to do so. 2025 has brought a tumult of uncertainty, change, and in my case, a significantly increased workload. This is a welcome respite.
Today in New Mexico, 40,000 of us are going on pilgrimage. 30,000 will make the pilgrimage to the Santuarió de Chimayo, and 10,000 will climb Tomé Hill. That’s close to the daily attendance at the State Fair.
New Mexico is one of the most Catholic states in the U.S., coming in second after Rhode Island for the most adults stating membership, with 34%. It is the single largest denomination in the state. It is my own faith.
State and local first responders coordinate to support the Good Friday pilgrims each year, ensuring traffic is managed and safety information is disseminated widely. It’s something to see as thousands of people take to US Highway 84/285 to Chimayó on foot or make the ascent up the path to the three crosses atop Tomé Hill.
Many of us in the first months of 2025 have been feeling fearful about uncertain times ahead. This decade has been marked by fearsome events and disquietude: the pandemic and ensuing economic upset; growing political polarization; extreme weather events.
And we are beset by more and more channels and platforms that broadcast bad news 24/7.
Some fears are unpreventable; but fear is a powerful force and can be weaponized. Those of us who have served in the military or in law enforcement are familiar with “deterrence.” Deterrence is not the same as deliberately sowing fear. Deterrence is about a demonstration of consequences. Fearmongering is based in cruelty.
My favorite of the early Church writers, Saint Augustine of Hippo, went so far as to equate fear with evil. In his Confessions, Augustine writes, “Therefore either is that evil which we fear, or else evil is, that we fear.” Indeed.
Moving out of the Christian realm briefly, let’s recount the Greek myth of Pandora. In one account, she is the first woman, and Zeus entrusts her with a container along with strong admonitions not to open it. Her curiosity gets the best of her, and she lifts the lid, releasing all the evils into the world. She shuts the lid as quickly as she can, and one thing remains – hope.
All humans, whether Catholic, Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist, or just good old pagans like Pandora, know instinctively that fear’s kryptonite is hope. Pope Francis, in writing his decree announcing the Jubilee Year of 2025, noted, “Everyone knows what it is to hope. In the heart of each person, hope dwells as the desire and expectation of good things to come.”
In the case of the Chimayó pilgrims, they are walking anywhere from seven to 100 miles to reach the Santuario. Frightened people don’t do that. Hopeful ones do. People with a faith in a promise – be it annual or once in a lifetime – and a hope for good things to come.
This expression of faith – and hope – by so many is powerful, and it transcends the fear of our times. I wish everyone a hope-filled and peaceful Easter and Passover.
Merritt Hamilton Allen is a PR executive and former Navy officer. She appeared regularly as a panelist on NM PBS and is a frequent guest on News Radio KKOB. A Republican for 36 years, she became an independent upon reading the 2024 Republican platform. She lives amicably with her Democratic husband north of I-40 where they run one head of dog, and one of cat. She can be reached at news.ind.merritt@gmail.com.
