He Who Does Justice Will Live in the Presence of the Lord"

Sunday Mass Readings (I was hoping to be back in the US after my vacation in India. I am still in India because my father has had a serious heart attack. Please pray for him and my safe return on the 6th of August. ) In any case, let me begin this homily with a story from India. Consider the state of this immigrant. His land has been taken away to build a cheap car factory. The compensation he received could hardly sustain him and his family. He has since left his ancestral property and is now an immigrant in the already over populated city of Calcutta. He lives with his family in the pavement and depends on menial labor to make a living. He is an immigrant with no where to go. In the US too, there are many such sad stories of immigrants that have come to the fore particularly since the immigration issue has become a rather debated topic. Please allow me to offer a biblical analysis on the issue of immigration. There is no better place to begin such an analysis but with today’s first reading. Even though the reader knows that it was Lord who appeared to Abraham that day, Abraham himself did not know that fact, when three strangers passed by his tent. Abraham rose to the occasion and offered them extraordinary hospitality. Such hospitality was typical of the Bedouin nomads of the Middle East. Even today’s modern Middle East is renowned for their hospitality. Until I visited Bahrain some years back I was under the impression that Indian hospitality was the legendary.

Getting back to the biblical world, the Old Testament prescribed stringent laws for the safeguard and protection of the foreigners and strangers in their midst. The book of Leviticus has this to say: “When an alien resides with you in your land, you shall not oppress the alien. The alien who resides with you shall be to you as the citizen among you; you shall love the alien as yourself for you were aliens in the land of Egypt” (Lev 19:33-34. Also see Ex 22:21). In the New Testament, in the broadest sense, the foremost of immigrants was Jesus. He came from heaven and lived as the human being in Palestine. He was born while his parents like many immigrants were looking for a shelter. Then he lived as an immigrant in Egypt till Herod died. He then grew up in Nazareth which was not the place of his birth. No wonder then, that Jesus was often sympathetic and even appreciative of those that traditional Judaism treated with contempt, like the Samaritans.

The Church’s teaching on immigration is rather clear as well. More recently the US Catholic Bishops Conference has released a document entitled, “Strangers No Longer: Together on a Journey of Hope.” Some of the recommendation it makes to the faithful are:
• We call upon pastors and lay leaders to ensure support for migrant and immigrant families.
• We urge communities to offer migrant families hospitality, not hostility, along their journey.
• We commend church communities that have established migrant shelters that provide appropriate pastoral and social services to migrants.
• We encourage Catholics and all people of good will to work with the community to address the causes of undocumented migration and to protect the human rights of all migrants.
• We call on the local church to help newcomers integrate in ways that are respectful, that celebrate their cultures, and that are responsive to their social needs, leading to a mutual enrichment of the local church.
Three practical implications:

1. On a very Christian level, the first practical implication comes from the first reading. God promise to Abraham was fulfilled because of his generosity toward the strangers. Even though God had made the promise to Abraham that he would be the father of many nations, this promise remained unfulfilled for many years. In frustration, Abraham even had a son through his salve woman, Hagar. But now time has come for that promise to be fulfilled. And strangely enough, God came in the form of a stranger to announce the good news. This incident makes me ask a question. What would have happened if Abraham did not receive the strangers of was inhospitable toward them? I think he would have missed God’s blessing. In the coming years, we are bound to see strangers in our midst. Let us be careful on how we treat them.

2. Today immigration is a political issue. In fact, most often, it is possible to identify one’s political affiliation based on one’s opinion on immigration. However, the gospel reading offers a different perspective. In today’s gospel reading, Jesus praised Mary’s hospitality toward him because she, unlike Martha, did not merely do things for him but also made room for him in her life. She sat at his feet and spent time with him. In other words her attitude toward Jesus was a reflection of her faith and spirituality. My dear friends, political stands are fine but it is not our political stand that will save us. What will save us is our faith. Our faith teaches us to be compassionate toward strangers and foreigners.

3. Having said that, in the US in particular, illegal immigration is a contentious issue because of illegal immigrants. What should be the Christian attitude toward immigration? What should be our attitude toward illegal immigrants? Surely, the scriptures and the Church teach us to be obedient to civil authority. The immigration debate is raging in our country and it is not uncommon to hear very disrespectful things said about immigrants. It is one thing to consider an act legal or illegal and quite another to treat a whole population with disrespect. It happened to the Irish, the Polish, the Africans and in our age it is happening with the new immigrants. It would be Abraham-like to be kind, respectful without being illegal. After all, in one sense we are all strangers. Heaven is our home and one day we hope to be welcomed with respect and kindness there. Let us treat each other with respect irrespective of our nationality, race, religion or culture.

Let our participation in the Eucharist this week, bring us to the realization that even the immigrants are part of the “body of Christ,” as St. Paul mentions in the second reading. May we treat each person of the body of Christ with respect and love. Amen.

Fr. Satish Joseph