The gospel reading for Sunday, July15th was
the parable of the Good Samaritan. In the parable we know that the Levite and
the priest passed by the injured man; the Samaritan didn’t. In a sermon given by Martin Luther King Jr. he
comments “The first question that the priest asked, the first question that the
Levite asked was, ‘If I stop to help this man, what will happen to me? [Would what
happened to this stranger on this dangerous road also happen to me?] “The Good
Samaritan came by and turned the question around “If I do NOT stop to help this
man, what will happen to HIM?” Will the injured man be left here to die? And,
at another level, a personal one I ask myself “what becomes of me, what becomes
of my soul if I don’t help my unfortunate neighbor?” Several recent events at
our southern border have an ongoing disquieting effect on me. I can’t get them
out or my mind nor ought I.
A woman who had spent several weeks at the
border told me the story of an encounter she had with a young mother from
Honduras seeking asylum. The mother related that her twelve-year-old son is the
age that gangs “recruit” boys. She knows of devastating consequences including
death that occur to these young “recruits.” Out of fear and love for her son
and his life, they made the arduous trip to the US border to find safety,
something any mother would do. As the
woman continued telling me the story she wept. She told of horrific atrocities that
the mother shared that continue to occur in Honduras. I am choosing not to
write about them in this blog And I wonder what becomes of me, my soul if I
don’t do something? And I wonder what becomes of our nation if we don’t
recognize the Christ in the suffering humanity at our borders?
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| Photo from https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/childrens-concentration-camp/ |
NPR reported Sofi, a three–year-old Honduran suffering
from a major heart ailment. This toddler was asked to choose which parent did
she want to stay with her in the US as only one parent was allowed to stay. The
rest of the family forced to go back to the Mexican border. Asking a three year
to make this kind of choice? What? Then there are the children taken and separated
from parents living in squalid conditions. Don’t we all realize the devastating
consequences that occur to children who are taken from their parents? And what
about the men of all ages, crammed and locked in cages, sleeping on concrete
floor with primitive sanitary conditions. They have the look and the feel
of concentration camps. I can’t get them out or my mind nor ought I.
At a recent
immigration rally a young dreamer, a college grad gave witness to her story. She
lives in fear that her parents and loved ones who have lived here for many years
are now threatened with deportation because as a country we still have not
addressed our immigration problems.
The words of Jesus “I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was
sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.” Matt: 25.35-36 stay with me, haunt me because of what is occurring at our
borders. I think of Benedict’s words on the reception
of guests: “Great care and concern are to be shown in receiving poor people and
pilgrims, because in them more particularly Christ is received; our very awe of
the rich guarantees them special respect.” RB 53.15
