In chapter 9 of Genesis we read: "After the
great flood that reset the destiny of the world, we read: God blessed Noah and
his sons and said to them: Be fertile and multiply and fill t he earth. God
said: The rainbow in the sky is the sign of the covenant that I am making
between me and you and every living creature with you for all ages to come. The
sons of Noah who came out of the ark were Shem, Ham and Japheth. These three
were the sons of Noah, and from them the whole earth was populated."
People spread out through all
the earth, searching for suitable places to settle and make their homes. To be
a migrant was a natural part of being a human on this planet. Abraham, the father
of the faith, was called by God to be a immigrant; “The LORD said to Abram: Go forth from your land, your relatives, and
from your father’s house to a land that I will show you. Abram went as the LORD
directed him, and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he
left Haran”.
In today’s first reading, Jeramiah
the prophet is telling God’s people living in exile that soon they will be on
the road home. “See, I am going to bring
them from the land of the north and gather them from the farthest parts of the
earth, among them the blind and the lame, those with child and those in labor,
together; a great company, they shall return here”.
In the early chapters of the
gospels we see three people forced to flee for their lives and become exiles and
refugees. Their names, Joseph, and Mary, and Jesus.
Back in the 7th century
BC, the people of China, fearing invasions of the various nomadic groups of the
Eurasian Steppe with an eye to expansion, built several walls to keep out these
intruders. Later these walls were joined together and made bigger and stronger;
today they are collectively referred to as the Great Wall.
Today, fear of migrants is
causing another great wall to be built on the southern border of the U.S. The
media is tracing this migration, with pictures and stories of these migrants as
they travel north in search of a better life. How are we as Christians to look on
the phenomena of refugee and immigrant migration?
In January 22, 2003, the Catholic
Bishops of Mexico and the United States issued a Pastoral Letter concerning migration. Its title is: . . . LINK
In paragraph #28, we read; "Catholic teaching has a long and rich tradition in defending the right to
migrate. Based on the life and teachings of Jesus, the Church's teaching has
provided the basis for the development of basic principles regarding the right
to migrate for those attempting to exercise their God-given human rights.
Catholic teaching also states that the root causes of migration – poverty,
injustice, religious intolerance, armed conflicts – must be addressed so that
migrants can remain in their homeland and support their families”.
I encourage
you to read this this document. It is an excellent presentation of
Catholic thought on the subject.
Our world today is experiencing a
renewed move toward globalization, and some see this as a threat to their
nationalism and their right to self determination; they see walls as a way of protecting their rights and securing their sovereignty.
In their pastoral letter, the US and Mexican bishops recognized such rights but not as absolutes. In paragraph # 35 they state: "The Church recognizes that all the
goods of the earth belong to all people. When persons cannot find employment in
their country of origin to support themselves and their families, they have a
right to find work elsewhere in order to survive. Sovereign nations should
provide ways to accommodate this right."
Rather than being caught in the trap
of taking sides in the global/nationalist debate, we need to rise above it,
working and praying that all peoples recognize that we are all pilgrims on this
earth and that our true home is in heaven. While on this pilgrimage we are
intent on helping each other make it home.
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