Oct 29, 2023 English

We may notice many foreign workers and residents in our area. Some are house cleaners, nannies, construction workers, tree cutters, restaurant workers, and so on. They may be invisible to many of us, but they are fathers, mothers, brother and sisters with their families and loved ones near and far.

Today’s word of God from Exodus tells us: “You shall not molest or oppress an alien, for you were once aliens yourselves in the land of Egypt.” Leviticus also tells us: “The strangers who sojourn with you shall be to you as the natives among you, and you shall love them as yourself; for you were strangers in the land of Egypt (19:33-34).” Jesus tells us to welcome the stranger (cf. Matthew 25:35), for “what you do to the least of my brethren, you do unto me (Matthew 25:40).”

Here are some facts and challenges:
•    Though a good number come as skilled workers and professionals, the greater number come as refugees and immigrants on the edge of survival.
•    Large numbers join families already here.
•    Others arrive without proper documents.
•    Many were forced to leave their homeland because of a well-founded fear of persecution and threat.
•    This diversity of ethnicity, education, and social class challenges us to welcome these new immigrants and help them join our communities in ways that are respectful of their cultures and in ways that mutually enrich the immigrants and the receiving Church.
•    The presence of so many people of so many different cultures and religions in so many different parts of the United States has challenged us as a Church to a profound conversion so that we can become truly a sacrament of unity.
•    We reject the anti-immigrant stance that has become popular in different parts of our country, and the nativism, ethnocentricity, and racism that continue to reassert themselves in our communities.
•    We are challenged to get beyond ethnic communities living side by side within our own parishes without any connection with each other.
•    We are challenged to become an evangelizing Church open to interreligious dialogue and willing to proclaim the Gospel to those who wish to hear it.
•    The new immigrants call most of us back to our ancestral heritage as descendants of immigrants and to our baptismal heritage as members of the body of Christ. “For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, slaves or free persons, and we are all given to drink of one Spirit” (1 Cor 12:13).

Once a month, we celebrate the Intercultural Mass, in which we endeavor to celebrate and acknowledge God-given unity and communion as the body of Christ and get to know one another better in our cultural diversity. To love each other, we need to know each other. To know each other, we need to meet each other. We can also trace other roots by checking our ancestry and history and trace our migration of several generations on a map, which will broaden our perspectives and help us to relate to our recent comers.

Today’s gospel simply declares that love of God and love of neighbor is the core of the Bible teaching. These are like two sides of a coin. When there is a waning of love of God, we may expect ebb of love of neighbor. We as Body of Christ in this neighborhood are called to be the living sign or sacrament of God’s love and His saving compassionate presence among our neighbors and to each other. May our celebration of this Eucharist help us to become generous, passionate, and compassionate ambassadors of Christ to one another and to our neighbors!

Fr. Paul D. Lee