Praying to ease the struggles of immigrants, migrants, and vulnerable populations

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Praying to ease the struggles of immigrants, migrants, and vulnerable populations

National Migration Week, an opportunity to raise awareness about the hardships faced by migrants, including children, refugees and victims of human trafficking, was observed in early January with the theme, “We are One Family under God.”

The observance of National Migration Week began over 25 years ago by the U.S. bishops to give Catholics an opportunity to take stock of the wide diversity of peoples in the church and the ministries serving them. The week served as both a time for prayer and action to try and ease the struggles of immigrants, migrants and vulnerable populations coming to America and a time for reflection on the church’s call to “welcome the stranger.”

In the archdiocese, the week was observed with the celebration of the 8 a.m. televised Mass on the feast of the Epiphany — Jan. 4 — at San Fernando Cathedral by Archbishop Gustavo García-Siller, MSpS.

The archbishop referred to the gospel encounter between a mother and a child, three wise men from the East and King Herod and his advisors. “This familiar story is a study in contrasts — between light and darkness,” Archbishop Gustavo began.

The narrative opens with the three wise men who are searching for someone special — led by the light of a single star in the darkness of night. The archbishop explained, “They are not looking for any newborn child but rather a newborn king of the Jews. They have come to do him homage even though they are Gentiles, not Jews. They stop in Jerusalem and ask about the newborn prince at the king’s palace.”

The San Antonio prelate emphasized, “King Herod is both puzzled and threatened — by the mention of a mere child! Herod ruled Judah with a heavy hand and was known for his wealth, power, ambition and cruelty.” The king then consulted with his expert advisers about messianic prophecies.

“Hypocritically,” stresses the archbishop, “Herod tells the three wise men to find the child and let him know where he is so that he may do him homage — intending, instead, to murder the boy! Herod and his court, despite the splendor surrounding them, continue to live in the darkness of deceit, ignorance and evil.”

In Bethlehem the wise men encounter the newborn child Jesus and Mary his mother. The three offer the child gifts and do him homage.

“Mary says nothing. Jesus says nothing. But the light of God’s presence and majesty shine brightly in this entire story,” says Archbishop Gustavo. “Recall that the Holy Family is from Galilee, not Judea. They are far from home and live in a stable or cave because they were not welcome at the inn. And we know what happens next.”

Herod then decides to kill all the young boys in Bethlehem, and the Holy Family take refuge in a foreign land, Egypt.

The archbishop adds, “The shadow of the cross falls upon the child Jesus from his earliest days even though Herod cannot extinguish the light of the world, Cristo Rey!”

He continued, “This feast of the Epiphany is a celebration of light! Jesus is the light of the world — a light offered to Jew and Gentile alike, to all people without exception. No one needs ever again to walk in darkness, apart from the God of light and love. This feast challenges us to seek and encounter the Lord Jesus and to walk in God’s light all the days of our lives.”

To shine the light of the Gospel on the plight of migrants and refugees, Pope Francis issued a message for the 101st World Day of Migrants and Refugees (which was celebrated on Jan. 18) with the theme, “Church without frontiers, mother to all.”

The Holy Father points out that “the church without frontiers, mother to all, spreads throughout the world a culture of acceptance and solidarity, in which no one is seen as useless, out of place, or disposable.”

He reminds all that “large numbers of people are leaving their homelands, with a suitcase full of fears and desires, to undertake a hopeful and dangerous trip in search of more humane living conditions.”

Archbishop Gustavo described how many of the immigrants who come to the United States along the Southwest border carry no suitcase and are fleeing violence that threatens their very lives.

The Holy Father added in his message that “migration gives rise to suspicion and hostility, even in ecclesial communities, prior to any knowledge of their migrants’ lives or their stories or persecution and destitution. Migrants and refugees are real people, with real names, real faces, real families!”

“Suspicion and prejudice,” Pope Francis says, “conflict with the biblical commandment of welcoming with respect and solidarity the stranger in need. Jesus commanded his followers to love one another. The Lord identified himself with the stranger, with the one who suffers, with all the innocent victims of violence and exploitation.”

Pope Francis says that “the courage born of faith, hope and love enables us to reduce the distances that separate us from human misery. Jesus Christ is always waiting to be recognized in migrants and refugees, in displaced persons and in exiles and through them he calls us to share our resources.”

The Holy Father closed his message by addressing the migrants and refugees themselves: Dear migrants and refugees! You have a special place in the heart of the church, and you help her to enlarge her heart and to manifest her motherhood toward the entire human family … Just as the maternal heart of the Blessed Virgin and the kind heart of St. Joseph keep alive the confidence that God would never abandon them, so in you may the same hope in the Lord never be wanting.

Archbishop Gustavo concluded, “Let us recognize the face of Christ in migrants and refugees. Let us welcome them as our true sisters and brothers within the church as our mother, one family under God.”