Send Me!

Saturday of the Fourteenth Week In Ordinary Time

He touched my mouth with it and said, “See, now that this has touched your lips, your wickedness is removed, your sin purged.”  Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? Who will go for us?”  “Here I am,” I said; “send me!”  Isaiah 6:7-8

Nothing is concealed that will not be revealed, nor secret that will not be known.  What I say to you in the darkness, speak in the light; what you hear whispered, proclaim on the housetops.  Matthew 10:26-27

Piety

I place my words in your mouth!  Jeremiah 1:9b

Study

What do we cultivate in this world?  Today’s sacred scriptures remind us to have courage and to persevere in our mission no matter what face of danger we encounter.  When we have the courage to proclaim the word in the world, then the Lord will advocate for us.  Proclamation equals intervention.

Just like in Isaiah, through grace (God’s friendship), we are forgiven for our sins.  In return, the Lord places His words (concealed and secret) in our mouth and asks us to carry them into the world and make them known to the world.  The concealed and secret coming of the kingdom is to be proclaimed by all of us and no fear must be allowed to deter us from making such a proclamation.  This is not something we should whisper in secret in the dark of night.  It is something to make known for all to see. 

The reward when we carry this out is great.  Basically, Jesus Himself will be there to intervene on our behalf.  No one less than the Son of Man himself will acknowledge us if we have acknowledged Jesus.  Surely there are saints to pray to for assistance.  And Mary.  They can put in a good word for us with the Lord.  However, when we carry out the great commission and speak it in the light, Jesus (the Son of Man) will then acknowledge or deny us before his heavenly Father and speak it in the light.

Action

“Our mission as Church is to defend the rights of the migrant, no matter what the political situation or polls may dictate,” said Bishop Eusebio Elizondo, auxiliary bishop of Seattle and chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ (USCCB) Committee on Migration.  “We must continue to push our lawmakers on both sides to act on this important national issue, as our fellow human beings continue to suffer under this broken system.”

It may not be very popular in this political climate to make such a remark, but the Church has consistently spoken out for just reforms of our immigration laws.  In light of the humanitarian crisis on our southern border, we cannot keep this secret and concealed.

“As advocates for the most vulnerable, we are committed to shining the light of the Gospel on these migration issues and being the voice of the voiceless,” Bishop Elizondo said. “This is a crucial time for us to remind our lawmakers of their responsibilities to the common good, especially when it concerns the strangers among us.”

A few years ago, my daughter spent a year working at an orphanage near San Pedro Sula, Honduras.  As I hear the stories of children escaping the crisis there, I wonder if any of the boys that were in the care of Amigos de Jesus are among those who have make the trek to our southern border.

All of us (or our grandparents or great-grandparents) came from somewhere else.  We benefitted from the ability to have the accident of our birth in the USA.  How can we deny that to others if the courts rule that they are escaping unjust conditions? 

Where were your ancestors born?  When did they come here?  Why did they come here?  How can you put a human face on the immigration crisis?