Remove the Wooden Beam from Your Eye First
And though the LORD warned Israel and Judah by every prophet and seer, "Give up your evil ways and keep my commandments and statutes, in accordance with the entire law which I enjoined on your fathers and which I sent you by my servants the prophets," they did not listen, but were as stiff-necked as their fathers, who had not believed in the LORD, their God. They rejected his statutes, the covenant which he had made with their fathers, and the warnings which he had given them, till, in his great anger against Israel, the LORD put them away out of his sight. Only the tribe of Judah was left. 1 Kings 17:13-15A, 18
“Why do you notice the splinter in your brother's eye, but do not perceive the wooden beam in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, 'Let me remove that splinter from your eye,' while the wooden beam is in your eye? You hypocrite, remove the wooden beam from your eye first; then you will see clearly to remove the splinter from your brother's eye.” Matthew 7:3-5
Piety
Amid unfolding crisis on the Southern US border and ahead of Wednesday’s World Refugee Day, at today’s Angelus Pope says, “each of us is called to be close to refugees” who are “forced to flee their lands with great anxiety and persecution.”
Study
Actions still speak louder than words. The actions of the children of Israel got them punished. Specifically, their rejection of the commandments and statutes handed down from their ancestors remained ignored. The result is that once again, they are exiled from the Promised Land. Only the tribe of Judah remained.
These lessons are not lost on Jesus or Matthew. The Good News includes an equally stern warning against hypocrisy. Actions must be congruent with words.
Action
As I contemplate taking today’s word from the Sanctuary to the Streets, I am struck by how three things I encountered today connect.
Thing 1: Today’s Liturgy of the Word began by recalling how King Shalmaneser deported the children of Israel (not just children in a literal sense but all people of Israel. Let’s also never forget that Mary and Joseph were a refugee family fleeing violence, too.
Thing 2: On Twitter.com, I came across this quote from Bishop Talley: “When you receive Jesus in the Eucharist, you don’t just receive Him...you receive His mission, to be missionary disciples. You cannot stay stuck in closets or alone in your rooms. You must go out and love your brothers and sisters.”
Thing 3: The Catholic Church has a successful integrative model of refugee resettlement as detailed in this article in https://cruxnow.com/church-in-the-usa/2018/06/23/the-catholic-churchs-long-history-of-resettling-refugees-in-the-u-s/ …
WASHINGTON, D.C. - The Catholic Church has resettled nearly one-third of all refugees received by the United States since 1980 through a public-private partnership with a high rate of successful integration of refugees into society, according to a report released in June 2018.
The Center for Migration Studies report examines data on 1.1 million of the refugees resettled in the U.S. from 1987 to 2016. These refugees came from more than 30 countries, including Ukraine, Iraq, Vietnam, Somalia, Bosnia, and Burma.
“What we’ve found is that they are integrating, contributing, and accomplishing a lot in the United States after starting from basically nothing. Not surprisingly, we found that refugees with the longest residence have integrated the most fully in the country, and we provide statistics on how that progresses over time,” said Donald Kerwin, the primary author of the report, at a World Refugee Day event at the U.S. Capitol building.
I will be contacting the Migration and Refugee Services at Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Arlington to see how I can help a refugee family. Instead of cursing the darkness on the border, how can you make “welcoming the stranger” a reality? Go to http://ccda.net/ to see how you can help. Some of the needs of the Migration and Refugee Services are detailed here:
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