Living out the Christmas Gospels
As we conclude the beautiful Christmas season, we recall the many touching images from the Gospels that have been placed before us. It is difficult not to be touched by the written and visual images of Jesus, Mary and Joseph that we have encountered in the past few weeks. We know that the celebration of the mysteries of our Redemption not only makes these mysteries present once again through the liturgical life of the Church but also makes the imitation of their lessons imperative in our lives. Our faith has hopefully been strengthened by the Christmas celebrations but we must also keep in mind the words of Saint James: "What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister has nothing to wear and has no food for the day, and one of you says to them, ‘Go in peace, keep warm, and eat well.' but you do not give them the necessities of the body, what good is it? So also faith of itself, if it does not have works, is dead" (James 3:14-17).
We have a wonderful opportunity to live out the Gospel scenes we have been celebrating as our Holy Father invites us to observe the World Day of Migrants and Refugees on Sunday, January 14. In Philadelphia, this day will coincide with the end of the Vocation Awareness observance which I wrote to you about in the last issue of The Catholic Standard and Times.
In his letter establishing this year's theme — The Migrant Family — Pope Benedict XVI quotes a wonderful passage from Pope Pius XII's 1952 Apostolic Constitution (Exsul Familia), which illustrates the "bridge" leading us from the Gospel to its unfolding in our present realities. Pius XII wrote: "The family of Nazareth in exile, Jesus, Mary and Joseph, emigrants and taking refuge in Egypt to escape the fury of an evil king, are the model, the example and the support of all emigrants and pilgrims of every age and every country, of all refugees of any condition who, compelled by persecution and need, are forced to abandon their homeland, their beloved relatives, their neighbors, their dear friends, and move to a foreign land."
The "Non-Negotiables" of Christianity
In the business and diplomatic worlds, propositions are sometimes referred to as being "negotiable" or "non-negotiable." For the followers of Jesus, there are elements that are "non-negotiable!" One of these is the care we are called upon to give to the stranger and alien. In the Gospel of Saint Matthew, as we read the account of the Last Judgment, Jesus reminds us that He is the stranger whom we welcomed or turned away in our neighbor and we will be judged accordingly (Matthew 25:31-46). The Second Vatican Council refers to this passage when it reminds us: "Today there is an inescapable duty to make ourselves the neighbor of every man, no matter who he is, and if we meet him, to come to his aid in a positive way, whether he is an aged person abandoned by all, a foreign worker despised without reason, a refugee, an illegitimate child wrongly suffering for a sin he did not commit, or a starving human being who awakens our conscience by calling to mind the words of Christ: ‘As you did it to one of the least of these my brethren, you did it to me'" (Gaudium et Spes, 27).
In the United States, where so many of us have enjoyed relative material prosperity and stability for so long, it is often easy to treat this question as merely a distant or academic one that we read about in the newspapers. As Christians, however, we do not have the option of ignoring the obligation of welcoming the stranger and coming to his or her aid. This year, we are asked to focus on the dangers to the family unit presented by migration or displacement. Loneliness, poverty and despair are often the lot of the immigrant or displaced person, who is deprived of the natural consolations and stability of the family. Sometimes, perhaps without intending it, we can be cynical even about those who come to the United Sates. We can look upon them as coming avariciously to this land, where "the streets are paved with gold." Since the great majority of us are descendants of immigrants in one sense or other, we should know that it is rare for that first generation to enjoy the promised prosperity of this or other lands. It is usually only after many hardships that the descendants of these voluntary or involuntary immigrants can enjoy the full blessings of a stable home and family life.
Church's Living out of Christ's Mandate
From the Gospel mandate and example, to Saint Ambrose in the fourth century who melted down sacred vessels to ransom captives, to the many religious Orders and congregations founded to care specifically for captives, migrants and refugees over the centuries, to the massive relief efforts of the Church during and after the two horrific world wars of the last century, to the present care the Church shows through her charitable agencies and programs throughout the world, to the United States Catholic Bishops' Migration and Refugee Services, to our own Office for Pastoral Care for Migrants and Refugees here in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, the Church has always sought to live out the message of Jesus, who tells us "whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me."
We often call Christ's Church our "mother." This is indeed a beautiful image, indicating her care for us. A good mother concerns herself with both the spiritual and material needs of her children and so it is with our Mother, the Church. Likewise, a mother's love, while remaining constant, needs to adjust itself to the differing needs of her children. The above-mentioned document of Pope Pius XII gives a wonderful catalogue of the care that the Church, a loving Mother, has shown for migrants and refugees down through the centuries. You are no doubt aware of the more recent manifestations of this concern. Here in our own Archdiocese, our local history shows forth the progress of an "immigrant church." The faith-filled Irish immigrants in the mid-nineteenth century turned to the Church as a rock of stability in an often-hostile environment. The great waves of immigration that began in the latter part of the nineteenth century and early part of the twentieth, saw the establishment of "personal" parishes to care for the needs of immigrants of different nationalities and allow them to maintain their customs and expressions of faith. My predecessor Cardinal Dennis Dougherty showed a special care for the needs of the African-American community arriving in Philadelphia and the Archdiocese has endeavored to build upon that. More recently, many efforts of pastoral care have been extended to the increasing Hispanic population in our Archdiocese. The thread throughout this changing landscape, with its changing needs, has always been the living out of the Gospel message of "welcoming the stranger," in light of the particular needs of the times.
I wonder if I might share with you just three examples from the history of the Church to show forth some of her care for the migrant, refugee and enslaved peoples of the world? Hopefully, while filling us with a legitimate pride, it may also spur us on to greater efforts!
You may have heard of St. Peter Claver, who was a Spanish Jesuit priest who lived in the sixteenth century. As a missionary, he vowed to become the "slave of the slaves forever." For thirty-eight years, he ministered spiritually and physically to the poor blacks in Colombia, who had been sold into slavery. With the arrival of every slave ship, he bathed the wounds of the sick, tried to ease their pain by the methods available to him and taught them the concept of their dignity as creatures of God, redeemed by Christ, even in the midst of their miserable state. In one of his letters to his superiors in Spain, after describing his activities among the slaves, he states: "This was how we spoke to them, not with words but with our hands and our actions." Indeed, he did!
Closer to home, many of you will have heard of St. Frances Xavier Cabrini. This tiny woman, who had a fear of ocean travel and who never fully mastered any language other than her own native Italian, was directed by Pope Leo XIII to exercise her missionary zeal, in America. She undertook many journeys throughout both North and South America to work among the poor immigrants who came to these shores, especially those who came from Italy. She founded schools, orphanages and hospitals to care for immigrants, teach them basic skills and educate the children. Mother Cabrini worked and lived for a time in our own Archdiocese, laboring in West Philadelphia's St. Donato Parish. The "Columbus Hospitals" dotting North and South America's large cities were a result of her vision and work of charity and that of the Congregation of Sisters she founded.
As soon as the Second World War ended in Europe, Pope Pius XII sent an apostolic mission to Germany to ascertain the needs of the millions of war victims, prisoners of war, refugees and displaced persons who were roaming Europe in the millions. He eventually appointed Bishop Aloysius Muench, an American of German extraction, to head a massive program of charity among these poor victims. Muench's biographer, attempting to describe the scene the bishop encountered says: "Millions of prisoners of war had no means of returning home. The condition of the displaced persons was the most pathetic and tragic of all. These victims of the greatest forced migration of history were living in abject poverty, wanted neither in their former homelands nor among the hostile population who viewed them as an insoluble economic drain." (American Nuncio by Colman J. Barry). For many years, Bishop, later Archbishop and Cardinal, Muench coordinated the works of charity in that devastated part of the world. He begged for help from the nations of the world and distributed that generosity with honesty and compassion to those most in need of assistance. By this manifestation Christian charity he not only provided for the physical relief of so many victims but also contributed to the restoration of peace by showing forth the face of Christ among the millions devastated by war and upheaval.
It is important to remember that this work and the work done among migrants and refugees during the Church's two-thousand year history are not merely humanitarian services but the living out of the command of Christ to see Him in the "least" of our brothers and sisters. This is why Mother Teresa of Calcutta always insisted that she and her Sisters do what they do, not for humanitarian reasons but because they are Christians.
These observances must never stop with mere words. As we are made aware more clearly of the needs and presence of the migrants and refugees in our midst, certainly we are called to recognize Christ in them. And in the Holy Family driven into exile we are called to recognize all the migrant and refugee families of the world. In this way, we can strive to be worthy sons and daughters of that Mother, Christ's Church, which has given us such a marvelous example down through the centuries!
