Thus says the LORD:
"You shall not molest or oppress an alien,
for you were once aliens yourselves in the land of Egypt.
You shall not wrong any widow or orphan.
If ever you wrong them and they cry out to me,
I will surely hear their cry.
My wrath will flare up, and I will kill you with the sword;
then your own wives will be widows, and your children orphans.
I don’t know about you, but I found this passage taken from the Book of Exodus as part of the first lesson for today’s Mass, particularly strong and uncompromising, coming from the Lord of compassion and mercy. As much as we might want to rationalize away certain parts of Scripture, not to our liking, these words from the Lord are pretty straight forward. If we fail to open our hearts and create a hospitable home for the alien, the widow and the orphan who cry out to the Lord, then, there will be a consequence: My wrath will flare up, and I will kill you with the sword; then your own wives will be widows, and your children orphans.
Is it possible that the Lord of all creation could be using truthful hyperbole in this passage? Well, I, for one, do not want to find out! The plain truth remains that both the Hebrew and Christian Scriptures present as essential criteria for living the authentic life of faith, our willingness to see all peoples and especially, the alien, the immigrant, widows, the homeless and disenfranchised, as beloved children of God and, indeed, our sisters and brothers. There is no way around it, we are to see them as God sees them, his beloved who are worthy of protection, love and mercy in the home of our hearts and in the land, we call our own.
This passage cannot but prod the consciences of those in our own country who have witnessed the virtual dismantling of our immigration system and particularly, the closing of the door to those who seek legitimate asylum from the death-dealing circumstances in their respective countries. All peoples of good will with an ounce of sensitivity toward the inviolability of the family, have shuddered in incomprehension at the separation of children from their parents, as a cruel and heartless disincentive to immigration into our country. While every country, of course, understandably regulates immigration through laws that are fair and equitable, justice must always be tempered by mercy.
My friends, the Word of the Lord, must always be a beacon of light calling us to the true North Star that leads us ever more deeply to living our faith with integrity and authenticity. May we pray for the courage to let that divine Word, take root in our hearts and in the hearts and minds of the citizens of our beloved country to transform us with truth and justice tempered by mercy.