In the Gospel, Jesus is paying a little house call on the sisters Martha and Mary. Both ladies welcome him and his disciples, but Martha heads to the kitchen to prepare something for Jesus and his buddies to eat, while Mary keeps Jesus and the other guys company. Both are good hostesses, even if Martha gets a bit bent out of shape because she’s doing the work while Mary sits around. Jesus gently scolds Martha for picking on her sister. After all, haven’t we all been to a dinner party where the hostess was so busy preparing for her guests that she’s had no time to enjoy their company?
Hospitality is one of the key ingredients that keeps people coming back to church each week. I remember the annual parish picnics in North Java especially after the people built a new playground for the kids in town. Today’s Sonshine photo shows the proud parishioners, parents and their children smiling in front of the swings and slides.
Sadly, it appears hospitality in this country is slipping or better fallen off a cliff because of the current anti-immigrant “round ‘em up and ship ‘em out” attitude towards immigrants in the United States.
I read this week the statement by the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Miami, Thomas Wenski concerning the detention facility Homeland Security has constructed in the Florida Everglades known as Alligator Alcatraz. This is a facility designed with the purpose of detaining up to 5,000 individuals whose only crime may be that they entered this country illegally. The structures are overcrowded tents which provide little protection from the intense heat and mosquitoes and no protection at all from flooding rains or hurricanes. The facility opened on the third of this month and there have already been complaints about insufficient food, limited access to water, and restrictions against visiting clergy.
Archbishop Wenski noted on the archdiocese’s website:
"We have a detention center in the middle of the jungle, surrounded by snakes, alligators, mosquitoes, and more. It is an inhumane situation…It is insulting that those who should know better are mocking the misery of their brothers and sisters. We are all brothers and sisters, and no one should ridicule the suffering of other people. Even the name 'Alligator Alcatraz' is a cruel mockery of the pain those people endure.”
I can’t say I have the answer to America’s immigration problem, but I know indiscriminately arresting and incarcerating any or all undocumented individuals—especially in dangerous or unhealthy detention centers—is not the answer.
Jesus said. “I was a stranger, and you welcomed me.” Martha shared what she had when thirteen hungry guests who showed up at her door. Mary gave them her loving attention. To dehumanize others cannot possibly be to our benefit and it certainly is not being the best Catholic we can be.
Lord, I pray for all my Sonshine Friends, keep safe and protect from harm all our Latino our brothers and sisters and their children. As Christians, we are called to love our neighbor as ourselves when, like Our Lord, we show them mercy.
