Welcoming the Holy
Here we invite you to take time for yourself in personal prayer. The following spiritual reflection offers words and images which we hope will evoke for you an experience of God.
By: Sister Donna Del Santo
La Sagrada Familia (The Holy Family) by Kelly Latimore
Opening Prayer
“Into this world, this demented inn, in which there is absolutely no room for him at all, Christ comes uninvited. But because he cannot be at home in it, because he is out of place in it, and yet he must be in it, his place is with those others for whom there is no room. His place is with those who do not belong, who are rejected by power because they are regarded as weak, those who are discredited, who are denied the status of person, tortured, exterminated. With those for whom there is no room, Christ is present in this world. He is mysteriously present in those for whom there seems to be nothing but the world at its worst.”
Thomas Merton, “The Time of the End Is the Time of No Room” in Raids on the Unspeakable, 1965
Reading
Mt 2:13-15
When the magi had departed, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, “Rise, take the child and his mother, flee to Egypt, and stay there until I tell you. Herod is going to search for the child to destroy him.” Joseph rose and took the child and his mother by night and departed for Egypt. He stayed there until the death of Herod, that what the Lord had said through the prophet might be fulfilled, Out of Egypt I called my son.
Reflection
This frightening scene of our Holy Family fleeing Bethlehem to Egypt in order to survive the murderous cruelty of Herod is a harsh image that we are seeing all too often today with families fleeing their homeland seeking asylum here in the U.S. The words of Thomas Merton, written in 1965, capture the experience of two families my local community have been supporting these last two years. One is a family of six from Ghana who lived in our home for a year, and the other is a family of four from Ecuador. These families are now a part of my family, my community. We Sisters are now called “Granny & Abuela,” indicating how we have become a part of their family as well. This has gotten personal, and therefore, all the more painful to consider that they, like so many others have already, can be snatched at any time because of the color of their skin or the language they speak, while being in a “legal” process seeking asylum in our beloved country because of the dangers in their own countries, as three of my grandparents did before me.
Let our voices and our actions join with our brother Bishops in their Special Message addressing their concern for immigrants in the United States. To our immigrant brothers and sisters, we stand with you in your suffering, since, when one member suffers, all suffer You are not alone!
Closing Prayer
God of love and compassion, may we always recognize your spirit:
in the refugee family, seeking safety from violence;
in the migrant worker, bringing food to our tables;
in the asylum-seekers, seeking justice for their families;
in the unaccompanied child, traveling in a dangerous world.
Give us hearts that break open whenever our sisters and brothers turn to us. Give us hearts that no longer turn deaf to their voices in times of need.
Give us eyes to recognize a moment for grace instead of a threat.
Give us voices that fail to remain silent, but which decide instead to advocate prophetically.
Give us hands that reach out in welcome, but also in work, for a world of justice until all homelands are safe and secure.
Bless us, O Lord...
- Fr. Dan Hartnett S.J.
