Witnesses to the Truth
Folks, young and old and everyone in between, African American, Caucasian, Hispanic, Asian, Native American, Pacific Islander, every single one of us are being impacted by the new administration in Washington DC. We absolutely cannot pretend that it’s not wreaking havoc on our nation and particularly today our sisters and brothers, who are immigrants and refugees, the very people whom Jesus Christ says we are to welcome and to give shelter!
I would like to point out, that in Matthew 25, Jesus makes welcoming the stranger, sheltering the homeless and feeding the hungry, NOT a suggestion, but rather makes it the condition for admittance to eternal life. And those who do not offer shelter and welcome to the stranger and the homeless, and do not feed the hungry and clothe the naked, according to the words of Jesus Christ, they have not done so for him, and will be cast out into eternal damnation.
And so while I know, “I am preaching to the choir,” I want to make it perfectly clear that if we are to practice our faith, we can only do so by welcoming the stranger, sheltering the homeless, feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, visiting the sick and imprisoned!
Please let me be very clear on one thing, this is not “my interpretation” of sacred scripture it is a very plain and simple recitation of the very words attributed to Jesus Christ according the gospel of Matthew!
However, a judge in Texas, has closed down a Roman Catholic shelter for the homeless, claiming they are harboring and aiding and abetting illegal aliens! He, who claims to be a Christian, says they are in no way practicing their faith in the running of the shelter. They are claiming that they are in fact, practicing their faith through the very act of sheltering the homeless and feeding the hungry. Through these acts, they claim they are carrying out the mandate of Jesus Christ. I would reiterate, that in Matthew 25 Jesus did not “suggest” welcoming the stranger, feeding the hungry, sheltering the homeless, giving water to the thirsty and visiting the sick and the imprisoned. Jesus mandated doing these actions. He made these actions the conditions upon which we will be judged in the final judgment, when we come face-to-face with our God!
And yet these people are being denied the practice of their faith by this judge in Texas because the majority of the people
they serve are undocumented immigrants, strangers in a strange land… “You shall treat the stranger who sojourns with
you as the native among you, and you shall love him as yourself, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am the Lord
your God.” (Leviticus 19:34)
Let us stand up and be witnesses to the truth in the face of lies and disinformation!
The official teaching of the Roman Catholic Church is that all human beings, regardless of their socioeconomic and political
status have basic human rights and those rights must not and can not be violated. When those basic human rights are violated, we -- you and I -- are called to stand up and speak out! It does not matter who the violator is, or violators are,
we are called by our discipleship of Jesus Christ to stand up and speak the truth on behalf of all of those whose, God given,
human dignity and human rights are being violated.
When immigrants and refugees are broadly painted to be criminals and unsavory people, we know it is a lie, and those
who say it are liars! So let us speak the truth in the face of lies and disinformation and through our actions, be witnesses to
the truth, and let us all, everyone of us, be judged by our words and our actions, be they unwelcoming, hateful, and self-
seeking or be they welcoming, compassionate, and grace filled!
Blessings,
Fr. Tim
Folks, young and old and everyone in between, African American, Caucasian, Hispanic, Asian, Native American, Pacific Islander, every single one of us are being impacted by the new administration in Washington DC. We absolutely cannot pretend that it’s not wreaking havoc on our nation and particularly today our sisters and brothers, who are immigrants and refugees, the very people whom Jesus Christ says we are to welcome and to give shelter!
I would like to point out, that in Matthew 25, Jesus makes welcoming the stranger, sheltering the homeless and feeding the hungry, NOT a suggestion, but rather makes it the condition for admittance to eternal life. And those who do not offer shelter and welcome to the stranger and the homeless, and do not feed the hungry and clothe the naked, according to the words of Jesus Christ, they have not done so for him, and will be cast out into eternal damnation.
And so while I know, “I am preaching to the choir,” I want to make it perfectly clear that if we are to practice our faith, we can only do so by welcoming the stranger, sheltering the homeless, feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, visiting the sick and imprisoned!
Please let me be very clear on one thing, this is not “my interpretation” of sacred scripture it is a very plain and simple recitation of the very words attributed to Jesus Christ according the gospel of Matthew!
However, a judge in Texas, has closed down a Roman Catholic shelter for the homeless, claiming they are harboring and aiding and abetting illegal aliens! He, who claims to be a Christian, says they are in no way practicing their faith in the running of the shelter. They are claiming that they are in fact, practicing their faith through the very act of sheltering the homeless and feeding the hungry. Through these acts, they claim they are carrying out the mandate of Jesus Christ. I would reiterate, that in Matthew 25 Jesus did not “suggest” welcoming the stranger, feeding the hungry, sheltering the homeless, giving water to the thirsty and visiting the sick and the imprisoned. Jesus mandated doing these actions. He made these actions the conditions upon which we will be judged in the final judgment, when we come face-to-face with our God!
And yet these people are being denied the practice of their faith by this judge in Texas because the majority of the people
they serve are undocumented immigrants, strangers in a strange land… “You shall treat the stranger who sojourns with
you as the native among you, and you shall love him as yourself, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am the Lord
your God.” (Leviticus 19:34)
Let us stand up and be witnesses to the truth in the face of lies and disinformation!
The official teaching of the Roman Catholic Church is that all human beings, regardless of their socioeconomic and political
status have basic human rights and those rights must not and can not be violated. When those basic human rights are violated, we -- you and I -- are called to stand up and speak out! It does not matter who the violator is, or violators are,
we are called by our discipleship of Jesus Christ to stand up and speak the truth on behalf of all of those whose, God given,
human dignity and human rights are being violated.
When immigrants and refugees are broadly painted to be criminals and unsavory people, we know it is a lie, and those
who say it are liars! So let us speak the truth in the face of lies and disinformation and through our actions, be witnesses to
the truth, and let us all, everyone of us, be judged by our words and our actions, be they unwelcoming, hateful, and self-
seeking or be they welcoming, compassionate, and grace filled!
Blessings,
Fr. Tim
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