WATCHWORD:
A new commandment I give you, that you love one another; just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples if you have love for one another. John 13:34-35
Meditation:
History Repeating?
I’ve had reoccurring thoughts that comes and goes for the past several months. They’re bothersome thoughts, that if I gave them too much lead, it would cause sleepless nights. I hesitated to incorporate the focus of those thoughts in a devotional, so I tried to neatly put them aside and move on. Then, from another source, a nudge, a reminder, and I concluded that I’m dealing with a whispered message from of my Holy Spirit. So I begin this Watchword with some concern that I may offend. So be it.
One of those nudges came in an essay entitled “In The Name of These Refugees” posted in a recent Abbey Letter I received from Saint Gregory’s Abbey, Three Rivers, Michigan. Written by Brother Martin, he reminded us that in June of 1939, a ship carrying over 900 Jewish refugees was denied entry by Cuba and the U.S. These were refugees fleeing Nazi persecution in Europe. The ship returned to Europe where at least 254 passengers ended up in concentration camps and were killed in the Holocaust.
As this year has unfolded it has become clear that the nation and the new presidential administration is going to have mass deportations of immigrants and refugees based on fear and bigotry against some of the most vulnerable residing in our country. Let’s not miss the fact that many of those are citizens of the United states who have already been targeted. We live in mean times and one not cannot help but notice that the same excuses and the same language that the Nazis used against minorities are used to justify the unjust persecution and deportation of those seeking asylum and refuge in our own country.
John F Kennedy early in his presidency described the United states as ‘a city built on a hill’, a refuge for those seeking safety and security. That phrase was later echoed by President Ronald Reagan in his farewell speech calling the US ‘the shining city upon a hill’. Both were calling attention to the undeniable fact that in those bygone eras, we were a model of a welcoming, God fearing nation to those suffering persecution.
Is this country acting in opposition to God? What has the Lord told us?
Suffer a little children and forbid them not to come unto me for such is the Kingdom of heaven (Matthew 19:14).
The king will reply, truly I tell you, whatever you did for the for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me. Then he will say to those on his left depart from me you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not invite me in (Matthew 25:40-43).
At the end of every three years, bring all the tithes of that year’s produce and store it in your towns so that those who have no inheritance of their own, the foreigners, the fatherless and the widows may come and eat and be safe and be satisfied and so that the Lord your God may bless you and all the work of your hands (Deuteronomy 14:28-29).
We could ignore what we can see, and can know, at our own peril. But when we turn a blind eye we allow history that harms, that tears down the very fabric of this country, to repeat itself again and again. It’s in our hands, and we can choose.
What would Jesus have us do? (To be continued.)
A Reminder:
First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out — because I was not a socialist.
Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out — because I was not a trade unionist.
Then they came for me — and there was no one left to speak for me.
— Martin Niemoller
Closing Prayer:
Heavenly Father, we pray that you will strengthen our resolve to follow your will in all things and to understand fully the blessings that you have given to this nation, knowing how fragile it can be. Help us to be a voice that continues to build up what you have set in place, that will add strength of your people to maintain the shining city on a hill that people throughout the world can look upon and see the model that you yourself have put into place. Help us to be custodians Lord of your will. It’s in Jesus name we pray. Amen.
