"YOU MUST BEFRIEND THE ALIEN."

Homily for August 12^th, 2019: Deuteronomy 10:12-22.

          “You must befriend the alien,” Moses tells the people in our first reading, “for you were once aliens yourselves in the land of Egypt.” Moses’ words touch a sensitive nerve for us American in 2019. The subject of immigration, especially illegal immigration, is a matter of often heated political debate in our country today.

          A leading voice in this debate is that of Archbishop José Gomez of Los Angeles. Born in Mexico, but long a naturalized American citizen, Archbishop Gomez published a book on this subject six years ago: Immigration and the Next America: Renewing the Soul of Our Nation. He reminds us of a truth long known to historians: history is written by winners.

          In consequence, most Americans have forgotten that our country’s first immigrants were not the English Protestants who came to Jamestown, Virginia, in 1607. A full century before that, Catholic missionaries from Spain were already active in Florida and the American southwest, including California. They brought the gospel to the Native Americans whom they found already here. They understood that those people were their brothers and sisters. Those missionaries were responsible for city names like Los Angeles, San Diego, and Corpus Christi – all Catholic names.

          A major problem today is the presence in our country of some 11 million illegal aliens. Arresting them and shipping them home can mean that a father arrested at his workplace disappears without notice, leaving his wife without support and their American-born children penalized for the sins of their parents. Is that justice?

          Finding just solutions to this problem is not easy. A necessary first step is recognizing that we’re all descended from people who were once aliens. Rather than resenting and fearing the aliens in our midst today, we are called to befriend them. They are our sisters and brothers. Treated with compassion and justice, they too can do what immigrants to these shores have done for three centuries: build a society and nation that is today so much the envy of the world that millions still clamor to come here.