Recent news stories have reported about newly arrived immigrants being bused to large cities and cities that are scrambling to house them. Because of violence, poverty, lack of opportunities for work, for education, and a desire for their children to have a good future, more and more people are making the perilous journey to the U.S., becoming homeless as they travel with little more than hope for a better future. The U.S. Catholic bishops recognize that we must respond with both immediate aid and with advocacy to transform the system and work for long-term change. (Note that the bishops are not calling for open borders. They have detailed suggestions for reform listed here.)
While immigration reform will take political will and time, newly arrived immigrants need housing and other basic necessities immediately. As well as doing advocacy, Catholic sisters are responding to these immediate needs with loving compassion and a can-do attitude that models for all of us the ways to respond. They recognize that every immigrant is made in the image of God, and thus has inherent human dignity. They are worthy of our concern and compassion, especially after a long and harrowing journey.
A long journey
First, inform your group that they will try to imagine what the journey to Egypt might have been like for either Joseph or Mary. What did they experience? How did they feel as they experienced being homeless as they moved toward a country of safety?
After trying to imagine that journey, students will write a journal post that Joseph, or Mary, might have written during a rest on the journey.
Next, ask them to write a similar post for a father or mother on their long immigrant journey to the U.S. today, detailing their experiences and their emotions about what is happening to them as they move, homeless, on a perilous journey.
Have the group members share their creative journal entries in small groups, reflect on what they decided to focus on and why.
How did this exercise make you think more deeply about the Holy Family's journey and what Joseph and Mary went through?
How did this exercise make you think more deeply about the experience of an immigrant family today and what it means to be on the road without a home in sight?
What did you imagine was similar in the two journeys, and what was different?
What would a journey with no home in sight be like for you?
Why is the dream of a safe and decent home so universal?
For all those families who see "home" and all it means disappear behind them, and for all those who cannot see a home in the days ahead of them, we pray. For all those migrant families who dwell in daily insecurity and for all those who are weary and without a safe place to rest their heads, we pray. May the image of the Holy Family fleeing oppression become clear to us, and remain with us each night as we are blessed to return to a home. May we also be blessed with compassion for those still weary, still seeking, still on the journey. Hear our prayer. Amen.
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