We Welcome the Migrant
At the present time, our nation is experiencing a great deal of division in regard to the matter of immigration. While we must secure our borders, and justified progress has been made in this regard, we cannot lose our identity as a land of immigrants open to all for the freedom and bounty it provides. We are all here because of our immigrant backgrounds. Without its immigrants’ foundation, we have no nation of the United States. It is essential to remember our obligation to treat all men and women as made in the image and likeness of God and to be just, fair and generous in our laws which govern immigrants for the good of all. As the bishops of the United States stated in their recent Special Message on Immigration, “We pray for an end to dehumanizing rhetoric and violence, whether directed at immigrants or at law enforcement. We pray that the Lord may guide the leaders of our nation, and we are grateful for the past and present opportunities to dialogue with public elected officials. In this dialogue, we will continue to advocate for meaningful immigration reform.”
There can be little question that Jesus was a migrant. As the Son of God, He came into this world and, by taking our human nature to Himself, He became one of us in all things but sin. As this “migrant from heaven,” the Lord was not accepted by all. St. John tells us in the prologue of his Gospel, “He was in the world, and the world came into being through Him; yet the world did not know Him. He came to what was His own, and His own people did not accept Him. But to all who received Him, who believed in His name, He gave power to become children of God, who were born, not of blood or of the will of the flesh or of the will of man, but of God” (1:10-13).
From the very time of His birth, Jesus was also a migrant in this world. The Gospel of St. Luke tells us that, because of the decree of the Roman emperor, Augustus, ordering a census of the whole world, Joseph, with Mary about to give birth, had to leave their home in Nazareth to go to Bethlehem, which was Joseph’s hometown since he was descended from David. Joseph and Mary could not find proper lodging, and so Jesus was born in a manger in Bethlehem. The newborn Messiah, God Himself, who had come into the world, is born in poverty away from His earthly home.
We are then told in the Gospel of St. Matthew that Jesus had to migrate from Bethlehem to Egypt because of the machinations of Herod, the king of the Jews. As the three Magi came from the East seeking the star over Bethlehem, where Christ was born, King Herod summoned them to ascertain where the star was so he too could visit this child. However, the Magi are warned not to return to Herod, and Joseph was told to flee to Egypt because Herod’s intention was not to visit the newborn King but to destroy Him out of jealousy. Hence, the horrible slaughter of the Holy Innocents occurred at the decree of Herod, from which Jesus was spared.
At the very beginning of His earthly life, the one who migrated from heaven to us becomes a poor migrant in this world and shows that His kingship is not one of worldly power but of love. God’s power is His love, which ultimately takes Christ to the cross, where His true kingship is revealed. The authority of Augustus and Herod crumbled under the true authority of Christ the King in a most paradoxical manner. God lifts up the poor and lowly and casts down the mighty in the kingship of His Son, which is revealed in absolute love. As we look upon Jesus, who came to us as a migrant, poor and lowly, so that we may no longer be such, we are reminded of the many migrants and immigrants who are the foundation of our nation.
Another migrant into this world that we must welcome is that of the unborn child. Jan. 22 is the Day of Prayer for the Legal Protection of Unborn Children. An unborn child is a human person created by God in His image and likeness. God has given this person the right to enter into this world, and we have no right to prevent it. Our nation must again recall its foundation, which was to give every person a place of hope and freedom. Certainly, the most vulnerable among us is the unborn child. While we are grateful for the reversal of the tragic decision of Roe v. Wade on the national level, we realize we still have far to go in the protection of the life of an unborn child. Abortion is neither a federal nor a state issue. It is the God-given right of all for a child to come into the world once conceived in a mother’s womb. An unborn child cannot be deported through abortion under any circumstances.
While the Christmas season has concluded, its message is the foundation of the entire year. Christ became one of us. He was born a vulnerable child, truly a migrant in every sense of the word. May we continue to welcome the stranger in our midst and to respect the gift of human life, which the Son of God embraced for each and every one of us.
Most Reverend Gerald M. Barbarito
