Reflect
He came to the United States with little beyond the certainty that he was meant to be a priest–something he couldn’t do in his native Czechoslovakia because of an oversupply. John Neumann (1811-1860) was ordained less than a month after his arrival, and tirelessly ministered to German and Italian immigrants as well as native-born Americans in the mid-Atlantic states, including spending eight years as Philadelphia’s bishop.
Pray
Saint John Neumann, I don’t know what to say or do when I encounter people
who don’t talk or look like me.
May I remember that just as with you, a saint in the making is in them—and in me.
Act
Write a letter, sign a petition, make a donation, or volunteer with an organization that helps refugees and other outsiders.
2 thoughts on “Enlarging the Circle of Love”
A refugee from what? Was their country of origin really that bad? I can’t imagine leaving my country, namely the U.S.A. As I see my country seemingly going down the tubes, I continuously ask myself, where can I flee to. Where? Where in this big wide world could be better than the U.S.? And trust, me, I’ve been around the world. I have yet to fly over the Atlantic, though. So, what makes the U.S. so great? In my humble opinion, it would have to be freedom of speech. I can’t imagine such a freedom being expressed the way it is expressed thus far here in the U.S. Even though the FBI and high tech have been colluding this past 2020 election to censor speech, that doesn’t mean that people like myself have been completely in the dark since I still had my resources. From what I’ve noticed in other countries via BBC News, that hasn’t been the case in other countries. Important information had been withheld from them. Hence people going like sheep to get vaccinated against the Corona-19 virus scare. Don’t get me wrong, I not against vaccination if a person is over the age of 65. But have people been adequately educated on the subject or were they simply doing as they were told? So, what’s to become of the U.S.? I don’t care anymore. I’ve lived my life, as I continue to count my blessings. Nor am I getting any younger. So, what am I going to do about our ongoing border crisis? Nothing. It’s out of my hands. What am I going to do about the foreigners in my midst? Again, nothing. I’ve got my own problems, more than you would like to know. Everyone’s got problems, lol. If you want to be an altruistic weirdo, then go ahead and help those strangers. It’s still a free country. But please don’t make your problems mine. My hands are full. Not only that, I’ve a big, big, headache thinking about all of this country’s problems, especially with so many contrary people and their weird ideas as to what should “not” be done! Or as Tina Turner would sing, “What does love have to do with it?” Do you love this country or not?
I was stunned by your reply. Have you read the teachings of Jesus? I don’t mean that as an insult, because I know many of the older generation depended pretty much exclusively on their priest to bring them the gospel. Truly, I invite you to find a bible in a Christian bookstore that has all the words of Jesus in red letters, especially Matthew 25. We are mandated to do all that you have disdained, and I can only think that you haven’t been told.