Chapter 3: In the Light of the Master

We often hear it said that with respect to relativism and the flaws of our present world that the situation of migrants, for example, is a lesser one. Some Catholics consider it a secondary issue… the only proper attitude is to stand in the shoes of those brothers and sisters of ours who risk their lives to offer a future to their children.

Can we not realize that this is exactly what Jesus demands of us when he tells us that in welcoming the stranger, we welcome him…(we read) in the Old Testament: “You shall not wrong a stranger or oppress him, for you yourselves were strangers in the land of Egypt.” “When a stranger resides with you in your land, you shall not oppress him. The stranger who resides with you shall be to you as the citizen among you and you shall love him as yourself; for you were strangers in the land of Egypt.”

This is not a notion invented by some pope or a momentary fad. In today’s world too we are called to follow the path of spiritual wisdom proposed by the prophet Isaiah to show what is pleasing to God: “Is it not to share your bread with the hungry and bring the homeless into your house; when you see the naked, to cover him, and not to hide yourself from your own kin? Then your light shall break forth like the dawn.”