{"id":315,"date":"2013-01-05T10:52:00","date_gmt":"2013-01-05T10:52:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/labmind\/2013\/01\/strangers-no-longer-homily-for-national-migration-week.html"},"modified":"2013-01-05T10:52:00","modified_gmt":"2013-01-05T10:52:00","slug":"strangers-no-longer-homily-for-national-migration-week","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/labmind\/2013\/01\/strangers-no-longer-homily-for-national-migration-week.html","title":{"rendered":"Strangers No Longer: Homily for National Migration Week"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

A Homily for the Feast of the Epiphany and National Migration Week<\/p>\n

Starting today, the feast of the Epiphany, the Church in the United States celebrates National Migration Week. \u00a0Is it a coincidence? \u00a0Hardly.<\/p>\n

Magi from the east came to offer gifts to Jesus, the King of the Jews, and to adore him. \u00a0These men, foreigners, strangers, recognized something in the child that his own people did not recognize. \u00a0What did these men recognize?<\/p>\n

The gold offered shows the foreigners recognized him as king since from ancient times gold is the precious metal reserved for kings. \u00a0The frankincense, an incense that is burnt as an offering to God, shows they recognized him as God, and the myrrh, embalming oil used to anoint the dead, is their foreshadowing of Jesus\u2019 life-giving death.<\/p>\n

The Scriptures do not tell us exactly where the Magi came from, but from early on in Christian art, these men were depicted as coming from Europe, Asia, and Africa, one from each known continent. \u00a0While being adored by the magi, Christ reveals himself as the Savior of all peoples and all nations (not just the Jews), bringing a universal message of salvation that unites all humanity as he leads us together out of darkness into eternal light. <\/p>\n

On this feast we rejoice in the fact that all Christians, hailing from all the countries of the world, share a common faith in Jesus, the Light of the World. \u00a0We are bound together by a reality that transcends citizenship, national borders, passports, visas, conflicts, wars and history. \u00a0As members of the one Body of Christ, we are called to treat each other with respect and dignity, recognizing the presence of the living God in each person, recognizing that the saving message of Jesus Christ is for all, that the doors of the church are open for all no matter their origin, state of life or monetary contributions. \u00a0We are all made equal before God and are offered the same one salvation.<\/p>\n

I had a faithful Catholic tell me once, \u201cFather, the church should not minister to illegal immigrants, you are condoning their behavior by ministering to them.\u201d<\/p>\n

I looked at this very concerned man and calmly said, \u201cTwice a month I celebrate Mass and hear confessions at the state prison. \u00a0I go because there are Catholics in need of being ministered. \u00a0I make no statement whatsoever regarding their past. \u00a0I do not care if they murdered, dealt drugs or stole. \u00a0I am there because at the prison there are human beings in need of Christ, in need of redemption and in need of hearing the Gospel. \u00a0I go because Jesus said, I was in prison and you visited me.\u201d<\/p>\n

This is why the Church in the United States celebrates Migrant Week, to raise our awareness in our Christian duty to care for those in need including the foreigner and the stranger. \u00a0Whatever is foreign makes us uneasy, it is different, yet Christ says, \u201cI was a stranger and you welcomed me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Archbishop Gomez of Los Angeles said last year at a Knights of Columbus Conference, \u201cThe Church\u2019s perspective on immigration issues is rooted in Jesus Christ\u2019s teaching that every human person is created in God\u2019s image and has God-given dignity and rights.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Church speaks for the vulnerable and the weak. \u00a0Jesus tells us that our love for God will be judged by our love for him in the person least among us, this includes, he said, the foreigner and the stranger, who oftentimes goes unnoticed and unappreciated be it Mexicans in the onion fields of Vidalia, Filipinos in construction sites of Dubai or Algerians in the streets of Rome selling souvenirs.<\/p>\n

Nobody leaves their homeland unless they have to: Mary, Joseph and Jesus had to migrate to Egypt out of fear for their lives. \u00a0A lady living in Georgia once said to me, \u201cFather, I know am not wanted here, but if I return to Mexico, I would be killed. \u00a0I am not wanted here nor there. \u00a0When will I find a place where I am wanted?\u201d <\/p>\n

The Gospel brings hope to all peoples especially to migrants who spend their entire earthly lives feeling displaced. \u00a0They belong to neither home nor host country, a stranger wherever he goes.
Today\u2019s feast of the epiphany encourages us because it helps us immigrants realize that our true citizenship is in heaven and not on earth. \u00a0We become Strangers No Longer<\/i>, the name of the United States and Mexican Bishops\u2019 document on immigration. \u00a0The Gospel unites all believers regardless of origin and allows us to become equal, to be at home, to become one in Christ. <\/p>\n

This reality must be lived out especially in the Church. \u00a0Prejudices must be destroyed, separation and distrust must cease, and hatred oftentimes increased by a lack of understanding or contact with the stranger must be eradicated. <\/p>\n

We are all brothers and sisters in Christ. \u00a0We gather at this same Church, around the same altar to worship the same Christ. \u00a0We can learn from the stranger among us just as we learn about Christ from the Wise Men. \u00a0When we open our hearts to the stranger, showing love and hospitality, we will be opening wide the doors of our heart to Christ. <\/p>\n

Pastoral Statement on Immigration by the Catholic Bishops of Georgia<\/a><\/p>\n

Archbishop Gomez on Immigration<\/a><\/p>\n

Presentation I gave at Franciscan University of Steubenville in November on the Church and illegal immigration<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A Homily for the Feast of the Epiphany and National Migration Week Starting today, the feast of the Epiphany, the Church in the United States celebrates National Migration Week. \u00a0Is it a coincidence? \u00a0Hardly. Magi from the east came to offer gifts to Jesus, the King of the Jews, and to adore him. \u00a0These men, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2533,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-315","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nStrangers No Longer: Homily for National Migration Week<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A Homily for the Feast of the Epiphany and National Migration WeekStarting today, the feast of the Epiphany, the Church in the United States celebrates\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/labmind\/2013\/01\/strangers-no-longer-homily-for-national-migration-week.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Strangers No Longer: Homily for National Migration Week\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A Homily for the Feast of the Epiphany and National Migration WeekStarting today, the feast of the Epiphany, the Church in the United States celebrates\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/labmind\/2013\/01\/strangers-no-longer-homily-for-national-migration-week.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Labyrinthine Mind\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2013-01-05T10:52:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Father Pablo Migone\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Father Pablo Migone\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/labmind\/2013\/01\/strangers-no-longer-homily-for-national-migration-week.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/labmind\/2013\/01\/strangers-no-longer-homily-for-national-migration-week.html\",\"name\":\"Strangers No Longer: Homily for National Migration Week\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/labmind\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2013-01-05T10:52:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2013-01-05T10:52:00+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/labmind\/#\/schema\/person\/35ce8464416a4368561caf8ed8c2ba1b\"},\"description\":\"A Homily for the Feast of the Epiphany and National Migration WeekStarting today, the feast of the Epiphany, the Church in the United States celebrates\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/labmind\/2013\/01\/strangers-no-longer-homily-for-national-migration-week.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/labmind\/2013\/01\/strangers-no-longer-homily-for-national-migration-week.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/labmind\/2013\/01\/strangers-no-longer-homily-for-national-migration-week.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/labmind\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Strangers No Longer: Homily for National Migration Week\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/labmind\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/labmind\/\",\"name\":\"Labyrinthine Mind\",\"description\":\"Seeking God in the labyrinth\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/labmind\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/labmind\/#\/schema\/person\/35ce8464416a4368561caf8ed8c2ba1b\",\"name\":\"Father Pablo Migone\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/labmind\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/305296c2dd82f71369f8808eb07ace26?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/305296c2dd82f71369f8808eb07ace26?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Father Pablo Migone\"},\"description\":\"Born in Lima, Peru and raised in Augusta, Georgia, Father Pablo Migone was ordained a Roman Catholic priest in 2009 after studying at the Pontifical North American College and earning a Masters in Dogmatic Theology at the Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas in Rome, Italy. He currently serves as Vicar for Mission Advancement of the Diocese of Savannah, Georgia and Pastor of Our Lady of Lourdes Parish and Corpus Christi Parish in the Savannah, Georgia area. The views expressed in this blog are his own and do not necessarily reflect the views of his bishop or the Diocese of Savannah.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/labmind\/author\/pmigone\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Strangers No Longer: Homily for National Migration Week","description":"A Homily for the Feast of the Epiphany and National Migration WeekStarting today, the feast of the Epiphany, the Church in the United States celebrates","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/labmind\/2013\/01\/strangers-no-longer-homily-for-national-migration-week.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Strangers No Longer: Homily for National Migration Week","og_description":"A Homily for the Feast of the Epiphany and National Migration WeekStarting today, the feast of the Epiphany, the Church in the United States celebrates","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/labmind\/2013\/01\/strangers-no-longer-homily-for-national-migration-week.html","og_site_name":"Labyrinthine Mind","article_published_time":"2013-01-05T10:52:00+00:00","author":"Father Pablo Migone","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Father Pablo Migone","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/labmind\/2013\/01\/strangers-no-longer-homily-for-national-migration-week.html","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/labmind\/2013\/01\/strangers-no-longer-homily-for-national-migration-week.html","name":"Strangers No Longer: Homily for National Migration Week","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/labmind\/#website"},"datePublished":"2013-01-05T10:52:00+00:00","dateModified":"2013-01-05T10:52:00+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/labmind\/#\/schema\/person\/35ce8464416a4368561caf8ed8c2ba1b"},"description":"A Homily for the Feast of the Epiphany and National Migration WeekStarting today, the feast of the Epiphany, the Church in the United States celebrates","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/labmind\/2013\/01\/strangers-no-longer-homily-for-national-migration-week.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/labmind\/2013\/01\/strangers-no-longer-homily-for-national-migration-week.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/labmind\/2013\/01\/strangers-no-longer-homily-for-national-migration-week.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/labmind"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Strangers No Longer: Homily for National Migration Week"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/labmind\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/labmind\/","name":"Labyrinthine Mind","description":"Seeking God in the labyrinth","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/labmind\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/labmind\/#\/schema\/person\/35ce8464416a4368561caf8ed8c2ba1b","name":"Father Pablo Migone","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/labmind\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/305296c2dd82f71369f8808eb07ace26?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/305296c2dd82f71369f8808eb07ace26?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Father Pablo Migone"},"description":"Born in Lima, Peru and raised in Augusta, Georgia, Father Pablo Migone was ordained a Roman Catholic priest in 2009 after studying at the Pontifical North American College and earning a Masters in Dogmatic Theology at the Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas in Rome, Italy. He currently serves as Vicar for Mission Advancement of the Diocese of Savannah, Georgia and Pastor of Our Lady of Lourdes Parish and Corpus Christi Parish in the Savannah, Georgia area. The views expressed in this blog are his own and do not necessarily reflect the views of his bishop or the Diocese of Savannah.","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/labmind\/author\/pmigone"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/labmind\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/315","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/labmind\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/labmind\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/labmind\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2533"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/labmind\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=315"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/labmind\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/315\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/labmind\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=315"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/labmind\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=315"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/labmind\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=315"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}