October 17: 29th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Reading I: Isaiah 53:10-11
Responsorial Psalm: 33:4-5, 18-19, 20, 22
Reading II: Hebrews 4:14-16
Gospel: Mark 10:35-45 or 10:42-45

“Whoever wishes to be great among you will be your servant.” While Jesus said that to James and John and to each one of us, we often see immigrants in service jobs. My Uncle Will Dugan took one look at my freckle face and messy auburn curls and said, “Ah and she looks just like Bedelia when she got off the boat from the ole sod.” Bedelia went directly into service in a large house down south. She had a terrific employer who allowed her to invite Catholics to his Methodist home whenever Bedelia could find a priest to come. Bedelia served house guests from fifty miles around who came for those Masses.  

Every immigrant I have ever met had a desire to work and did work hard. It seems, the worse the suffering is in their homeland, the harder the immigrant works once they reach haven here. We need immigrants. An immigrant invented the CAT scan. 

Recently we have been appalled to see Haitians begin deported and heartened to see Afghans welcomed. Both are fleeing some of the most oppressive and inhumane conditions on earth. Our Roman Catholic teaching on basic human dignity is on our collective conscience.  

Sacred Scripture repeatedly says, “Welcome the stranger” (Matthew 25:31-46 and more). Plus, if the stranger is seeking asylum, it is the law of our land that we process them. Some fear scarcities, but we do not have a scarcity of jobs nor food here nor worldwide. The problem is in distribution and hiring. A lawyer who volunteered at the border with asylum seekers found everyone interviewed was fully vetted to be as safe as you or me. Women religious and our own parishioner, when he was training to be a deacon, also volunteered at the border. Several spoke of Annunciation houses where the people of El Paso joined by all the local congregations work with volunteers from all over the nation to feed and reunite families, and find sponsors, jobs, housing, and immediate and constant sanitary and safe conditions.  

The pandemic has exacerbated this greatest humanitarian crisis and we need each other to welcome the stranger and care for people in dire need. With today’s psalmist we pray, “Lord, let your mercy be on us as we place our trust in you…. He loves justice and right; of the kindness of the Lord the earth is full…. May your kindness, O Lord, be upon us who have out or hope in you.” As I prayed with today’s scripture readings, I had a vivid realization that energetic young people want to make a difference and be part of a people who make this a more just world. How might we invite faculties of SEMINARIES and graduate schools in Theology, Divinity, Ministry, International Relations, Languages, Hospitality, Medicine, Law, Education, Social Work, Human Resources, and more to create internships for well trained, well supervised graduate students whose service could transform the worst humanitarian crisis in history? Pope Francis said that if every faith community sponsored a refugee family the worst humanitarian crisis could be solved. Before COVID hit, the worldwide refugee crisis was the worst since WWII. Now, those numbers have nearly doubled!  Todays’ gospel challenges us to ramp up our service. Our reading from Hebrews today urges us, “So let us confidently approach the throne of grace to receive mercy and to find grace for timely help.”  

The professionals that help us most are those who live today’s gospel. They do not lord their knowledge over them; they serve them. How can we influence law firms, institutions and corporations to pay the salaries of those who are needed to serve the needs of migrants?  How can we urge people in all relevant professions to serve?  Trainers, supervisors, translators, health professionals, educators, hospitality majors, human resource interns and lawyers are needed to serve by working shoulder to shoulder at the border. We can ask for paid leave from work to serve at the border. Might we pray that Law and Medicine and corporate executives plus VISTA, Americorps, Peace Corps, Jesuit Volunteer Corps, et al. and every campus ministry program kick start a new policy of welcome?   

I’ve grandchildren in graduate program internships doing intense work shared by classmates with that can-do, eager to learn and eager to serve attitude. These young people are very aware that their graduate programs address humanity’s needs with their specialized expertise. Some of these graduate programs can be invited to develop internships focused on serving migrants' needs.  

We can each tell good news stories of immigrants’ service that richly blesses our lives. Some immigration services in Rochester despite a ban on refugees has only recently been lifted are University of Rochester Medical School residents provide health screening for Mary’s Place Refugee Resettlement Services, St. John Fisher School of Pharmacy sends students to work in clinics and also to distribute food. Rochester Refugee Resettlement has trained a number of Americorps volunteers, and some have stayed on the job after their commitment to Americorp concluded. An Americorps volunteer trained Assumption’s Refugee Resettlement team through Catholic Family Center. Our parish sponsors families from Eritrea and Myanmar. Several women religious and lay people who volunteered at the border as nurses, lawyers, and more gave witness in our parish adult faith enrichment programs. We’ve studied JustFAITH’s Crossing Borders for in depth immersion in the refugee crisis. Now volunteers are needed to serve at Saints Place and Catholic Family Center’s refugee services sorting donated furnishings for refugees.  

Our ancestors were immigrants, or they were indigenous people or formerly enslaved workers. Ellis Island, through which many of our ancestors entered, was a safe processing center unlike our border. Some say, “O mine were legal immigrants; they had their papers.”  Lawyers have told me every person they assessed had their papers and should be welcomed as asylum seekers. Our detention centers are breeding grounds for violence, terror, disease and death. Housing deprived low wage workers, some of whom are veterans, are not treated much better. Each person in each “refuge” needs humane service ASAP by well-supervised, well-trained compassionate caregivers whose eagerness to serve puts flesh on today’s gospel.     

Dr. Deni Mack, Pastoral Associate Emerita