Leviticus 19:34 reminds us that everyone is our neighbor. The scripture beckons us to look deeply into the second great commandment of Love thy neighbor as thyself, thereby widening our circles to include more and exclude less. The passage strictly speaks to the treatment of those from another nation:
“33 “When an alien resides with you in your land, you shall not oppress the alien. 34 The alien who resides with you shall be to you as the native-born among you; you shall love the alien as yourself, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.”
In this passage, God is reminding his people that they were once outcasts, slaves, and aliens in another land. God’s chosen were liberated by Moses, their enemies crushed by the sea. I can’t imagine the joy that day as the Israelites marched through the city and out the gates; hundreds of years of slavery being left in their footsteps. The cries of jubilation shouted down the tears of torment as slaves became citizens of their own country—a roving band of landless people who were nonetheless denizens of the City of God. They rejoiced, finally free from the oppression of tyranny and fear, and their sojourn through the desert would see them in lands of their own.
We were once subjects to tyranny of a different sort. We came to a land bearing the promise of freedom and walked through the deserts, the forests, and the wilderness, paving a way for a new country of landless citizens. While our story is far from perfect, we have formed the greatest country in the world. We live in a place where people from all walks of life dream of encountering: a place to make our own way with a little help from our neighbors, and far less fear than where we came from.
And God is calling us to remember our origins, to remember that Leviticus still speaks to us.
Over the last year, over 1,800 refugees have come to Oklahoma to escape tyranny and danger. Their lives have been uprooted. Whether you agree or not that they should be here, they’re here. And God calls us to help, even in the slightest ways. CAIR has asked that we join them in supporting 79 young girls between the ages of 11-14 with winter wear. Will we remember that we were once welcomed by people who already lived here? Will we do the same? Let’s change some lives and start building bridges between our people.
Below, I’ve attached a link to visit their amazon smile site. Please consider “loving the alien as yourself”, as the scripture says…be the people God intends us to be.
Faithfully,
Fr. Sean+