Dear Friends,
After the Magi left, Joseph had another dream, this time that Jesus’ life was in danger. Joseph did not hesitate to leave Bethlehem as soon as possible and took little with them: the donkey, whatever the Child Jesus needed, a few necessities. They made the descent from Bethlehem – what had seemed to be a safe place – joining with other travelers along the ancient coastal road from Raffa to Egypt. No one traveled alone. That was helpful in many ways. Since they had no clear destination, talking with other travelers, other refugees, Joseph and Mary heard some helpful things. These travelers shared similar human emotions, the taste of travel weariness, the smell and the stains on their bodies and clothes. Along the way, they knew hunger and thirst and the fears of the unknown.
The liturgists who chose the readings for the Christmas season have, for some reason, not included this account of Mary, Joseph and the child Jesus fleeing into Egypt. But at this time in our world, in our country, it is particularly significant to linger over their story. It has a profound connection to the refugees today who are fleeing violence and possible death. Joseph, Mary and Jesus were brown people, like the many brown people set loose in our own unwelcoming world. In paying attention to this scene – then and now – we see similar characteristics: Refugees learned to…
…recognize a threat/flee/make do/and when possible, come home.
Joseph, Mary and Jesus are the patron family of all refugees. They are our reminder, in faith, that we are all one family in one world, hospitable or not.
On this Sunday, tucked in between Christmas and New Year, before the plight of contemporary refugees disappears from our TVs and social media, before we get back to our ordinary, non-holiday lives, let’s remember that we are one world, under God. In our churches, mosques, synagogues and temples, remember that we are all one world, under God. In the marketplace, the workplace, in government offices, remember that we are one world, under God.
Will you do that? Will I do that?
If we make and keep any resolution at all in the coming year, let it be this one: to remember and to remind others that we are one world, under God.
No one is beneath us.
No one is too poor, too dirty, too wrong in their thinking.
No one is apart from us: the refugee, the terrorist, the pacifist, the doubter.
We are one world, under God.
On this feast of our most holy refugees – Jesus, Mary and Joseph – will we commit ourselves to remembering this truth and be its messenger: We are one world, under God.
~ Sister Joan Sobala
