May 2, 2010                                                                        Fifth Sunday of Easter

When they arrived (in Antioch), they called the church together and related all that God had done with them, and how he had opened a door of faith for the Gentiles.  Acts 14, 27

See, I am making all things new.  Rev. 21, 5

By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.  Jn. 13, 35

We are a People on a mission.  Paul and Barnabas completed their first missionary journey, we read in today’s first reading.  They went back to their home community of faith in Antioch; they gave accounts of the successes that God had worked through them.  They testified to the marvelous works of God in other peoples and cultures.  Paul and Barnabas learned more about God’s ways in the cultures, lands and peoples they evangelized.  They opened their community in Antioch to the richness of other peoples in whom God also works.  Did the Christian community at Antioch see themselves as more fully disciples of Jesus through their love shared in their missionary outreach?

Today we travel freely to other cultures and lands, as missionaries, tourists or students.  At the same time, the richness of the world comes to us from around the world  through immigrants and refugees.  They give testimony to God’s works; we can learn, too, of God’s ongoing presence in their history which is expressed in their cultures.  When we are attentive to them, their cultures recount God’s ongoing action beyond our horizons.  Does God continue making all things new in and  through this interchange?

How we welcome our immigrant brothers and sisters speaks loudly of who we are and who we wish to become.  Our Catholic leadership continues to give us an example and a challenge that we are Strangers No Longer.  Our love for our sisters and brothers who come here, legally or not, tells others in the clearest way that we are followers of Jesus Christ.  Can others see how we love one another?  Do they know we are Jesus’ disciples by the way we love immigrants?

Our challenge today as Jesus’ disciples and as citizens of this country is to right our broken system of immigration.  Our bishops have been working with congressional leaders to present a bill that would put order and justice into the chaos of this area of our current laws.  Please look at this proposal openly.  Discuss it with others.  Especially, sisters and brothers, urge our senators and representatives to act now.

Do we, as People of God, want to be known for our welcoming love?  Now is the time for us, too, to make something new through comprehensive immigration reform.