Blessings of peace to all of you, my brothers and sisters, on this sacred day of the Lord, this Sunday of renewal and grace.
Today, as we gather in the light of Christ, we must reflect on the great challenges of our time—challenges that test our faith, our compassion, and our commitment to the Gospel. The world groans under the weight of injustice, violence, and the displacement of our brothers and sisters. Yet, in the midst of this darkness, we are called to be the light—to act with love, to seek justice, and to build peace.
The Stranger Among Us: A Call to Love
The Holy Scripture reminds us in Leviticus: "The foreigner residing among you must be treated as your native-born. Love them as yourself, for you were foreigners in Egypt." These words are not mere history; they are a commandment for today. In our cities, in our nations, we see the suffering of migrants—men, women, and children fleeing violence, poverty, and despair, only to be met with hostility and fear.
What does it mean to love the stranger as ourselves? It means seeing Christ in the eyes of the undocumented worker, in the refugee child, in the families torn apart by raids and deportations. It means demanding policies that uphold human dignity, not cruelty. Imagine a world where borders are not barriers of fear but bridges of solidarity—where no child sleeps in a cage, where no mother weeps at the separation from her son. This is the world Christ calls us to build.
But if we turn away, if we harden our hearts, we invite a greater darkness. Nations that reject the stranger will find their own souls withering. Communities that build walls instead of tables will starve not for bread, but for mercy. The Lord does not forget the cries of the oppressed—and neither should we.
The Scourge of Violence: Blessed Are the Peacemakers
Our Lord proclaimed, "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God." Yet today, blood soaks the earth in Gaza, in Ukraine, in the streets of our own cities. Violence begets violence, hatred fuels hatred, and the cycle turns endlessly—unless we break it.
We mourn the lives lost near aid sites, where hunger meets gunfire. We mourn the soldiers and civilians caught in wars they did not choose. But mourning is not enough. We must be peacemakers—not passive observers, but active healers. Imagine a world where diplomacy triumphs over destruction, where the hands that once held weapons now build schools and hospitals. This is the world Christ died to make possible.
But if we remain silent, if we accept war as inevitable, then we betray the Gospel. The fires of conflict will spread, consuming not just nations but our very humanity. The time to act is now—to pray, to protest, to demand peace with the same fervor with which others demand war.
Justice and Mercy: Walking Humbly With Our God
The prophet Micah asks, "What does the Lord require of you? To act justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God." Yet in our world, justice is too often delayed, denied, or distorted by power.
We see it in the case of Kilmar Ábrego García, in the countless others ensnared by systems that punish the vulnerable while shielding the powerful. True justice is not vengeance—it is restoration. It is ensuring that no one is trafficked, that no one is abandoned, that no one is forgotten. Imagine a world where courts seek truth, where prisons rehabilitate rather than discard, where the oppressed find champions in the halls of power. This is the world the Lord demands.
But if we allow corruption to fester, if we ignore the cries of the marginalized, then we invite divine judgment. A society that abandons justice will collapse under the weight of its own sin.
The Church’s Challenge: A Call to Action
And yet, my brothers and sisters, the Church herself is not without fault. In our time, we have seen the faithful grow distant, distracted by comfort, divided by politics. Our greatest challenge is not external persecution but internal indifference. We must rekindle the fire of Pentecost—the same Spirit that drove the apostles into the streets must drive us into the world, to serve, to heal, to proclaim the Gospel with our lives.
I call upon every one of you—priests, laypeople, the young and the old—to rise. Feed the hungry. Shelter the refugee. Demand peace. Fight injustice. Do not wait for others to act. The Kingdom of God is built by hands willing to labor, by hearts willing to love without limit.
A Choice Between Two Futures
The path before us is clear. If we follow Christ, if we love as He loved, then a new dawn will rise—a world where no child fears deportation, where no mother buries her son because of war, where justice flows like a mighty river.
But if we refuse—if we choose complacency over courage—then darkness will deepen. Wars will multiply. The poor will be crushed. The earth itself will groan under the weight of human greed and hatred. This is not prophecy of despair, but a warning of consequence.
The choice is ours. The time is now.
Let us go forth, then, not as passive believers, but as living witnesses to the Resurrection. Let us be the answer to the world’s pain. Let us build the Kingdom—here, today, with our own hands.
Amen.
What can we do?
The world’s struggles can feel overwhelming, but each of us has the power to contribute to positive change in small, meaningful ways. Here’s how we can act in our daily lives to address these pressing issues:
Immigration and Human Dignity
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