"How should this happen to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me?" (Lk. 1:4-3)
Sister Annie Killian OP writes:
“Elizabeth, who was once called barren, cries out as a woman prophet filled with the Holy Spirit. She rejoices with gladness over Mary and images Mary singing joyfully over Israel. Elizabeth’s joy comes from her intuitive recognition of God’s presence, incarnate within Mary. No one in their society would have considered an unmarried pregnant girl to be “most blessed among women, “ yet Elizabeth’s divine consciousness opens her to the truth: God comes to visit us in other’s faces, in vulnerable human bodies, in green and growing things...We are all connected and mutually dependent.”
As we see thousands of vulnerable refugees gathered at our southern borders we can , like Elizabeth, see the face of God in each one and treat them as our beloved sisters and brothers, the broken and suffering body of Christ in our midst.
As a prosperous nation of immigrants ,we have a wonderful legacy of being a safe sanctuary and a land of opportunity for the poor and oppressed people of the world.
In 1955, our family emigrated from Ireland to the United States because it offered a better life. My father worked 3 jobs for many years and our family prospered in a land of opportunity.
For centuries, new arrivals from different lands have made great contributions to the welfare of the U.S. They have built bridges, railroads, cultivated crops, and made discoveries that are used by people worldwide.
The people from Latin America gathered at our border today have much to share with us- youth, energy, and skills sorely needed in a country with a tremendous labor shortage. They can help our economy as we create a more equitable society that promotes the well-being of all.
This crisis is an invitation to grow and flourish in new ways. Like Elizabeth, we can be prophets of joy filled with the Holy Spirit.
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