Epiphany - A Celebration of Immigrants

 HOMILY FOR THE EPIPHANY, Year B 2015

With the exception of the Native Americans, most of us in the United States derive our heritage from immigrants. For all intent and purposes we are a nation of immigrants. Back in the 90’s when my little sister was still alive, she began to trace our ancestry back to the countries from which my grandparents and great grandparents immigrated. My maternal grandmother, Mary, immigrated as a young child, along with her 3 sisters and her parents from Ireland during the 1800s to escape religious persecution, and, the famine and starvation of the Great Hunger. Thrown off their little farm by their English landlords, they had the choice of either starving or immigrating. My maternal grandfather, Oscar, alone at the age of 15 years, immigrated to the United States to escape the poverty of his native Sweden. My paternal grandmother, Katherine at the age of 3, immigrated to the United States with her parents and siblings from Central Poland. My paternal grandfather, Andrew, in order to escape the poverty of his native Poland, tried to immigrate to the United States by stowing away in a ship at the age of 14 years, but was found out before the ship left the harbor of Dansk, Poland. He worked an entire year so that he could earn enough money to get passage in the bilge of a ship and so immigrated, alone, to the United States at the age of 15 years. 

Somehow, some way, my Swedish Lutheran grandfather, Oscar, met my Irish Catholic grandmother, Mary, in Pittsburgh, PA. They married and settled in Pittsburgh where my grandfather worked as a roller in the Steel Mills. My paternal grandfather Andrew settled in a little town north east of Pittsburgh, called Turtle Creek. He worked in the Westinghouse Air Brake factory where he met my great grandfather, who was his co-worker. At the age of 30 years, my grandfather arranged to marry my great grandfather’s youngest daughter, Katherine, who was 18 years old. They settled in a home my grandfather built high on the hillside of Turtle Creek overlooking the air brake plant at which he worked, 7 miles below (what they call a hill in Pennsylvania, we call a mountain in Minnesota). Within my body, is the mixed genetic makeup of the 3 different cultures and languages of my grandparents. My hair or lack thereof comes from my Swedish side. My musical abilities comes from my Irish side. And my demeanor comes from my Polish side. I think, if given the time, we could all share similar stories of our immigrant heritage.

 Today in the gospel, we hear the story about a group of immigrants gathering together in Bethlehem. Mary and Joseph, immigrants from Galilee, poor and homeless, living in a barn are greeted by immigrants, wise men scripture tells us, bearing gifts of great value. The wise men have come from far off places, and have endured many hardships and dangers to encounter God present in the form of a baby we know as Jesus. The only native Judean in the whole story is King Herod, who is suspicious and wary of these foreigners who have come to his kingdom. And, when he learns that among the immigrants is the one who is destined to become King of Judea, plots to murder the infant child of these immigrants from Nazareth. We know the rest of the story. The wise men, apprised of the King’s plans, leave Bethlehem by different routes so as to throw off any pursuit from the King’s spies. And, Joseph, warned in a dream by an angel, gathers his family and slips away from Bethlehem in the middle of the night to avoid being murdered by the agents of King Herod. The holy family leaves Judea as political refugees and immigrate to the foreign land and foreign culture of Egypt to live. King Herod, enraged, sends his soldiers into Bethlehem and murders all male children 3 years of age and younger.

The important revelation in this story of the wise men visiting the baby Jesus, is that in the eyes of God, there is no such thing as an immigrant, or alien, or foreigner. All people, regardless from where they’ve come, what language they speak, or culture to which they belong are children of God. In the eyes of the infant Jesus, all people are his brothers and sisters. It is we, as human beings, who assign the label of immigrant, alien or foreigner to those who do not look like us, or do not act like us, or have a different culture from us. 

4 years ago, before I had that year of surgeries on my left leg, I use to drive a red Ford Focus. On the back of my Focus was a bumper sticker I had gotten from the Office of Hispanic Ministry from our Archdiocese that said, “God does not create illegal human beings.” At night, I keep my car  parked in my driveway, and found one morning that someone from New Prague using a black magic marker wrote in big black letters above the bumper sticker, “All Mexicans go to hell, and, you go to hell, too!” Obviously, the person who wrote this forgot that at one time, his own family once were immigrants who came to this land. The other thing this person neglected to acknowledge is that scripture teaches us that all of us are made in the image and likeness of God our Father and so we are all children of God.

In his 1^st letter to the Corinthians, St. Paul reminds us that there is no division in the Body of Christ. All of us who call ourselves disciples of Jesus are one body and one spirit in Christ. He writes, “For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, slaves or free persons, and we were all given to drink of one Spirit.” And in today’s 2^nd reading, St Paul writes, “It was not made known to people in other generations as it has now been revealed to his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit: that the Gentiles are coheirs, members of the same body, and copartners in the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel.” If we dare to call ourselves disciples of Jesus, then we must recognize that there are no aliens, no foreigners, no immigrants in God’s plan for humanity. Just as I embody the genes of my Irish grandmother Mary, my Swedish grandfather, Oscar, my Polish grandmother, Katherine, and my Polish grandfather, Andrew, so we embody the genes our savior and brother, Jesus Christ. As disciples of Jesus we are called to see, respect, and treat all people as children of God our Father, and as our brothers and sisters in Jesus.  As this hymn states so well.

In Christ there is no East or West,
In Him no South or North;
But one great fellowship of love
Throughout the whole wide earth.

Join hands, then, members of the faith,
Whatever your race may be!
Who serves my Father as His child
Is surely kin to me.

In Christ now meet both East and West,
In Him meet North and South;
All Christly souls are one in Him
Throughout the whole wide earth.