DIOCESAN NEWS
09/05/08
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End discrimination, prejudice
By Fr. Steve Pawlek
(See page three of Mississippi Católico this week for Spanish translation.)
     Henry Cejudo won a gold medal in the 55 kg freestyle wrestling at the Olympics. Henry is the son of an illegal immigrant, raised by a single mother also an immigrant. He did not know his father very well. Yet, despite these difficulties he raised to the height of victory by remaining steadfast to a goal of perfection.
     Currently, in Mississippi and elsewhere immigrants, legal and illegal, are experiencing more and more challenges alike. With more discriminatory laws and more frequent raids families and communities are suffering.
     One thing many do not understand is that in one family, legal and illegal folks live together. Thus, raids separate wives from husbands, parents from children, and grandparents from grandchildren. These raids disrupt church and civic communities. Whole factories close or cannot function without these workers. Yet, how are we to respond?
     Individually, it is important to remember God walks with us. One is always aware of the risk of working without the appropriate documents. Yet, when a person has lived for 10 years or more in a place, one believes it will never happen to me.
     Also, children who grow up and graduate from high school only think of themselves as Latino Americans and not as illegal immigrants. Yet when one is suddenly separated from family, community and church, it can lead to many conflicting emotions. Among them, may be where is God in this? Have I been abandoned?
     God is in their midst. Remember he calmed the storms (Mt 8:23-27) and offered comfort to those troubled, “Come to me, all you who are weary and find life burdensome, and I will refresh you. Take my yoke upon your shoulders and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble of heart.” (Mt 11:30) These are moments to hang onto faith and trust that from every sad event new life may come.
     Communally, all of us are affected by the consequences of these separations. Jesus calls us to offer support for them. Matthew 25 makes these clear, “I assure you, as often as you did it for one of my least brothers, you did it for me.”
     As members of the Body of Christ we need to do all we can to ease the sufferings of our brothers and sisters. “If one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; if one member is honored, all the members share its joy.” (I Cor. 12:26).
     We also have an obligation to work to end discrimination and prejudice. Furthermore, we need to encourage for laws that bring justice to all people, including immigrants and families. In this way, no one will suffer alone. God’s presence becomes visible when in the midst of suffering and separation; they find others at the foot of their crosses.
     Finally, let us return to Henry Cejudo. As a youngster he and his family faced many choices. They could have chosen bitterness or anger. They could have chosen depression and fatalism. Instead they choice hard work, a persistent goal and the strife for perfection in the area they could. They hung to family and faith and Henry achieved the gold.
     Therefore as we strife for the golden gates of heaven, in the midst of tough times and suffering, we need to turn to Christ. With family and faith, we can overcome all difficulties. Christ has risen and is victorious over evil. In his hands, this too will happen for all.
(Father Steve Pawlek lives in Kentucky and is director of vocations for the Glenmary Home Missioners. This column also appears this week in Spanish in Mississippi Catolico.)

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