The first reading for the Saturday Ordinary Time readings is from a letter of St John. What the Evangelist writes is quite applicable to our very controversial socio-political issue of immigration.In the letter, John is both thanking those who have assisted his collaborators in his missionary work for receiving them and expresses his hope that the same charity will be extended to them in the future.True, we live in a very challenging culture where the stranger is rarely to be trusted, where young people are told not to talk to anyone that is unknown and where simply asking for information can receive a cold shoulder.Even in our parish, as well as every parish I have served, we are not free from giving the cold shoulder to others in church. So often the remarks of visitors can tell a pastor how welcoming the community is. It is wonderful to hear visitors remark how welcomed they felt attending Mass in the parish.A genuine challenge to Catholics in the USA is the issue of immigration that confronts us especially on our southwestern borders. Recently the Holy See and the United States Bishops' Conference have strongly reacted to the proposals to construct as dividing wall along portions of our border. And at the same time the number of Catholics who have reacted to the reaction is not small.Of course it is an issue with many challenges to us in culture, language and economics. There was a phrase of the early years of our Church's beginning that comes to mind: See the Christians! See how they love one another!What does the world think of us in this regard? Are we trying to live the life of love and respect Jesus called us to live as his disciples?
