“…You did it for me” - The Law of Love

January 14, 2007

Last week I wrote about the rule of law in regard to the immigration issue. Let us now consider the law of love lived out and preached in the New Testament. In reference to the Incarnation of the Redeemer, in the Gospel of John, we read, “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life” (John 3:16). God’s only begotten Son became human through a magnificent migration from heaven to earth. He came from his Father’s side to become one like us and to live on this earth, in order to save us from our sins. Sadly, he experienced the same rejection that immigrants often receive. He was born in a stable and laid in a manger, because “there was no room in the inn” (Lk 2:7). “He came to what was his own, but his own people did not accept him” (John 1:11).
Shortly after his birth, the Infant Jesus lived through a second migration. This time, Mary and Joseph took him to Egypt. The Gospel of Matthew tells the story: “When they (the Magi) had departed, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, ‘Rise, take the child and his mother, flee to Egypt, and stay there until I tell you. Herod is going to search for the child to destroy him.’
“Joseph rose and took the child and his mother by night and departed for Egypt. He stayed there until the death of Herod, that what the Lord had said through the prophet might be fulfilled, ‘Out of Egypt I called my son’” (Mat 2:13-15).
The final and total rejection that the Christ would endure took place in the courtyard of Pontius Pilate’s palace. When the Roman procurator, convinced that he was innocent, tried to find a way to release Jesus, “They cried out, ‘Take him away, take him away! Crucify him!’
“Pilate said to them, ‘Shall I crucify your king?’
“The chief priests answered, ‘We have no king but Caesar.’” (John 19:15).
Jesus’ response was sacrificial love. He endured the humiliation of being tried and condemned as a criminal. He was stripped, scourged, crowned with thorns and crucified. Lovingly, he gave his life “as a ransom for many" (Mk 10:45).
In varied ways, throughout his life on earth, Jesus articulated his lesson of love. When he was asked what was the greatest commandment, he replied that there were two, to love God above all things and to love you’re your neighbor as you love yourself (cf. Lk 10:27). And he declared love to be the ultimate identifying and defining sign of the Christian, “This is how all will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:35).
Not long before his death, Jesus spoke to the disciples, and to all of us, about our end time, the time when we will be judged and rewarded with eternal life or condemned to eternal separation from the divine. He spoke about the Son of Man separating the sheep from goats and placing them on his right and on his left. He rewarded the faithful sheep and said to them, “Come, you who are blessed by my Father. Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, a stranger and you welcomed me, naked and you clothed me, ill and you cared for me, in prison and you visited me” (Mat 25:34-36).
Then they asked him when had they done all these things, and he replied, “Amen, I say to you, whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me” (Mat 25:40).
My dear sisters and brothers, the immigrant who comes seeking a better life personifies in himself or herself every one of the afflictions to which Jesus alluded in the last judgment narrative. It reads like a resume of the immigrant’s life. Father Daniel G. Groody, CSC, in his article entitled Crossing the Line (The Way, 43/2 April 2004, p. 59), succinctly parallels the sufferings of the immigrant with the 25th Chapter of Matthew’s Gospel. He says, “Scholars may continue to debate the meaning of the phrase ‘least of these,’ but the parallels between Matthew 25 and the plight of the Mexican immigrants to the U(nited) S(tates) today are striking: hungry in their homelands, thirsty in the treacherous deserts they cross, estranged in their new land, naked after being robbed by bandito (sic) gangs, sick from the heat, and imprisoned in immigration detention centers, these immigrants manifest strikingly Christ’s presence in the world.”
Ours is a nation that is governed by the rule of law; ours is a church that is governed by the law of love. Our mission is to make the two, one in our own lives. In regard to the rule of law, we must indispensably work toward the creation of just and equitable immigration laws, by exerting our influence on the men and women whom we have elected to represent us in our legislative bodies.
Let us write our Senators and Representatives in Washington and insist that the new Congress must make immigration reform a top priority. Only a comprehensive approach to immigration will both serve the best interests of our nation and protect the basic human dignity and human life of the migrant. The construction of a wall that will tax the financial resources of our nation and destroy the good neighbor relationship that has existed between us and our neighbors to the south, will not achieve our goal.
Let us pray, as well, that the judicial system and the law enforcement agencies that apply the existing legislation may be moved by compassion in carrying out their responsibilities.
In regard to the law of love, our duty is to feed the hungry, to provide potable water for the thirsty, and to clothe the naked . . . If the undocumented knock on our door or meet us on the street and ask for help, we will generously address their need, lovingly. Their immigrant’s legal status cannot deter us, since in God’s eyes, no one is illegal. We must not, for one moment, forget what Jesus clearly told us, “as often as you did if for these least brothers (or sisters) of mine, you did it for me.”
May the Lord enable us to see the suffering Christ in our immigrant sisters and brothers, and allow us to be the loving reflection of the Son of God to them.

+Bishop Raymundo J. Peña

last updated 05-Jun-2008 9:48 sitemap