St. Ann's members share messages at vigil, reader praises, editor adds words

St. Ann's Matthew 25 Ministry held an interfaith peace prayer vigil Sept. 14, at the Federal Building Plaza in Spokane in solidarity with refugees and immigrants.  Several share their comments here.

I have had the privilege of teaching English to refugees and immigrants, as well as other newcomers to Spokane, for 30 years. This year, everything changed. People are afraid. They are all here legally, but that doesn't matter. People's rights are being trampled upon.

We gathered to pray for our brothers and sisters who are living in fear of our government. We came to pray for our leaders that they might recognize the suffering that is being inflicted upon innocent people. 

We need to take a moment to calm our minds and hearts, to open ourselves to our loving God.

There was a powerful sense of community at the vigil. There is hope of redemption when we all work together for social justice in a non-violent manner. Love is powerful and can make a difference in people's hearts when we approach those who believe in hate with love.

Luisa Orellana

"On Peace, Hope and Love"

PEACE: After his resurrection, Jesus Christ appeared to his disciples who were hiding behind locked doors. He said to them, "Peace be with you!" He said this not only to calm their fears but also to give them the moral courage they would need to carry out his mission—a mission captured in the Beatitudes and in such passages as Matthew 25:31-45. Especially pertinent in today's world are his words, "I was a stranger, and you welcomed me."

HOPE: For Christians, hope is based in the resurrection of Jesus. It is a living hope anchoring our faith to a certain future despite present difficult circumstances. German philosopher Ernst Bloch (1885-1977) wrote: "We are caught between two ages of human existence, between the past that was and the future that is not yet. We live in a condition of radical expectation and anticipation. Hope is central to our existence." Symbols—such as the monarch butterfly, signifying transformation and resilience, and candles displayed in South Africa homes during Apartheid as an expression of resistance— can help us maintain hope.

LOVE: Love is the glue that connects peace and hope. Love is the motivation to listen to the cries of those in need and to have the courage to do something about it. Love keeps us going when hate tries to drag us down. Love fulfills Jesus' great commandment to love God with all our heart, soul and mind, and our neighbors as ourselves.

And who is my neighbor, you might ask? We are back to Matthew 25!

Father Max Oliva, SJ

* * *

When the advantages of immigration are enumerated, economic benefits—immigrants doing jobs others won't do or keeping social security afloat—top the list. While such factors are important, natural sciences say a diverse community is more resilient than a monocultural one. It is better able to recover from threats, such as a virus or insects that prey on one species of tree in a forest but not others.

Different cultures bring different ways to look at and relate to the world. Some societies cling to their own vision of the world at their peril. History is filled with examples of societies clinging to outdated ideas, only to collapse under the weight of those ideas, which were no longer relevant in a changing world.

There is a positive spiritual outcome to the presence of immigrants in our lives.

In scripture, God's promise, revelation and truth are most often brought not through what's familiar or those we know and are like us, but through a stranger or angel, which is more foreign than a stranger.

Sarah and Abraham receive the promise of a son from a stranger who has wandered into their camp.

Jacob meets God by wrestling with a stranger.

Christ is visited in the crib by the Magi, strange foreign kings.

In the parable of the Good Samaritan, the wounded man is helped not by his kin, but by a Samaritan, a stranger.

With the stranger lies surprise, new possibility, contact with that part of God and reality we have never experienced before.

Would it not be logical that God should speak to us most deeply through that which is familiar to us? The familiar is important. Charity begins at home. Because it is home, it is familiar, not where we are likely to have our hearts stretched.

God is not familiar. God is other. Those who are other to us, strangers, are in a position to reveal God to us.

We are afraid of and un-welcoming to strangers—be they different vis-a-vis race, color, creed, gender or sexual orientation. We fear what is different, but within our circles the otherness of God cannot be revealed. There is too little promise or newness. God can speak only a limited word. Nothing is impossible with God. That is only true when we move outside our circles. Welcoming the stranger benefits not only the stranger, but also ourselves.

Greg Cunningham

 

Letter to the editor

 I just read your editorial in the September Fig Tree, and I had to thank you for your comments. You accurately describe the state of the country, and it is truly dire. As a student of politics, I never dreamt we would have national leadership that cares so little for the Constitution and the rule of law—and is at war with the American people.

Your call to not feel helpless and encouragement to engage in one's community in positive ways was spot on as an antidote for the feeling of helplessness. Thank you for the inspiring words! 

In addition, the article on the Spokane Alliance was also wonderful. I am proud of the work they have done the last 20+ years. I remember the excitement I felt returning to Spokane from 10-day training in San Antonio in 1998 with the Industrial Areas Foundation. I was with 136 ordinary citizens from across the country, learning how to build a broad-based organization in our communities.

That excitement I felt was my antidote for the sense of helplessness I felt then with our local government. Your article captures the essence of the alliance's commitment to the region's common good.

Thank you for highlighting their work and Laurel's leadership. Their commitment to leadership development within the alliance is a significant reason for its longevity and ability to produce things that benefit the community.

Tom Robinson
Covenant United Methodist

 

A few thoughts for October

Those in power intend to overwhelm us with so much happening that we are confused, even about what is true, and don't act.

The goal is to divide and conquer, not just left and right but top and bottom. While billionaires need more money to buy power, what's the cost to the least?

A widow forgives the killer, but a leader commits to continuing to hate.

Now, as always, is the time to defend free speech. Not capitulating works.

Mary Stamp - Editor