Fasting from All That Is Darkness, Reveling in the Light

Written on: March 9, 2025

Column for March 9, 2025 by Sr. Eileen White, GNSH

In a February From a Faith Perspective column by Hussam Jallad, we read that there are times when it is good to do a re-set. Mr. Jallad referred to the Islamic Ramadan as such a time. Early this morning many people began to experience a different re-set – the beginning of daylight-saving time. Actually, our Earth home already started the re-set way back in December when daylight started to beat out night, much to our delight. Many Christians begin now another re-set time, namely Lent, a 40-day period of fasting, prayer, and generous giving to the needy. Today is the first Sunday of Lent’s re-set, preparing us for Holy Week and Easter.

I wonder if it is possible for us – people of faith, that is – to ask for divine help during this Lenten season with a re-set of our attitudes and assumptions about people we call immigrants or refugees, especially the “undocumented”. Such a re-set calls for a really challenging look at how our faith tradition invites us to see “the stranger”. Here is a sample of a command from the Old Testament, sometimes called the Hebrew scriptures:

When an alien resides with you in your land, do not mistreat such a one. You shall treat the alien who resides with you no differently than the natives born among you; you shall love the alien as yourself; for you too were once aliens in the land of Egypt. I, the Lord, am your God. Leviticus 19:33-35

Another passage from the letter to the Hebrews, one of the sections of the New Testament, reads:

 Be sure to welcome strangers into your home. By doing this, some people have welcomed angels as guests, without even knowing it. Hebrews 13:2-4

What has been the response of faith communities to these scriptural commands? Not always good! Years ago, I visited Ellis Island. At that time – and I do not know if the same displays are still there – what I viewed was a history of xenophobia in our country and in our contradictory pronouncements, laws, and realities. Archived newspaper headlines and stories told over time of the variety of groups we Americans tried to keep from coming to the “melting pot”. Researching further, I learned of my own Irish Catholic clan’s experience of discrimination and how we, then, turned around to discriminate against other “others”. In the Catholic faith tradition, we speak of “original sin”, humanity’s tendency to choose hate rather than love, evil rather than good. I believe this tendency to imagine some groups of people less worthy of respect, dignity, and welcome is evidence of humankind’s original sin.

Recently Pope Francis, leader of the Catholic faithful, wrote an important letter to the bishops of the United States, supporting them in efforts to address the current crises regarding immigrants and refugees seeking safe harbor in our country.

I have followed closely the major crisis that is taking place in the United States with the initiation of a program of mass deportations. The rightly formed conscience cannot fail to make a critical judgment and express its disagreement with any measure that tacitly or explicitly identifies the illegal status of some migrants with criminality. At the same time, one must recognize the right of a nation to defend itself and keep communities safe from those who have committed violent or serious crimes while in the country or prior to arrival. That said, the act of deporting people who in many cases have left their own land for reasons of extreme poverty, insecurity, exploitation, persecution or serious deterioration of the environment, damages the dignity of many men and women, and of entire families, and places them in a state of particular vulnerability and defenselessness. https://www.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/letters/2025/documents/20250210-lettera-vescovi-usa.html

Many individuals and faith traditions are grappling with the complexities of immigration and the impact of policies and enforcement on real human lives. Some churches have been active for many years in supporting immigrant families. Members of Catholic religious communities of Sisters have firsthand experience with individuals and families – having supported them at our southern border or served them at home as teachers of ESL and social workers. Some of us are meeting regularly to pray about and learn together how to be there for our immigrant brothers and sisters. Many of us know immigrants and refugees whose status is “in process” for years and years, like the couple in New Jersey who were taken by ICE from their restaurant, despite opposition from their neighbors. By contrast, my Sister Grey Nuns and I were immigrants when we lived in Lima, Peru, and were welcomed so warmly though we ourselves were “extranjeros”.

When we consider immigrants as persons, and not as face-less numbers or false caricatures, it is hard to see them as the dangerous and hated “other”. It hurts the heart to hear them spoken of as animals.

I believe it is time for a re-set of our attitudes and assumptions about immigrants. That means searching for the truth — about immigrants, asylum seekers, refugees, and our immigration policies, practices, and legislation. A good goal for the season of Lent and daylight saving – fasting from all that is darkness, reveling in the light.

From a Faith Perspective appears in the Bucks County Courier Times and The Intelligencer, and we are grateful for their permission to share it here. Sr. Eileen White, GNSH is a frequent contributor. It was published in the Sunday, March 9, 2025 edition.

This entry was posted in Matters of Faith and tagged: asylum seekers, Bucks County Courier Times, From a Faith Perspective, ICE, immigrant, Immigration, mass deportations, Refugees, Sister Eileen White, The Intelligencer