On June 20th , we remember the plight of millions of people across the globe displaced from their homes by war, famine, corruption, and other violence. These people are part of our human family, and their needs are Christ’s needs. In Matthew 25, we see God’s heavenly expectations for disciples.
We are to meet Jesus in the least among us-the hungry, the thirsty, those without adequate shelter or clothing, the ill, and even the incarcerated. This shouldn’t be too much of an imaginative stretch. After all, Christ himself knew what it was to be a refugee. St. Joseph took the Holy Family to Egypt, fleeing from the wrath of Herod. Jesus spent his first few years of life as a stranger in a strange land. Mary knew what it was like to navigate an unfamiliar marketplace and to be surrounded by a foreign tongue. Joseph had a practical trade but had to start from nothing all the same. Let’s pray for all refugees today and to see in them our own story of faith.