I
wanted to keep this short, but it’s tough.
I was reading some more articles on the detention centers in Texas where
the US Government is detaining women and children who are seeking asylum from
violence in their own countries, even after many of them have actually proven a
personal danger exists! Contrary to popular myth, they are not after public
assistance or health care. They are all
about saving their lives and the lives of their children. Who among us wouldn’t go to the ends of the
earth to protect our loved ones, no matter the consequences?
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| Hardened criminals in Karnes, Texas |
I am
truly saddened by the comments after the articles where there appears to be a
lack of empathy or compassion for these women and children who would in truth
much rather be back in their own countries living peaceful lives, but simply
can’t because of the dangers presented there.
A lot of the comments begin with the statement “What part of illegal don’t
you understand?”
I’m
pretty educated. I think I know what the
word means. My response is and will
continue to be “What part of love don’t YOU understand?” Jesus said “This I command you: love one
another.” (John 15:17)
You
see, it's not about laws, it's all about love.
Our
Lord tells us that the greatest commandments come down to two, which sum up all
the rest: to love God with all of one's heart, mind, soul, and strength and to
love our neighbor as ourselves. If we
truly do this, we will be keeping God's commandments by virtue of our love,
which is itself a response to God's grace. Unless we love God, as St. John tells us
repeatedly, we cannot keep His commandments.
"It
is not that we keep His commandments first, and that then He loves; but that He
loves us, and then we keep His commandments. This is that grace which is
revealed to the humble but hidden from the proud."
(St.
Augustine, Lectures on the Gospel of John, Tractate 82,3)
