Some days I do not recognize the world around me. It is not a world of love and peace but of violence and war. I yearn that all might be welcomed in good faith—the widow, the orphan and the sojourner. Yet those fleeing chaos in their homelands are unwelcome. Where will those mothers go with their precious children?
I am reminded that Mary gave birth in a stable by Luke’s report. There was no place in the inn for her. And then, in Matthew’s account, she and her husband and son became refugees, fleeing a violent regime to save their lives. Would we have welcomed them? Will we?
This message is an excerpt of the Amen! column “Welcomed” by Catherine Malotky in the December 2016 issue of Gather magazine. Today we remember Lucy, martyr, who died in 304.
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