WHAT  SIGN  IS 
AT YOUR  DOOR? 

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily is, “What Sign Is At Your Door?

CHECK OUT THE SIGNS

Next time you’re at anyone’s door, check out the signs?

“Welcome!”

“Home Sweet Home.”

Or notice stores. Often small stores have a reversible sign they hang on their front door. It has “Open” on one side and “Closed” on the other side.

Which is more me?

Then there are signs that people seem to have hanging on their face:  

“Busy”  Translation: "Don’t bother me."

“Present.” Translation: "I’m here."

“Absent.” Translation: "Sorry:  I’m somewhere else."

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“Interested” Translation: "I’m listening. Hi."

“Uninterested.” Translation: "Keep moving."

JESUS

Jesus saw a lot of signs.

“Leave! We don’t want you here in our town.”

“Feed us!”

“Heal us!”

“Do what you can do for us - what you did over there for them.”

In today’s gospel he goes into this Samaritan town - and they want him out of that town. James and John react. They want to burn the whole damn town down. No wonder they were called, “Boanerges” or “Sons of Thunder.”  Did you notice the message in today’s gospel: they were not welcome.

Then when  he finally  gets to Jerusalem, they welcome and celebrate him, big time on Palm Sunday. Then by the end of the week, they are screaming, “Crucify him. Crucify him.”

THIS WORLD

What’s your take on this world? How do you see what's going on.

Does that message boil down to two words: “Whites only!” or “Welcome everyone”?

“Whites only” or “Welcome everyone”?

Read the October 9^th, 2017 issue of Time Magazine. It has an article about Syrians heading for Germany - because Mama Merkel - in Berlin - welcomed a lot of them - back in the summer of 2015. They were being destroyed in the civil war in Syria. Hospitals, schools, homes were destroyed. Parents saw no future for their children.  On August 31, 2015,  German Chancellor Angela Merkel declared that her country was prepared to take in hundreds of thousands of refugees fleeing war in the Middle East. She said, “We can do this.” She called it “a national duty” to support those in danger.

And she paid dearly for her open attitude - in the last election. She won but she lost some of her power, because the anti-immigrant party, Alternative for Germany, won almost 13 percent of the vote. Merkel’s party, the Christian Democratic Union came in first, but went down from 41.5% - the numbers in the previous election - to 32.9% in this latest election.  

Time will tell how much this move brings blessings or what have to these families and to Germany.

CONCLUSION

The title of my homily is, “What Sign Is At Your Door?”

I will not argue with people about this issue of welcoming people - especially immigrants. I think those who are anti-immigrant, want walls, are xenophobic, isolationist, have to find out for themselves why they think the way they think.

Moreover, I don’t consider the issue political - or what have you. 

I think of the ethics involved. I think people need to read the gospels - especially Matthew 25 and be challenged by the Word - that it become flesh, that they see  Christ at our door. 

I think the darkening of America is happening and will continue. 

I hope nobody takes down the Statue of Liberty at our door - with its light and its message.

I hope enough people keep the attitude that we are a nation of immigrants - starting with migrants from Asia coming across the ice bridges of Alaska some 30,000 years ago and they will keep coming. 

For the sake of transparency, I am a First Generation, American. Growing up my mother often said, “Ireland has nothing.” When I saw  the rough and rugged and rocky place where she and my dad came from, I said to her in prayer, “Thank you mom. Thank you dad.”

I hope and pray for the blessings our family received to be received by all families.