PRAYING FOR IMMIGRANTS IN OUR MIDST JULY – AUGUST 2025
REFUGEE SUPPORT TEAM — NAUSET INTERFAITH ASSOCIATION
Amidst turbulent times – in the Holy Land, Sudan, Ukraine, and in migrant and refugee communities – we encourage all to add prayer and fasting to advocacy and to our work for peace and justice.
SACRED SCRIPTURE
Here are some central texts in the Jewish and Christian traditions. They help situate our care for the immigrant in God’s loving covenant with us. We invite you to read these texts, slowly and open to fresh meaning.
No bible at hand? www.biblegateway.com has 150 translations for your screen – just enter the biblical passage desired.
Leviticus 19: 32-36 Deuteronomy 10: 17- 22 Psalm 146
Jeremiah 7: 1-7
Luke 10: 25-37
Leviticus 25: 35-38 Deuteronomy 24: 17-22 Isaiah 58
Matthew 25: 31-46 Hebrews 13: 1-3, 14-16
Matthew 2: 13-15, 19-23
This passage reminds us that Jesus was born in a time of corrupt, evil rulers and powers. In February, beloved Pope Francis wrote a brief letter to the USA bishops, and to all Christians, and to all “people of good will. Here is its start:
1. The journey from slavery to freedom that the People of Israel traveled, as narrated in the Book of Exodus, invites us to look at the reality of our time, so clearly marked by the phenomenon of migration, as a decisive moment in history to reaffirm not only our faith in a God who is always close, incarnate, migrant and refugee, but also the infinite and transcendent dignity of every human person.
2. These words with which I begin are not an artificial construct. Even a cursory examination of the Church’s social doctrine emphatically shows that Jesus Christ is the true Emmanuel (cf. Mt 1:23); he did not live apart from the difficult experience of being expelled from his own land because of an imminent risk to his life, and from the experience of having to take refuge in a society and a culture foreign to his own. The Son of God, in becoming man, also chose to live the drama of immigration. I like to recall, among other things, the words with which Pope Pius XII began his Apostolic Constitution on the Care of Migrants, which is considered the “Magna Carta” of the Church’s thinking on migration:
“The family of Nazareth in exile, Jesus, Mary and Joseph, emigrants in Egypt and refugees there to escape the wrath of an ungodly king, are the model, the example and the consolation of emigrants and pilgrims of every age and country, of all refugees of every condition who, beset by persecution or necessity, are forced to leave their homeland, beloved family and dear friends for foreign lands.”
3. Likewise, Jesus Christ, loving everyone with a universal love, educates us in the permanent recognition of the dignity of every human being, without exception. In fact, when we speak of “infinite and transcendent dignity,” we wish to emphasize that the most decisive value possessed by the human person surpasses and sustains every other juridical consideration that can be made to regulate life in society. Thus, all the Christian faithful and people of good will are called upon to consider the legitimacy of norms and public policies in the light of the dignity of the person and his or her
fundamental rights, not vice versa.
FASTING
As a supplement to the readngs above, or as an alternative, on any day you select, for whatever number of hours, fasting can clear the mind and heart. It is its own strong form of prayer.
ISLAM: ASHURA
Meanwhile, our Islamic neighbors mark Ashura on July 6 this year, and its strong memories can feed the summer. In Sunni Islam, it marks the parting of the Red Sea by Moses and the exodus of the Israelites. Also this day – a veritable compendium of joy – is remembered the exit of Noah from the Ark, the forgiveness of God to Adam, and the release of Joseph from prison. These memories instill a sense of liberation and justice. Praise God!