WE JOURNEY WITH THE HOLY FAMILY THEN AND NOW Las Posadas Navidenas – Day Seven – December 22, 2017 In The Word

Messages of Comfort (Isaiah 40)

Have you not been paying attention? Have you not been listening? Haven’t you heard these stories all your life? Don’t you understand the foundation of all things? God sits high above the round ball of earth. The people look like mere ants. He stretches out the skies like a canvas – yes, like a tent canvas to live under. He ignores what all the princes say and do. The rulers of the earth count for nothing. Princes and rulers don’t amount to much. Like seeds barely rooted, just sprouted, they shrivel when God blows on them. Like flecks of chaff, they’re gone with the wind. (verses 21-24) In Our Reflection

We Walk with Valentina

Valentina and her children came to the U.S. from Grenada in 2007 to escape an abusive husband. She hoped to give them a better life. She remarried a few years later and had a fourth child. But he new husband also became abusive. She loved her family and believed they could work it out, so they tried therapy. In time, she realized that she and her children were in another dangerous situation. With legal assistance, Valentina was able to obtain green cards for herself and her children because she qualified for visas under the Violence Against Women Act. The process was nearly seamless because they had a lot of evidence of abuse. Since receiving her permanent residency, Valentina accomplished her children dream of becoming a nurse. Valentina’s daughter is following in her mother’s hardworking footsteps and is now attending college on a full scholarship. In Our Response Voice 1

To be recited antiphonally Voice 2

In the Name of the Lord Please provide us with lodging My beloved wife cannot walk any farther

Continue your journey, this is not a shelter I will not open the door Lest you be some villain

Don’t be inhumane Please have some compassion Our Lord above will reward your action

Please go somewhere else and leave me be I am growing angry This night has no need for a flogging

Sir, we are so weary Traveling straight from Nazareth I am a simple carpenter by the name of Joseph

I care not for your name Please let me sleep. I am exhausted Into my house you will not creep

Heaven’s only queen Is asking you for lodging Please, goodhearted landlord, one night is all we need

If she is a queen why is she at my doorstep? How is she so alone at an hour like this?

My wife is Mary She is the queen of heaven And soon to be mother of the Savior

Oh! You are Joseph and your wife is Mary Enter, please dear migrants I did not realize

Thank you, generous landlord God reward your kindness Tonight the skies are filled with the greatest excitement

Honored is this house to provide some lodging For the holy virgin, Beautiful Mary

Everyone together Please enter blessed migrants Blessed migrants, our home is your home. Although it’s a simple dwelling, simple dwelling It holds love from all our souls.

In Our Sharing Share any insights that this story, scripture text or response evokes in you. Share your experience or one you observed or learned of where abuse, humiliation, demeaning or degrading treatment was inflicted. You have empathy for Valentina. There is a little protector in each of us. For whom and in what situations might you be a protector now. Keep in mind persons who are immigrants as you consider your protector instincts. In Our Prayer To Mary we entrust the mothers, the fathers, the children who today are holy families migrating in hope, in fear, in longing for peace and security, for something like a home. May they find their journey’s end as we open ourselves to their stories, their need, their spirits. We ask for mercy for all migrants and for our communities who are challenged to welcome them, to give them hope for a new life. Amen. Closing May Christ Jesus, who became human and shared our earthly life, strengthen our faith. Amen May Christ Jesus, who remains among us hidden in our neighbors, enliven our charity. Amen May Christ Jesus, who will welcome us at death and at the end of time, grant us mercy. Amen