Many years ago there was a famous French artist by the name of Paul Gustave Dore who lost his passport while traveling in Europe. When he came to the border crossing, he explained his predicament to one of the guards. Giving his name to the official, Dore hoped he would be recognized and allowed to pass. The guard, however, said that many people attempted to cross the border by claiming to be persons they were not. "All right," said the official, "I'll give you a test, and if you pass it I'll allow you to go through." Handing him a pencil and a sheet of paper, he asked the artist to sketch a picture of several peasants standing nearby. Dore did it so quickly and skillfully that the guard was convinced he was indeed the famous artist. His action confirmed his identity.
Christians have always had the problem of how to tell the world who we are. Throughout history and still in some places in the world, uniforms have played a very important role in announcing our identity to the world. Think of the various traditional habits of the various Catholic religious orders which distinguish consecrated people not only from ordinary Christians but also from one another. Franciscans wear brown or gray habits. Benedictines wear black. Dominicans wear white. These days, of course, many religious people don’t wear distinguishing clothing at all. Wearing uniforms or religious habits has become less popular. This brings to mind the words of Shakespeare in Measure for Measure, "The hood does not make a monk." In other words, clothes alone do not make us religious, let alone Christian. Actions speak louder than words and much louder than clothing.
The desire for uniforms, religious habits and badges designed to distinguish believers from non-believers does indeed have its place. We are symbolic beings. We need to express our faith in symbolic ways. Jesus himself wrestled with the question of how to distinguish his followers from the non-believers around them. But his command goes much farther than external habits and uniforms. For Jesus the essential mark of distinction between Christians and non-Christians is not in the way we dress but in the way we live.
“I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:34-5).
Love is the Christian identity. Love is the Christian uniform. Love is the Christian habit. If you are wearing the habit of love, you are in. If you are not wearing love as a habit, you are out, no matter how many veils or Roman collars or crucifixes or rosaries you put on.
Jesus wants the world to recognize us as Christians by our deeds of love. We need to witness to people around us. But effective evangelization and witnessing has less to do with how piously we speak and more to do with how faithfully we live.
As you probably have heard, last week a terrible law was passed in the state Arizona giving local law enforcers permission to stop anyone whom they suspect of being in this country illegally and asking for identification and documentation based on how that person looks. What in God’s name does an illegal immigrant look like? Or talk like? Or act like? Do you know which nationality comprises the greatest number of undocumented aliens in this country? The Irish. But they look white. They speak English. They act “normal.” So instead the police will concentrate on brown people who speak with Spanish accents. Many people came to this country from Latin America and other places because their local economies collapsed and they could no longer support their families.
Don’t get me wrong. I understand our borders are broken and the situation has gotten out of hand. Clearly our immigration policies are badly in need of reform. But randomly rounding people up whom police suspect of being here illegally is unjust, unfair, un-American and un-Christian.
How should we, as Christians, as followers of Christ respond in the face of such injustice? We must stand in solidarity with those who suffer persecution. We must pressure our elected leaders to institute comprehensive reform. But above all we must love our neighbors as ourselves, even if they lack a proper visa or green card.
Leviticus 19:33-34 states, “If foreigners dwell in your land and live among you, do not harass them, but treat them like your fellow countrymen. You shall love them as yourselves, for you were once strangers in the land of Egypt.”
My brothers and sisters in Christ, we stand today at the border of the kingdom of God. None of us has a passport. Too many people claim to be Christian but do not put the Gospel into practice. Our daily habits and not a religious habit mark us as true followers of Christ. Let us never hesitate to do what is good and just and right, even if we encounter opposition for only then will America live up to its creed and only then will we as Catholics be true to our calling.
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