Eucharist without borders

A strange development, in recent times, has been the rise of anti-migrant sentiment among a great many Catholics including many who would describe themselves as devout and loyal members of the church. Usually couched in language of being opposed to ‘uncontrolled mass, ‘illegal immigration’, ‘open borders’, ‘endangering our women and children’ and ‘civilisational erasure’, the view is presented as middle of the road and reasonable unlike that held by ‘woke’ or ‘radical left’.  These views – spoken or half-spoken are sometimes prefaced with ‘while I am not a racist…’

Even among Christians the polarising language around immigration is now commonplace online as well as offline.  Just listen to any conversation, now, in Ireland or elsewhere.  Sometimes, it seems to me that the more devout and the more ‘prolife’ a person is the more likely they are to be exercised about immigrants.

I generalise and, now, I risk jumping to judgmental conclusions

Offering our own prayers with the Mass

 

Last Wednesday, on the Solemnity of the Annunciation, I reflected on the wonderful mystery of the Incarnation and its inseparable link to the infinite value and dignity of every human being -  from conception to natural death. Today, I happened to come across an item: Pope backs “spiritual adoption of the unborn”. It resonated deeply with a practice I adopted some years ago: to choose one living person each day – known or unknown – and include that person in my morning offering, consciously uniting them to the offering of the Mass being celebrated anywhere in the world at that moment. One might even give that person a name.