I appreciate Hosffman Ospino’s dialogue in which he engaged with his six-year-old son (“Speaking about race with Hispanic children, part 1, Catholic News Service). I am an immigrant, born in Mexico, but lived also in England and Canada before coming to the U.S. My parents were both British, and I had a dual-citizen passport until I was 10 years old when we became U.S. citizens.
It was always my question: “Who am I: British? Canadian? Mexican? American?” My parents were new to the U.S., and frequently they said, “In Canada, we did it (whatever the “it” was at the time) this way; in Mexico, we did it this way, in Great Britain, we did it this way.” So learning anything was something we experienced together. It was fun, interesting and full of mystery.
At 59 years of age, I consider myself simply an international, with strong ties to these countries as well as others around the world where we have family. It is for these reasons and others that when we pray in the Mass for the unity of all believers, I look around the congregation and I rejoice at the similarities as well as the differences.
Why else would these people come together? The answer, simply, is Jesus. In Him we are one. It is important that we live this out in the nuts and bolts of our everyday lives. While national and international discussions continue, we are the Church and as such a family.
We share the same blood: that of Christ our Lord. So while the world swirls around us as to who belongs and who doesn’t belong to whatever group, we stand in love with our Lord to say that all are called into His family. May we, by His grace, ask for forgiveness when we have acted any less. May we also recall that walk towards Emmaus when the men did not recognize the Risen Lord.
Are we recognizing Him in each other?
Georgina Laidlaw, St. Anthony of Padua Parish, Hightstown