Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time, 2025

When Pope Francis was first elected in 2013, I didn't like him very much. He was saying things that seemed to confirm people in sin and then upset the people who were actually trying to live according to what the Church teaches.

And, around 2015, I started reading a book that compiled many of his speeches and homilies over the couple years he had been Pope. And, as I was reading this book, it was making me angrier. But, as I forced myself to continue reading, he said something in one of his homilies that struck me. And it made me reverse my opinion of him. I had this realization that Pope Francis, at least in my opinion, is through and through a follower of Jesus. 


To be clear, despite what almost every single news channel on television says, Pope Francis is not the head or the leader of the Catholic Church. Jesus is. Pope Francis is the head bishop. And, in that position, as Catholics, we owe him respect and a listening ear.


Which brings me to the fact that Pope Francis just wrote a letter to the bishops of the United States. He clearly is very concerned about us.


In this letter, he addresses the issue of migration and mass deportations. While acknowledging a nation's right to self-defense, he stresses that laws and policies must respect human dignity. He criticizes equating illegal status with criminality and calls for a rule of law that prioritizes the vulnerable.


…Open borders are good for nobody. Everyone should be entering legally. And we should know who every single person is; the Pope would agree. But when the poorest people in the world have crossed over, with exception to those who have committed crimes, how do we treat them? What is our attitude toward them? 


Around 2007, I was listening to a guy who lived close to our southern border. He said that if we setup machine gun nests pointed at the southern border, people would still be trying to come over illegally. 


That analogy said two things to me: It said this guy has no concern for why these people are coming over. Secondly, to use such an example shows that he doesn’t value these people the same as other human beings.


…What Jesus is talking about in the Gospel, when He says, “Blessed are the poor” and “Woe to you who are filled;” those words are supposed to be applied to real life examples in our day. 


…Just because we live in the United States, of course, does not mean we’re personally guilty of all the sins of our nation but we are in a position, most of us in the United States, of living better than literally 99% of the people in the world.


Jesus would consider most of us “filled" and He says, woe to us if we don’t see that we have an inherent responsibility to help those who are desperate for daily necessities.


I know for a fact some of us in Western New York are concerned about their next meal, or about heating their home but the vast majority aren’t, which, again, does not make us guilty of any sin but, as Jesus would say, puts us in a position of responsibility that we can’t excuse ourselves from.


Instead of listening to people’s opinions of the Pope’s letter, we should take time to read it ourselves. We owe the Pope at least that much.


…With respect to what we just heard Jesus say in the Gospel, when we stand before God, what do we think Jesus would say was our responsibility to these people at our doorstep who have been born into a situation far more desperate than our own?



Scripture readings for this day: https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/021625.cfm

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