Wilderness God: whose Son was a displaced person in Bethlehem, a refugee in Egypt, and had nowhere to lay his head in Galilee. 

Bless all who have nowhere to lay their head today, who find themselves strangers on earth, pilgrims to they know not where, facing rejection, closed doors, suspicion and fear.

Give them companions in their distress, hope in their wandering, and safe lodging at their journey’s end. And make us a people of grace, wisdom and hospitality, who know that our true identity is to be lost, until we find our eternal home in you. Through Christ, our rejected yet risen Lord. Amen.
            (From St Martin in the Fields, London)

My ride in to El Paso is about 30 minutes. I go in silence to ready my heart to be available to greet the folks  with love and compassion.

Today is much like the previous days, arriving by 7am, making sure all have breakfast through the hotel. Seeing who needs to go to the bus station or airport and making a plan with the other two volunteers of who will take who and when. I also get to offer some medical support since it seems everyone has a cold or stomach ache, and who wouldn't. How do these sojourners even hold their heads up, given all they've been through? 

Once to the bus station or airport trying to explain next steps with the hope there will be a kind person along the way to guide them. Everything is strange for them, I suppose I am strange too with my limited Spanish and smile. Yet, I hope my heart is with their heart and my desire is with their desire for life. I hope their hope and I dream their dream and I pray, oh I pray, that it will all be okay and they can begin a new. 

Goo be with each traveller, and with all the innocent children.

 This is my view when I leave the house of the Sisters of Charity on my way to El Paso, about 30 minutes away. It is ruggedly beautiful but imagine yourself carrying your toddler across this terrain for days seeking a safe shelter. 

Yesterday I traveled back and forth to the airport with families and fortunately, Southwest airlines gives me a pass to be able to accompany them to their gate. For all of them it was the first time they've ever been on a plane. Each family gets a bag of some peanut butter and jelly sandwiches a couple pieces of fruit some crackers excetera from the shelter to tide them over till they get to their destinations. The hotel that Annunciation house is renting and I'm serving, doesn't have any clothing so many times, children are in short sleeves and on their way to northern ports where it's cold and snowing. One has to remember that it's in the thirties at night here too. 

You don't see two parents with their children because the father's would be placed in a detention center and send back to their country of origin. They are traveling with nothing but the clothes on their backs with hopes of being welcomed by a family member or friend someplace in the United States. The hopes of making a home and having a life to raise their children just like any parent would. 

All of the adults have to wear ankle bracelets to identify where they are  for immigration. It struck me today when I brought a young mom and her sick baby to the airport that if Mary was living today, she would have to wear an ankle bracelet to ensure she went to Bethlehem and that Joseph would have been detained and deported back to Nazareth.

Mom and daughter I accompanied to the airport.

At the end of the day I return to the community of Sisters of Charity. They have been on the border almost 30 years working with people on the move. What a witness and they are so gracious and welcoming.

As we near the end of Advent, anticipating Emmanuel, God with us being on the border has opened my eyes to the reality of the Holy Family seeking welcome. All the more reason I find I need to be here these days to be a face of welcome and being part of a community that wishes to help.

Know I carry you all in my heart and in each encounter with each person I meet.

La Paz,
Hermana Donna

Last night after arriving in El Paso I went to the hospital where one of the sisters, Janet Gildea, was being released after having a brain tumor removed. She is a very courageous woman who is already back at work trying to help people on the border through Facebook and texting 

I'm staying with  her wonderful community of Sisters of  Charity in Anthony, New Mexico where we had a wonderful home-cooked meal at the house last night welcoming Janet back. I felt like I was in my own home, they were so gracious.

I began my day at 5 a.m. to get to El Paso, a half an hour from where I'm staying. At the shelter I am assigned to I meet brother Alphonsas a young Franciscan brother and we both drove asylum seekers to the airport. I accompanied aa young mother and her three little boys from Honduras through security and on to their gate. This is the first time they had ever been in an airport. They were on their way to LaGuardia where they have some family in New York City who will meet them there. As we were walking in the airport a man stopped me and gave the children a bag of candy and thanked me. I think people here are aware of the plight of so many. This little family will spend its first Christmas in New York may they have a blessed one.

Next off to the Greyhound bus station.

Where we helped the folks get tickets to their loved ones around the U.S. everyone was held in a border holding center where they had to sleep on the floor, have one small meal a day and some were held there 8, 12 even 30 days. All have ankle bracelets to ensure they go to their immigration asylum hearings.  Some have no jackets and it was 35 degrees last night. My heart goes out to these mothers and fathers as they try to offer their children a future without violence and poverty. Thank God for all the volunteers from the El Paso community and from communities around the world.

La Paz,
Sr. Donna

I have begun my journey to Annunciation House in El Paso. I take all the love, care and hope of so many who keep the haunting dream of Emmanuel, God with us, alive and powerful despite the un-Godly events at our border against our sisters and brothers seeking asylum. I am taking you with me as a strong message that our hope and our welcome will not be dimmed in the darkness of hate and suspicion.

I also take $2,500 that so many have given to me to say yes to life and hope. Thank you so much for all your generous love and donations.

To be continued, since the plane is about to take off...

La Paz,
Donna

“Christmas is built upon a beautiful and intentional paradox;
that the birth of the homeless should be celebrated in every home.”
                                               ~G.K. Chesterton

Hello All,

This will be an unusual Advent, Christmas and New Year for me. I will be in for El Paso from 12/17/18 until 1/4/19 to volunteer at Annunciation House https://annunciationhouse.org  in El Paso, TX. Here is its mission: In a Gospel spirit of service and solidarity, we accompany the migrant, homeless, and economically vulnerable peoples of the border region through hospitality, advocacy, and education. I am unsure of what exactly I’ll do and whatever is asked, I’ll try my best to do it. I’ll be bringing my hair cutting materials, while wearing my nursing hat and simply be a presence of welcome to our sisters and brothers seeking refuge- who are much like our Holy Family as they fled to Egypt. 

Please keep me in your prayers, and even more, keep these sisters and brothers of ours in your prayer so that they may find a place of welcome and peace.

Much peace to you,

Sr. Donna

Hoping Americans Heard the Pope's Call for Compassion

Sister Phyllis Tierney, in a guest essay in Sunday's Democrat and Chronicle, writes of compassion for immigrants. In December, she worked at a shelter on the Mexican border between El Paso and Juarez, the same location where the pope said Mass Wednesday (February 17). Click the link below to see Sister's essay.


http://www.democratandchronicle.com/story/opinion/guest-column/2016/02/20/pope-mexico/80661678/#

Images of the Migrant/Refugee and the Border

At a conference on Saturday sponsored by the Hope Border Institute, one of the points made is that the people crossing into the United States are no longer simply migrants.  They are refugees fleeing violence, rape and persecution in their home countries.  Yet, as was also pointed out, we cannot think of them simply as poor victims of unjust systems who need our used clothing and unwanted jobs.  They are our brothers and sisters.  They are our future.  They are strong people who have faced incredible barriers and have overcome them with their faith and perseverance.

Another question raised at this conference was about where the voice of the Church can be found.  As this area prepares for Pope Francis’ visit,  today’s paper tells of the struggle of the Diocese of El Paso to get permission to have people gather in an area reserved on the levee road which would be the closest point people on this side of the border could be to get to see Pope Francis.

This article quoted Elizabeth O’Hara, spokeswoman for the Diocese, saying “That gathering of people is going to be the very people that Pope Francis is celebrating his Mass for.  These are going to be immigrants, refugees, the victims of violence that live in our community.  We are referring to this group as Francis VIPs because this is a group of people that typically is not considered VIP in any other aspect of their life, but Pope Francis certainly considers them that.”

The article also quoted Bishop Mark J. Seitz of El Paso speaking of Pope Francis:  “We’ve heard from the first days of his papacy that we need to take seriously the model that Jesus has given us.  That as Christians, we have a special love and desire to serve those who are most in need…He will be about 65 feet from those gathered on the levee, so you can imagine.  For those gathered, it will be something they will never forget.  What a great opportunity to show our love for the poor.”

In Saturday’s conference it was stated that the border, one of the most militarized areas in the world with the fence, helicopters, and troops to prove it, has become the epicenter of pain and also of organization and resistance.  In a letter to the editor today from the Interfaith Alliance, Rev. Deborah Clugy Soto wrote the following:  “We unite our voices with Pope Francis in defending the dignity of every person, especially the poor, the vulnerable and the migrant.  With Pope Francis, we affirm the gifts and contributions migrants make to our communities and to our nation.  We can no longer remain indifferent to the refugee fleeing torture, violence, hunger and poverty.  We pray that Pope Francis’ visit will show the world the peaceful co-existence of the border’s peoples, cultures, and faith communities.  We hope that the pope’s historic pilgrimage to our borderlands will encourage and confirm us in our work to build a border that is a place of encounter for greater peace, tolerance and understanding.” 

May we all work to promote an open “culture of encounter” with our refugee brothers and sisters rather than a walled in fortress to exclude God’s VIPs.   

 

                     Sisters Bea, Rose Ange and Rita at Casa Vides, part of Annunciation House