How long have you lived in South Dakota? I’m proud to say I have been here for a decade now. It is home and I love it and the people deeply. Some of you have been here far longer, indeed all of your lives. Some of your families have been here for generations.
But beyond the native American community, few, if any of our ancestors, came to South Dakota until the 19th century. In our understanding, that seems like a long time. We come to think of this place as our own. We know how things should be. We know our neighbors and come to believe that it has always been this way and always will be.
This is understandable, but in some ways it makes it difficult for us to accept the changes in life that are inevitable. And yet about the only thing consistent in South Dakota is that fact that things do change.
Communities prosper when the railroads or highways pass through while others not on the path of commerce fade away. Then interstate roads and trucks change transportation patterns meaning other communities either flourish or fade.
It is also true with the faces around us. Our ancestors were once the new faces. Some found easy acceptance, while others struggled to find a welcome. Languages, customs and traditions were looked at with skepticism. Yet underneath our superficial differences, we are all created in God’s image. God made each of us to know and love him, and to love our neighbor as our self.
With time, the various challenges of acceptance have been overcome. The changes people experienced led to understanding and now we find ourselves celebrating and remembering those traditions. We celebrate with German Fest, St. Patrick’s Day, Czech Days and more recently added the celebration of Our Lady of Guadalupe in the Hispanic community.
The new faces in our communities today sometimes challenge our perceptions and understandings. But their stories remind us of the stories of our ancestors. Many have fled their homelands because of wars and religious persecution.
Some have experienced torture and endless days in refugee camps. Others have come from great poverty, looking for jobs and opportunities, not unlike those who came to the barren prairie to claim their homestead.
For both the early pioneers and today’s immigrants and refugees the common and saving thread has been their faith. They have found their comfort in the familiarity of the Mass, and strength in receiving the Body and Blood of Jesus.
Just as our ancestors had priests who spoke German, French or Polish, today we are blessed to have priests who speak Spanish or a variety of African languages, like Father Elias Rinaldo who for many years worked in the refugee camps with his fellow Sudanese, and now works with that community of believers here in our diocese.
As Catholics, we all have the responsibility to welcome newcomers, whether they look just like us or not, whether they moved from across the state or across the world.
The Holy Father said the church was committed to work “so that every person’s dignity is respected, the immigrant is welcomed as brother or sister, and all humanity forms a united family which knows how to appreciate with discernment the different cultures which comprise it” (Message for World Migration Day, 2000, no. 5).
This leads us to another significant point: we have as much to learn from our new neighbors as they have to learn from us. Let us embrace what they offer. We can always learn more about our God and his great love for us. The experience and faithfulness of the refugee and immigrant can teach us if we open ourselves.
The scriptures are full of references to God’s call to us to care for newcomers. The patriarchs themselves were nomads, beginning with Abraham through the Israelites in Egypt. Their years of wandering eventually led them to the Promised Land, where they were then reminded “For the Lord, your God, is the God of gods, the Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome, who has no favorites, accepts no bribes; who executes justice for the orphan and the widow, and befriends the alien, feeding and clothing him. So you too must befriend the alien, for you were once aliens yourself in the land of Egypt” (Dt 10:17-19).
Here in South Dakota we know something about the promised land. We are good neighbors to each other, and we know and understand God’s call, emphasized by Jesus “For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, a stranger and you welcomed me” (Mt 25:35).
As this Lenten season comes to a close and we celebrate the passion, death and resurrection of our Lord, let us recommit ourselves to remembering our own immigrant ancestors, and to welcoming and appreciating the new faces around us.