These reflections are a result of more than 40 years of ministry as a Roman Catholic priest. Most of these years I spent in the Diocese of Charlotte which covers Western North Carolina. Now I am retired, and live in Medellín, Colombia where I continue to serve as a priest in the Archdiocese of Medellín.

Monday, Week XIX, Ordinary Time, Saint Teresa Benedicta of the Cross, Virgin & Martyr, August 9

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 yourselves in the land of Egypt. (Dt 10:12-22)

How quickly we are to forget our own history. Politicians use racism and xenophobia to divide us. But God reminds us: “You were once aliens yourselves in the land of Egypt.” Saint Teresa Benedicta was a philosopher who converted to the church and was martyred in the Holocaust of WW II.