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Dec. 18, 2023 Editor, The News-Gazette: In his “Sixth District Perspectives with Congressman Ben Cline,” he wrote, “House Republicans know that the only solution to this crisis is to pass significant border security reforms, such as those in the House-passed Secure the Border Act (H.R. 2), that will secure America’s borders, improve the asylum system, and reduce the incentives for illegal immigration.”
It is understood that Mr. Cline is a member of St. Patrick’s Roman Catholic congregation in Lexington. I therefore ask Mr. Cline as a practicing Christian the following: “We Believe how we treat the hungry, the thirsty, the naked, the stranger, the sick, and the prisoner is how we treat Christ himself. (Matthew 25: 31-46) “Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.”
God calls us to protect and seek justice for those who are poor and vulnerable, and our treatment of people who are “oppressed,” “strangers,” “outsiders,” or otherwise considered “marginal” is a test of our relationship to God, who made us all equal in divine dignity and love. Our proclamation of the lordship of Jesus Christ is at stake in our solidarity with the most vulnerable. If our gospel is not “Good News to the poor,” it is not the gospel of Jesus Christ (Luke 4:18).
“THEREFORE, WE REJECT the language and policies of political leaders who would debase and abandon the most vulnerable children of God. We strongly deplore the growing attacks on immigrants and refugees, who are being made into cultural and political targets, and we need to remind our churches that God makes the treatment of “strangers” among us a test of faith (Leviticus 19: 333-34).” ReclaimingJesus.org.
In this season of Christmas, the expectation of the baby Jesus and the second coming of Christ (remember he was a refugee within several months of His birth), do we sit in our comfortable, heated homes around the tree with gifts beneath and ponder Mr. Cline’s reforms “for the least of these my brethren”? CARL F. PATTISON Lexington
