In
Ballaghaderreen (meaning, ‘the path by the little oak wood’), a town in the
west of Ireland the people have opened their doors and their hearts to refugees
fleeing the war in Syria. A town of 1,800, it had no experience of immigration
but plenty of emigration. Like the country as a whole, they suffered the famine
in the 1840s, land confiscations, unemployment and general hardship associated
with the long British occupation. And when they did emigrate they found a mixed
welcome wherever they went. “No Blacks, No Dogs, No Irish” was a
sign seen on hostel doors where they sought lodging in Britain as late as the
1950s. Life in
Ballaghaderreen is much better now but they haven’t forgotten.
But still, it
was risky for the government to take over a disused luxury hotel in the town
and make it available to the refugees. Culture, language and religion seemed an
unbridgeable divide between the immigrants and their hosts. But a recent (7
November) BBC1 documentary has shown a “breaking down of the barriers” (Eph 2:14)
as the locals rose to the moment and gave the Syrians a warm welcome. One scene
shows Mary, a past middle age owner of a haberdashery, welcoming a young Syrian
man and the conversation between them. Mary was intent on building bridges –
not walls.
And the
report shows the Irish found their faith to be the resource that helped them
open their town to the strangers. And the Syrians responded drawing on their
Muslim faith to appreciate the local Catholic church and visit it to pray
there. When Jesus was told his relatives wanted to see him he turned to his
disciples and said, “Who is my mother and brother?” And he stretched out his
hand to those close by and said, “Anyone who does the will of my Father is my
brother and sister and mother” (Matt12:48). That’s Ballaghaderreen for you!
And this is
to the point as we celebrate the feast of the Holy Family on the last day of
2017. Jesus, Mary and Joseph, snug in a little house in Nazareth with a
carpentry shop in the yard, is not what we are celebrating. It is the “beyond”
of the scene that we contemplate. We are not looking at a nuclear family
content and self-contained in their comfort. Joseph has gone beyond his culture
which expected him to divorce his wife when he found she was pregnant. Mary has
gone beyond the normal understanding of conception in saying, “let it be done
to me,” and, above all, Jesus, the Word of God, has gone far beyond the
expectation of Israel in “pitching his tent among us” and being born like us in
all things.
It is this
“beyond” that captures our attention. The people of Ballaghaderreen went beyond
what might have been reasonably expected in the circumstances. They have shown
the Trumps of this world a path, a powerful sign - and there is a bit of Trump
in all of us.
31 December 2017 The Holy Family
Sirach 3:2 … 14 Colossians
3:12-21 Luke 2:22-40
