A brave soul from the Department of Homeland Security came forward with a story that has rocked the country this week. They are keeping a dossier on journalists, activists and others, flagging their passports, in some cases, revoking visas, travel privileges in others, deporting as many as they can.
I saw the article and thought one of the blurred photos of the targeted people looked familiar.
It was, because it was my passport photo. With a yellow X that the most powerful government in the world drew across my face.
But none of us would have known if someone in the department, someone with significant access to information, hadn't taken a very serious and personal risk to come forward.
There's a sermon at the other end of this link, so I won't offer another one. Let's just start with the admission that asylum is a legal status, one enshrined in the law of the land. It is not illegal to seek asylum here. It is not illegal aid those seeking asylum.
But under this Administration, it is considered illegal to show compassion. It is illegal to offer kindness to the stranger. It is illegal to be your brother's keeper.
This is Lent, and our government wants to make caring for others a subversive act. Lent us about compassion. Properly practiced, Lent is subversive. Compassion should not be; but for now, it is.
Somebody should write some Lenten meditations about that.
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