Isaiah asks us to “maintain justice” by doing “what is right.” Think of an instance when you had to make a difficult choice in order to do what was right. Where did you find the strength?

Saint John Paul II took the prophet Isaiah at his word. Foreigners who love the name of the Lord and are servants of the one God are welcome into the family of the Lord. Such persons, however different they may seem, should not be shunned or disparaged by God’s church.

From there Jesus took a trip to Tyre and Sidon. They had hardly arrived when a Canaanite woman came down from the hills and pleaded, “Mercy, Master, Son of David! My daughter is cruelly afflicted by an evil spirit.”

Necessity may be the mother of invention, but it is often mothers in need who are driven to be inventive for the sake of their children. Such was the story of Sephali Begum, a 26-year-old single mother from Bangladesh who, in concern for the future of her daughter, took the desperate step of offering to sell one of her own eyes.

Years ago, my daughter, Hannah, was baptized in a beautiful ceremony with her godparents and 30 or so family members gathered around the baptismal font. Our pastor kept his comments brief; we prayed, sang a song, and exchanged a sign of peace.

My father told me the story about his being an immigrant teenager desperately looking for work on the East Coast with his two brothers. Employment office after employment office had signs that said “Italians need not apply” or “No Italians wanted.”

We pray for the God's mercy for our sins.

That is our vocation: to convert . . . the enemy into a guest and to create the free and fearless space where brotherhood and sisterhood can be formed and fully experienced.