Often Goes the Christ in a Stranger's Guise

By Eileen Doolong, RSM

Posted on 2/1/2017

The medieval Celtic Rune of Hospitality is especially meaningful to me during these days of pain and chaos for so many of our brothers and sisters:

I saw a stranger yestere’en;
I put food in the eating place,
Drink in the drinking place,
Music in the listening place.
And in the name of the Triune,
He blessed myself and my house,
My cattle and my dear ones.
As the lark says in her song,
Often, often, often goes the Christ
In the stranger’s guise.”

The refugee ban proclaimed by President Trump last week violates basic principles of most religious traditions. The stranger (refugee) is to be welcomed and cared for, not oppressed, and is to be treated as one “born among you.”

In the Christian tradition, Christ often goes in the stranger’s guise, and so every stranger must be treated respectfully, lovingly. A ban on refugees diminishes us as a compassionate and caring people, violates tenets of religious tradition and basic human decency, and is an embarrassment to our country.

The national protests lift my heart, and I stand with those who protest and make their voices heard. I struggle with you to find an effective way to let those in power know not only my dissatisfaction with the ban, but also my intent never to accept this exclusionary way of being as a norm. To exclude those who are different, to refuse safe entry to those who suffer, to deny sanctuary to those in danger smacks of the worst kind of bigotry… playing on people’s fears and hiding behind a false promise of safety and security.

Let us hold our world and our country in prayer. Let us strive to overcome our fear and make our voices heard. And always let us treat each other with kindness, for “often, often, often goes the Christ in the stranger’s guise”.

For further reflection, I refer you to Omid Safi’s blog post, “Faith and History Demand Better of Us.” By the way, Omid will lead a weekend retreat, "Rumi and the Path of Divine Love Tradition in Islam" April 21-22. For more information, go to the program page on our website.