Solidarity: Welcoming the Stranger
Objective: The student can define solidarity, name its opposing vice, anchor it in Scripture, and choose a way to practice it this week.
Solidarity is the firm conviction that we are one human family, responsible for one another, and the practical love that acts on it. It is not a vague feeling of goodwill but a determination to seek the good of others as truly as our own, especially the weak, the poor, and the newcomer. Its opposite vice is indifference, the shrug that says 'their troubles are not my problem,' along with its harsher cousin, scorn for the outsider. The whole of Scripture insists on welcoming the stranger: God commanded Israel, 'You shall love the stranger, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt' (Deuteronomy 10:19), and the Holy Family themselves fled as refugees into Egypt. Jesus made it the test of judgment: 'I was a stranger and you welcomed me' (Matthew 25:35). The immigrants pouring into America around 1900, many of them Catholic, were often met with suspicion and prejudice. Mother Cabrini answered with solidarity, building homes and schools so they would not be alone. Solidarity begins small. This week, try this: notice someone who is new, alone, or 'on the outside', a new student, an elderly neighbor, someone who doesn't speak the language well, and take one concrete step to welcome them. Then write down how it changed the way you saw them.
Discussion Questions
- 1How is solidarity different from just feeling sorry for someone?
- 2Why does Scripture so often tie welcoming the stranger to Israel's own time as strangers in Egypt?
- 3Who in your own life is 'the stranger' you could welcome?
Write the week's challenge at the top of a journal page: 'Welcome one person who is new or alone, and note what changed.'
Vocabulary
- solidarity
- The commitment to the good of one another as members of one human family.
- indifference
- The vice of not caring about others' needs; the opposite of solidarity.
'I was a stranger and you welcomed me' (Matthew 25:35).