Time to be assertive (2)

Those who write in newspapers exhorting fellow Maltese to show Christian solidarity towards the refugees who arrive in this country are often asked how many of these unfortunate human beings have they fed, clothed and housed in their own homes.

To this question a good answer is a reference to the parable in the Gospel of the Good Samaritan. The latter, after finding a poor, badly injured man on the road from Jerusalem to Jericho, pitied him, carried him on his own beast and took him to an inn. There, after having tended to his wounds, he left money with the inn-keeper for the latter to take care of the man and left to carry on with his business after having promised to return and repay the inn-keeper for any extra money he had spent.

The Good Samaritan in the parable did not take the injured man to his home but left him in the care of others after making sure that he would be well taken care of and after having forked out money for his needs. Christ praised the Samaritan for his mercy and compassion and urged his listeners to do likewise.

Certainly, nobody is denying that such a large influx of refugees is not an enormous problem for a country like Malta with such limited resources and that there is no single answer to such a complex situation. However, this can never be an excuse, especially for those who call themselves Christians, to either harbour hostile attitudes towards these poor people made like them "in the image of God" or to refuse, individually, to help them even materially as much as they possibly can.

God never sets us impossible tasks and Christ even went so far as to speak of a reward given to those who give a "glass of cold water to little ones". Who is more "little" than those who arrive on our shores fleeing from the desperate conditions of their countries?