Our reading describes the strength and fruitfulness of those whose “delight is in the law of the Lord.” I think of a group who visited my church in 2019 to share their experiences of volunteering at the U.S.-Mexico border in El Paso, TX. The group included a lawyer who assessed asylum claims and three nuns. One sister is a nurse; another served in Chile for many years. Another had spent time in Guatemala with families who had experienced the gang murder of one of their children.

Our visitors did not describe grim detention centers; they spoke of faith-based oases of care and hope called Annunciation Houses. These centers are staffed by volunteers who are also “like trees planted by streams of water, which yield their fruit in its season.” Support from El Paso’s religious congregations blessed the Annunciation Houses with food, music, and clothes. As parents hoping for asylum washed clothes and filled out paperwork, children drew colorful murals of their villages back home. The families stayed only a short time before connecting with relatives in the U.S.

Several years ago, Pope Francis called for each faith community to sponsor a refugee family to help solve the worst refugee crisis since World War II, and people of all faiths have been responding to the needs of migrant families. But the number of people fleeing violence is overwhelming. The United States is just one of many nations whose resources are being stretched in response. The demand is much greater in some other nations. This crisis can feel overwhelming; but when we are tempted to turn away from the suffering of those fleeing violence and persecution, we can remember the God who promises that as we are rooted in God’s law we will yield fruit in its season.