Day 16: Faith Moves Mountains
BY JOSÉ ARNULFO CABRERA | March 12, 2020
Today’s Readings
Today reading tells us that those who trust in God are blessed—that no matter what happens they will still “bear fruit.”
My mom raised me with the saying la fe mueve montañas—faith moves mountains. She always made sure that I didn’t lose my faith in a higher being who was working behind the scenes. As I grew up and began to be more active in my pursuit of humane immigration reform, my mom always reminded me to trust in my higher being and the labor of my work, especially when bad policy was passed or someone I was advocating for was deported.
I’ve always felt that no matter how bad things get, my mom’s faith doesn’t die but instead, it grows stronger and stronger—so strong that at points I’ve felt frustrated with her. How do you have faith if you’re in danger of deportation? If your deportation means death? How do you have hope when a system is actively working against you? How do you have faith after being separated from your 4-year-old son at the border, Mom?
“Keeping faith during challenging moments isn’t easy, but you have to be patient,” my mom told me. “But if you decide to quit, then they win. I know you don’t like to lose—so you can’t quit.”
We will always struggle to keep our faith during troubling times. If you’re an immigrant or work in immigration advocacy, it’s particularly challenging. As someone who is both, I’ve found myself numbed for moments—or even months. But we must be patient and know our higher being is working in the background.
José Arnulfo Cabrera is the director of education and advocacy for migration for the Ignatian Solidarity Network. He is a 2018 graduate of Xavier University, a DACA recipient, and an immigration activist. He previously worked with the Intercommunity Justice and Peace Center in Cincinnati, Ohio, where he provided training on lobbying, organizing, and immigration policy, as well as shared his own immigration story, and as a government relations associate with NETWORK Lobby for Catholic Social Justice in Washington, D.C.
Rock-like faith can move mountains.
Thank you,José, for this moving reflection, and for all the work you do each and every day to keep hope alive. Please know you inspire! Adelante!
Quite simply essential if you don’t want to burn out. I am not an immigrant and I am not at the border, but I still find myself needing and wanting to trust in the power of God‘s love to see us through anything that happens. I believe this world, this lifetime, is temporary, but life itself is eternal. What we experience here is part of the experience of God. I believe what we experience here is essential in someway, whatever it may be.
Thanks for your encouraging words, Jose! May we all work in our own venues with faith/hope/love prompting us through thick and thin.
I absolutely agree that having faith in how God is with us through it all and we are the voice & heart of Christ here on earth to help one another in whatever ways possible. Fear not for I am with you as Refuge, says Our Lord. Worry and fretting get us nowhere. Take one day at a time and take quality time with God who is our peace and strength and hope and salvation. I pray the scriptural rosary for great grace and am so thankful our Blessed Mother has given us this gift.
Thanks do much for that reassurance-I really needed it!
Thank you for sharing and for working to bring hope to those who are in need.
This week I spent two 4-hour shifts at a day-shelter for the homeless – at some risk to myself: I am 72 years old, and have a missing lobe where a lung should be, the result of lung cancer surgery 3 years ago. So I’m definitely high-risk, and live in Seattle, in the heart of the early pandemic scourge. We can’t abandon the poor, especially a population with fewer health resources available to them than I have.
Life is never easy but the name of God, makes it easy to survive tough times, so be ready for challenges.