The Bittersweet Taste of Being an Immigrant—and the Homeland Without Borders BY BISHOP EUSEBIO ELIZONDO, M.SP.S.
F
Bishop Eusebio Elizondo (far right) leads prayer at The Way of Sorrow, Stations of the Cross, held on Seattle University’s campus, April 2025, led by Youth Action Team Interns (left).
rom the Ice Age to our own time, the people of the Earth have migrated in search of better living conditions— for themselves, their herds, or their crops. Before the creation of countries and legal borders, people eventually ceased to be nomads and settled into an ongoing struggle for survival in lands that so often yielded only thorns, only to pick up and move again in search of a better life. That common story of migration is my own story as well. By the decision of God, the giver of all life, I was born on Mexican soil. Of my 22 years as a priest of the Missionaries of the Holy Spirit, I have lived 20 of them in the United States. I have been privileged to carry out a ministry for the church and for my congregation as an immigrant among immigrants. How many joys, dreams, and hopes come with arriving in a new land, experiencing a new culture, and learning a new language? Migration brings many beautiful surprises and lessons in every sense—from the way we eat to the way we praise God in the sacred liturgy. How beautiful it is to discover people of different races and languages striving to be faithful to Jesus’
command to evangelize all peoples and opening themselves to the possibility of loving one another as Christ loved us. In this way, we all become siblings, children of the same heavenly Creator of all.
“How beautiful it is to discover people of different races and languages striving to be faithful to Jesus’ command to evangelize all peoples and opening themselves to the possibility of loving one another as Christ loved us.” And yet how painful it is to experience not being welcomed simply for having a different skin color, for not speaking perfect English, or for having an accent that reveals your foreign roots. A M AT T E R O F S P I R I T
11