Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
I was just in SW Florida and visited the town of Immokalee, which is only about an hour north of the affluent town of Naples. It is the home of immigrants in Florida and the tomato capital of the country. The border/immigrant question is a tough issue and as a lawyer, I don’t think it has been handled well at all. However, as a follower of Christ, these people are here now and are fellow human beings made in the image of God just like us.
I met with Alyssa who is a 26-year-old woman with a great husband and adorable little one year old daughter. She is from an immigrant family and is now working with Young Life in Immokalee, so she is working with the immigrant kids. We also visited a project that helps the immigrant kids who need extra help with school and have learning issues or other problems.
I am happy that we can help Young Life in Immokalee. Like many of you, I was involved with Young Life in high school and that ministry helped me to develop my faith. I know and have supported Young Life for years.
Thirty percent of the residents of Immokalee are migrant farmworkers from Central America, Mexico and Haiti and live below the poverty line. Immokalee/s population of about 25,000 residents depending on the time of year is about 73 % Hispanic, 21 % Black, about 1.5 % Indian natives and less than 5% white.
Here’s a profile of one Abby Ceus who just graduated high school and is becoming a new Young Life leader:
Djouvenie “Abby” Ceus was born and raised in Haiti. Her Mom came to the United States when she was only a few years old to create a better life for her family. It wasn’t until Abby was 12 that she came to the US and was reunited with her mother. Abby did not know English and struggled to learn the language. She says “I’m still not where I want to be, but I’m better than before. One thing I have learned is that through God anything is possible.”
Abby graduated high school in 2023 and is currently doing online courses through a community college. She said yes to becoming a YL leader so that she can share her experiences with other immigrant kids and walk with students as they build up their relationship in Christ.
I’m thankful for my Young Life leaders Alyssa and Alex for helping me throughout this wonderful journey. My junior year I met them when I decided to join Young Life. I’m glad that I joined Young Life because my relationship with God is so much stronger than it was before. I graduated from Immokalee High school in 2023 and I’m currently doing online courses through a community college. Early this year, I said yes to becoming a Young Life leader, so that I can share my experiences with others and walk with students as they build up their relationship with Christ. I love being there for the students, sharing in the good and finding hope in the bad moments. These past couple of months of being a leader I have had the best memories that I’ll cherish forever.
We want to help with a budget shortfall that YL Immokalee has for this year, and it is basically impossible to raise from the community as Young Life typically does. Will you join us in prayer for this ministry and with a special gift for them? Blessings to you all as we all try to maintain the spirit of the Lord in these tough times. I understand better now why Jesus asked, “When the Son of Man comes back, will He find faith on the earth?”
Richard Rohr’s Daily Meditation
From the Center for Action and Contemplation
The Kingdom on Consciousness
In his letter to the Philippians, Paul offers a puzzling injunction to the new Christians. He writes, “Let the same mind be in you that was in Jesus Christ” (2:5). CAC faculty member Cynthia Bourgeault explores how developing this kind of “Christ-consciousness” is the key to understanding Jesus’s teaching on the “Kingdom of Heaven.”
How do we put on the mind of Christ? How do we see through his eyes? How do we feel through his heart? How do we learn to respond to the world with that same wholeness and healing love? That’s what Christian orthodoxy really is all about. It’s not about right belief; it’s about right practice. . . .
Jesus uses one particular phrase repeatedly: “the Kingdom of Heaven.” You can easily confirm this yourself by a quick browse through the gospels; the words jump out at you from everywhere. . . .
So, what do we take it to be? . . . [Jesus] says, “The Kingdom of Heaven is within you” (that is, here) and “at hand” (that is, now). It’s not later, but lighter—some more subtle quality or dimension of experience accessible to you right in the moment. You don’t die into it; you awaken into it. . . .
The Kingdom of Heaven is really a metaphor for a state of consciousness; it is not a place you go to, but a place you come from. It is a whole new way of looking at the world, a transformed awareness that literally turns this world into a different place. . . The hallmark of this awareness is that it sees no separation—not between God and humans, not between humans and other humans. And these are indeed Jesus’s two core teachings, underlying everything he says and does. . . .
When Jesus talks about this Oneness . . . . what he more has in mind is a complete, mutual indwelling: I am in God, God is in you, you are in God, we are in each other. His most beautiful symbol for this is in the teaching in John 15 where he says, “I am the vine; you are the branches. Abide in me as I in you” [see John 15:4–5]. A few verses later he says, “As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you. Abide in my love” [John 15:9]. . . . There is no separation between humans and God because of this mutual interabiding which expresses the indivisible reality of divine love. . . .
No separation between human and human is an equally powerful notion—and equally challenging. One of the most familiar of Jesus’s teachings is “Love your neighbor as yourself” [Matthew 22:39] . . . as a continuation of your very own being. It’s a complete seeing that your neighbor is you. There are not two individuals out there . . . there are simply two cells of the one great Life.
Thru his Mercy and Grace,
Cameron