These are long, hot days not because of summer but because we live in intense times of hot-button issues from which there seems to be no rest.

We are under constant warnings: predictions of danger to our security from terrorists, melting ice caps, war and corporate greed. There is an air of being on constant alert for the next disaster lurking on the horizon or in the stranger walking toward us across the desert.

As we worry about national security and long for simpler days, we feel less and less secure. We build so many walls of suspicion to protect ourselves from the unknown that we spend more time resisting than resting in the heat of the day like Abram and Sarai did in the shade of their tent. With our guard up and the doors of our hearts closed, how can we be pleasantly surprised as they were by uninvited guests, strangers whom they welcomed unafraid? Their hospitality was immediate, whole-hearted, and they were blessed with the promise of new life.

I recently visited Maryknoll men and women who work tirelessly in Thailand as a collaborative presence responding to the plight of refugees who flee across borders to escape political, ethnic and domestic violence in their countries of origin. The immigrants, most of whom are undocumented, are periodically rounded up by Thai policemen and herded into detention centers where they are processed for immediate deportation or held for a review of their case.

Maryknollers working collaboratively with other missionary groups provide legal and immigration counsel and offer some pastoral and medical care for the detainees, some of whom have spent three years behind bars while their application for refugee status is reviewed. These desparate men and women are lonely for their family and friends. They hunger and thirst not just for more company, food and water but for recognition and respect as human beings. They long to be treated with dignity and kindness.

The way of compassion and truth is the song of the Psalmist today. Psalm 15 calls us to integrity of relationship that refuses to profit from the difficulties of the other. The plight of displaced and migrating persons is probably the biggest human rights issue around the world today. Immigrants do not want to leave their homes and families but often are faced with the dire choice of leave and live or stay and die in situations of escalating violence or ever-worsening poverty. The causes of this global phenomenon are not only local in origin, as many of us would like to believe; they are global jumping borders at will. The solutions as well need to be both global and local.

St. Paul teaches in the First Letter to the Colossians that all whom he meets are called to receive the message that there is a mystery among us true for each and every generation – all life is sacred and filled with hope. Paul calls us to hold to this wisdom as the mark of maturity in Christ. We are messengers of truth to one another that God’s love is for all. We are called by God’s love to cross borders for the sake of the truth that Jesus taught - the fullness of life is for all.

In God’s love, there is no room for division into “us” and “them.” In God’s love, there is only We. The Gospel reading from the 10th chapter of St. Luke is set in the context of discipleship and Jesus clarifies with Martha that discipleship is often about openness to the unconventional, learning from unfamiliar behavior, exploring new relationships without judgment and embracing our differences with compassion.

Finding rest in the heat of today is all about sitting at the feet of the Christ. Peace is difficult to attain if we do not learn to abide in the truth that We are One. We are called to trust in the wisdom of the Spirit at work in all of creation. This is our way as disciples of Jesus.