by Fred Moleck
Biblical Times #2: The Diaspora
Last week the world witnessed the removal of thousands of people from the hurricane-ravaged areas along the Gulf of Mexico only after too many days of death, despair, and demoralization.
Finally in the fifth day, busses began the massive transportation of these newly made evacuees to safer spaces. They are what is left of the rage of Hurricane Katrina.
These people, most of a darker color, are the poorest of the poor, the most disabled, and the most wanting. The best they could hope for was release from a watery grave or a 10,000-persons-occupancy holding can.
Those were the evacuees under a roof. Hundreds remained on the roofs of their homes, on the street, empty lots. . . . There was no escape from this century’s version of the Apocalypse.
With the help of the National Guard, hundreds of volunteers, helicopters, and planes, they were sped away to places miles from the destructive environment.
But they were also removed from their home with little hope of returning to life as they knew it. A couple of millennia ago, the Jews were also dispersed to other places in their world.
No helicopters, no busses, no planes—just walking for the Jewish people. That dispersal is called the Diaspora.
We all witnessed the beginning of a 21st-century Diaspora last week as the evacuees took off to other places.
For the people of African heritage, their diaspora began over four hundred years ago with the passages of human cargo from
Africa to North America. Ripped from their homes, they left peace and security to a hellish unknown.
Only a few days ago, these African Americans who are the progeny of the 17th-, 18th-, and 19th-century slave passages to North America were joined by Haitians, Jamaicans, and other people of dark color in another passage, another diaspora.
At least this time, they had some idea where they might be going but clueless about what they were to do when they got there. No one seemed to know, but they did know that they had left behind homes, churches, schools, and marketplaces that will never be the same.
The rescue efforts have been and still are going on. Most of the efforts have been at grass roots levels. People extending help to other people . . . what a concept!
Thousands of prayers have been uttered for the safety and welfare of the people in today’s diaspora. Millions have prayed for the victims in the general intercessions of our Masses. Pastoral prayers in other denominational worship have heightened our awareness and intensified our compassion for these destitute folks. In addition to all of these prayer-filled moments, I suggest one more item.
It is a broad translation of Psalm 126 by the Dutch poet Huub Oosterhuis with a tune by Bernard Huijbers. It is #256 in the first edition of Gather.
When from our exile God leads us home again,
we’ll think we’re dreaming.
Verse 2
Then lead us home, bring us to life again,
even as rivers which, in the desert,
when the first rain falls,
start flowing again.
Verse 3
Sow seed in sadness, harvest in gladness.
A man goes his way and sows seed with tears.
Back he comes, singing,
sheaves on his shoulder.
© 1974 TEAM Publications
You can reach Fred Moleck via email at fmoleck@earthlink.net