Surely this has been the Year of the Refugees, the most since World War II. We’ve seen all the newscasts and video clips. We’ve seen desperate families trying to find a place to live where their homes won’t be bombed every night, where they can finds jobs and raise their children in safety. We’ve seen the tragic evidence of their desperation—a little girl’s pink sneaker abandoned on the road, a little boy’s body washed up on the shore.

It’s winter now; it’s bitterly cold, and snow is falling on the refugee camps.

When Mary and Joseph went to Bethlehem to register for Caesar’s census, they were not safe. They were poor. They had no papers. The roads were full of bandits preying upon travelers. At least they made it to Bethlehem safely, and the innkeeper offered them the stable, which was probably cleaner and quieter than the inn’s common room. And then they became refugees, fleeing to Egypt to escape Herod’s murderous power.

For today’s music, look beyond sweetly comfortable images of a smiling Baby Jesus to texts that address today’s realities. Scott Soper’s “Child of the Poor” (OCP), a countermelody to “What Child Is This,” goes directly to the point:

  “Who is the stranger here in our midst,
looking for shelter among us? 
Who is the outcast? Who do we see amid the poor,
the children of God?”

In this Year of Mercy proclaimed by Pope Francis, we need to reach out to the poor and the desperate. We cannot let the fearmongers have their way.