The reading from Deuteronomy contains the verses that are referenced in the New Sanctuary movement:

For the LORD, your God, is the God of gods,
the LORD of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome,
who has no favorites, accepts no bribes;
who executes justice for the orphan and the widow,
and befriends the alien, feeding and clothing him.
So you too must befriend the alien,
for you were once aliens yourselves in the land of Egypt.
The LORD, your God, shall you fear, and him shall you serve;
hold fast to him and swear by his name.
He is your glory, he, your God,
who has done for you those great and terrible things
which your own eyes have seen.

Here we are given, not just the injunction to befriend the alien, but also the rationale: God plays no favorites, neither ought we. God is not partial; neither ought we be. God acted on our behalf when we were aliens and enslaved; so we are called to act on behalf of those who are aliens and enslaved in our country.

The psalm reinforces this point, reminding us to praise God for all our material blessings, which we have not by our own merit, but by the grace of God.  

The gospel included a vignette I'd never heard before, and a strange little vignette it is, too:

When they came to Capernaum,
the collectors of the temple tax approached Peter and said,
"Does not your teacher pay the temple tax?"
"Yes," he said.
When he came into the house, before he had time to speak,
Jesus asked him, "What is your opinion, Simon?
From whom do the kings of the earth take tolls or census tax?
From their subjects or from foreigners?"
When he said, "From foreigners," Jesus said to him,
"Then the subjects are exempt.
But that we may not offend them, go to the sea, drop in a hook,
and take the first fish that comes up.
Open its mouth and you will find a coin worth twice the temple tax.
Give that to them for me and for you."

What's this about? Subjects and foreigners. Those who belong to the kingdom of God, and those who don't. In this story, too, "we" are insiders, citizens; we are aliens no longer, and by this reckoning, the temple tax doesn't properly apply to us. My New Jerusalem Bible has a reference back to Exodus 30:12:

"When you take the census of the people of Israel, then each shall give a ransom for his life to the Lord when you number them, that there be no plague among them when you number them.

So this also looks like a reference to Jesus ransoming us once for all, and making us true subjects of the Kingdom.

But what's with the fish???

It looks like a classic folktale motif. Is it also a reference to the fish as a symbol of Christ, because it was an acronym? ICHTHYS = Jesus Christ, God's Son, Savior. Peter finds what he needs to pay his ransom in the mouth of a fish.

The other important thing I notice, though, is that Jesus doesn't have Peter stand up on his newly-identified right to be exempt from the tax because he is a member of the Kingdom. Even though he is a citizen, he is to act as if he is a foreigner, pay what is demanded of the alien.

I see in this reading a parable for us today, for the Justice for Immigrants movement. Catholics have become accustomed to the language of "a preferential option for the poor". Might we, ought we, also talk about "a preferential option for the alien," the foreigner, the immigrant, with or without documents?

Do you know who the aliens, the foreigners, are in your community?

If you were to act in solidarity with them today, this week, this month: what would that mean?