Here it is Saturday morning, May 19th, and my mind is wandering to Lake Cottage, Anywhere, U.S.A., where families are opening up their summer vacation homes, be they ever so grand, or ever so humble, in preparation for Memorial Day.

At the top of the list is probably child safety: covering electrical outlets against inquiring little fingers, checking on the lock for the gun cabinet, the water pressure in the bathroom, filling the cabinets with provisions for appetites of all ages. ( Swimming often brings on dire pangs of instantaneous starvation.) Docks are rolled out and checked for loose bolts and splinters. Motors are filled with gas and given test runs around the lake.

Another season is starting, with guests to be welcomed, and adventures to be shared in the beauty of nature and the hospitality of friendship.

Ironic it is that such a happy slice of life should be set against the background of political chaos in Washington and throughout the nation, in the cause of Immigration, as reported by Sheryl Gay Stolberg in this morning’s New York Times.

Senator Trent Lott of Mississippi, the Republican whip, would criticize the administration as giving away too much on Immigration...”But I would argue that the White House is coming to terms with the reality of the situation in Washington, and they don’t have any choice. We can all get into our particular crouches and get nothing done or we can go through a process of responsible negotiation.” Whether Republican or Democrat, we all seek a peaceful solution to the pervasive problem of Immigration, so we might do well to stop and examine what is the basis of peace.

From the 13th century, St. Thomas Aquinas, Theologian and Doctor of the Church, tells us: “Peace is the tranquility of order.” How we long for such order.

Millions of Americans are demanding that any negotiations must rest solidly on a swift, all–encompassing strategy for protecting our borders. Why not bring needed troops home from Germany and Japan to do the job? Or send them to Iraq and bring the National Reserves back home to perform the work for which they formed?

Wouldn’t it be worth a king’s ransom if our politicians in Washington would sit around the table and work out negotiations regarding Immigration honestly and courageously, independent of political gain?

The task is formidable, for the headlines in our newspapers tell us that our unprotected areas are not only on the borders. They’re in Chicago and Oklahoma, Milwaukee and Kansas City, nor are the perpetrators always immigrants, either, but Americans betraying the values of Americans.

Those who would deport all illegal immigrants must see the impossibility of such a plan. But what we can and must do after closing the borders is to begin a process of identification and inspection of all immigrants and deport those who take crime and violence to our streets, frighten our people, and make drug addicts of our children.

Then, after declaring a date certain, employers will not be allowed to employ immigrants, who have not received I.D.’s, thereby destroying the motive for others to try to enter the country illegally.

If you happen to have seen the Tuesday, May 15th issue of the Chicago Tribune, I am sure you were disheartened by the colored photo of Annette Nance-Holt, the mother of slain Julian High School student, Blair Holt, marching with Julian students, who staged a walkout to protest violence.

Upon becoming aware of the gun-wielding teenager on the CTA bus, Blair had thrown himself over his girl friend, saving her with his life.

When the students began to file out of the school to call for the end of the violence, Blair’s parents tried to persuade them to return to school, but when it was apparent they weren’t going to do so, they joined them.

“At 103rd Street and Lowe Avenue, where the bus came to a rest after the shooting, Blair’s father, Ronald, a Chicago police officer, raised his hands, and the crowd fell silent. He told the students that although he and Holt’s mother were touched by the gesture, the students were safest back in school.

“Will you do that for me?” he asked so quietly only the closest students could hear. The students agreed and most returned to school.”

(Reported by Alexa Aquilar, Emma Graves Fitzimmons and Angela Rozas, Tribune staff reporters)

If we do not begin to put aside our differences and embrace our frightened, confused young people, placing their interests above those of politicians and corporations, we will have no nation worth defending.

May we remember this Memorial Day how great a nation we have been, how proud of our goodness and honesty, how blessed by God and our people.

What was can be again; we need only to pray and act and learn to love anew, courageously and compassionately.

May God bless you and your celebrations, no matter where you gather. And may you find in the midst of friends and family the strength and hope to begin anew, following the example of those young people who returned to their classrooms, in the midst of tears, to take up their tasks once more.

Amen.

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