We were lost. The road signs were all in Arabic, and no one spoke English. The sun was setting in an orange sky and it would soon be dark. How would we get back to Amman?

Our situation seemed hopeless.

Out of the twilight, appeared a small building, the size of a phone booth, at the edge of the road. In it stood a policeman. We stopped. He came over to the car, and thanks be to God,

he spoke some English. He told us we were 48 miles from Amman and would never get there on our own. "Move over," he said to Terry.

The journey on those winding roads took nearly an hour. We chatted with the man but under that talk we did wonder if we were indeed going to Amman, and if so, how much would he charge us for his service.

In the soft darkness, he pulled up in front of our street address, got out of the car and wished us a happy time in Jordan. We tried to offer him money but he refused it.

Terry asked, "How will you get back?"

He said he'd go to the Police Station and get someone to drive him. Then he disappeared into the darkness.

That was our introduction to the Muslim principle of hospitality to the stranger.

Since that day, there has been increased awareness of this principle in all the Abrahamic religions, including our own, and the realization that hospitality to the stranger is at the heart of Jesus' teaching. If we journey with him through the gospels, we see how "hospitality to the stranger" extended Jesus' original concern for the lost tribes of Israel, and made his ministry global.

Think of some of the "strangers" Jesus befriended: tax collectors, lepers, people despised by society, various Samaritans including a woman in whom he first confided that he was the Messiah, a Roman soldier, the Syro-Phoenician woman in the pagan territories. It seems that the stranger was always bringing Jesus' ministry to a larger place.

Jesus lived and preached love for the stranger, and that brings me to the questions: who are the

strangers in my life? Who are the people I judge? From whom do I withhold forgiveness?

Every year these questions are a part of Lenten stocktaking, and every year I have to do something about a lack of hospitality.

We see Jesus' love of the stranger as compassion, and that is true; but I think he was also at that level of consciousness where he saw God manifest in everyone and everything, regardless of labels.

We pray that Jesus will help us to the spaciousness of that unitive vision.

Garcia explained to me that since the undocumented have no legal status in the United States, they are forced to take undesirable, poorly paid jobs, which offer no benefits. Unlike poor U.S. citizens, undocumented workers and their families cannot receive food stamps, Medicaid, or housing assistance. They are at the lowest rung of American life.

So why do they come?

Garcia said, "They come because most often they and their families are extremely poor, and they cannot find jobs in their native countries that pay a living wage. And that the U.S. has many more low-skilled jobs than there are Americans who are willing to take them."

But why don't they enter legally?

Because there are not enough low-skilled temporary worker visas available. And yet the demand for such workers is quite high. Plus the expense and burdensome government red tape required of employers tempts many of them to use "contractors" who often unscrupulously recruit undocumented workers.

According to "The Hill" (http://bit.ly/1rm6iF0), certain segments of the U.S. economy like agriculture, are overwhelmingly dependent upon illegal immigrants. "In terms of overall numbers, The Department of Labor reports that of the 2.5 million farm workers in the U.S., over half (53 percent) are illegal immigrants. Growers and labor unions put this figure at 70 percent."

Kevin Appleby, director of international migration policy for the Catholic-based Center for Migration Studies, told me the situation is filled with hypocrisy. Among many employers and politicians "there is a nod and a wink" to keep the system benefitting numerous employers at the expense of undocumented workers who have virtually no rights.

Therefore, millions of foreign workers are forced to cross deserts and often face drug gangs to fill vacant American jobs in order to support their very poor families.

To learn more visit Farmworker Justice (www.farmworkerjustice.org).

Saint John XXIII, in his encyclical Pacem in Terris ("Peace on Earth") wrote, "Every human being has the right … when there are just reasons for it … to emigrate to other countries and take up residence there."

Garcia asked that I raise the following questions on behalf of the undocumented: "Should undocumented immigrants have to live in an underground world? Is it right to use closed borders for the purpose of exploiting cheap labor? Why is it so acceptable to have undocumented workers perform the jobs few Americans are willing to do - pick our fruits and vegetables, wash dishes, and work in meat slaughterhouses?"

Lord Jesus, heal our nation's indifference, and inspire us to welcome these strangers as valuable members of your one human family, so that on the Day of Judgment we may gladly hear you say, "I was a stranger and you welcomed me."

• Tony Magliano is an internationally syndicated social justice and peace columnist. He is available to speak at diocesan or parish gatherings about Catholic social teaching. His keynote address, "Advancing the Kingdom of God in the 21st Century," has been well received by diocesan and parish gatherings from Santa Clara, Calif. to Baltimore, Md. Tony can be reached at tmag@zoominternet.net.