Opinion

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On Father’s Day as I waited for church to start, I knew I might be called on to speak. One of the scheduled speakers had canceled due to an emergency. Her father was suddenly admitted to  the hospital and she needed to be with him. As a member of the ward council, my bishop put me on alert to be called from the pulpit. So, as I sat on the pew with my husband and children, I started looking up scriptures on fathers.

Then, my mind turned to the fatherless. As many of you have probably been doing, I have been following the news of children being separated from their families at the southern border of the United States. By US law, if someone is in the United States or attempting to cross at a port of entry, they are allowed to request asylum regardless of their immigration status. If they have experienced persecution based on race, religion, nationality, political opinion, or membership in a persecuted social group they are eligible for the protections asylum provides. The arrests of those who are fleeing persecution and the division of those families made me feel heartbroken as I thought of the thousands of children who are not truly fatherless yet were separated from their parents on this Father’s Day.

A Gospel Library search on “fatherless” took me to Doctrine and Covenants 123. It was written by Joseph Smith while in Liberty Jail. Do not get this confused with the more well-known sections 121 and 122 where words of peace and comfort are given to a pleading, imprisoned Joseph. In section 123’s short 17 verses, Joseph writes instructions to the Saints about what they should do in response to the “sufferings and abuses” put upon them.

As I read this, I was moved to liken this scripture to my day and time and to see how I could apply these instructions to the “sufferings and abuses” faced by families at the border.  Verse 9 speaks of an “imperative duty that we owe, not only to our own wives and children, but to the widows and fatherless,” directing us to take action. “And also it is an imperative duty that we owe to all the rising generation, and to all the pure in heart.”

What action can we take? Section 123 suggests “gathering up a knowledge of all the facts.” It recommends organizing a committee to collect false stories in the press and also to take statements and affidavits from those who’ve been affected. It’s almost as if Joseph Smith were prophesying for current times! He says that we must publish them to “all the world” and “present them to the heads of government.”

In this day with cries of “fake news” and continual  information overload, it is essential that we critically evaluate information. Verse 12 is often cited as a call to do missionary work and share the truth of the gospel with our friends who have not yet found it. In Sunday’s reading, however, I saw an obligation to seek out facts and raise my voice in spreading accurate information about what is happening at the border: “There are many yet on the earth…who are blinded by the subtle craftiness of men…who are only kept from the truth because they know not where to find it.” I believe that once the true scope of these separations is known, good people will raise their voices in opposition as a way to protect these fatherless and motherless children.

The issue is overwhelming. It is daunting. We are right to ask what we can possibly do. Joseph recognized that feeling and told the saints to act in “great earnestness” and to “let no man count them as small things” because “you know, brethren, that a very large ship is benefited very much by a very small helm in the time of a storm.”

So, Saints, I call you to the helm. Gather information. Seek out the truth and share it with those who may not know how to find it themselves. Fulfill this imperative duty to relieve suffering and abuses. I believe that God will hold us accountable for how we treat those most vulnerable amongst us, and that through His power, He can magnify our efforts. Then, we can be satisfied that we have seen to our duty and can “fully and completely claim that promise which shall call him forth from his hiding place.” 

“Therefore, dearly beloved brethren [and sisters] let us cheerfully do all things that lie in our power; and then may we stand still, with the utmost assurance, to see the salvation of God, and for his arm to be revealed.”

To read an article that includes detailed fact-checking of the issues surrounding detaining children at the border, CLICK HERE. 

Jillaire McMillan is a stay-at-home mother of four and perpetual volunteer with a masters degree in American History. She currently resides in Colorado.