"We need effective, supportive and creative ways of welcoming migrants."Displaced persons and migrants: "they are people, not numbers"The Church will celebrate the 110th World Day of Migrants and Refugees on September 29, 2024. Pope Francis has published his message for this day, with the motto "God walks with his people".
The Pontiff relates the synodal journey the Church is making to the biblical story of the Exodus: "a long journey from slavery to freedom that prefigures that of the Church towards the final encounter with the Lord".
Likewise, the Holy Father affirms that "it is possible to see in the emigrants of our time, as in those of every age, a living image of the people of God on their way to their eternal homeland".
Francis points out that, like the Jews in the exodus, "migrants often flee situations of oppression and abuse, of insecurity and discrimination, of lack of development projects". Alongside these serious threats, "they encounter many obstacles on their way," such as lack of resources, dangerous and poorly paid jobs, and disease.
However, the Pope says, we cannot lose hope, because "God precedes and accompanies the journey of his people and of all his children in every time and place". The Holy Father recalls the various elements that represented God's presence in the desert: the Tent of Meeting, the Ark, the bronze serpent and the manna, among others.
God, companion of the migrant
As then, "many migrants experience God as a traveling companion, guide and anchor of salvation. But "God not only walks with his people," the Bishop of Rome affirms, "but also in his people, in the sense that he identifies with men and women in their journey through history."
This means that "the encounter with the migrant, as with every brother and sister in need, is also an encounter with Christ." And if this is so, says the Pope, then "the poor save us, because they allow us to meet the face of the Lord".
Pope Francis concludes his message by asking Catholics to unite with migrants and refugees and to turn "to the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary, sign of sure hope and consolation on the journey of the faithful People of God."
The Pontiff's message is accompanied by the following prayer:
God, almighty Father,
we are your pilgrim Church
who walks towards the Kingdom of Heaven.
Each of us dwells in our own homeland,
but as if we were foreigners.
Every foreign region is our homeland,
However, every homeland is for us a foreign land.
We live here on earth,
but we have our citizenship in heaven.
Do not allow us to become masters
of the portion of the world
that you have given us as a temporary home.
Help us to never stop walking
together with our migrant brothers and sisters
to the eternal abode that you have prepared for us.
Open our eyes and our hearts
so that every encounter with those in need
also becomes an encounter with Jesus,
Your Son and our Lord.
Amen.
