Today, September 29, the Catholic Church celebrates the 110th World Day of Migrants and Refugees. This is a day that, for more than a century, has accompanied and closely followed the painful reality of migration.
This Day originates in 1914, when Pope Pius X, just a few months before the outbreak of the First World War, considering how many people had emigrated from Italy in search of better opportunities in life, invited the Christian community to pray for migrants.
Since that year until today, this day has gone through some changes: such as its official establishment, the inclusion of a message for each day by the Pope, the incorporation of refugees, and the transfer from the initial date that took place on the second Sunday after the Epiphany, to the date that we currently celebrate it.
But what is this day in itself? What does it seek? The drama of migration is a reality that grows more severe every day. Every day thousands of people leave their homes, their native lands, and families to look for a new place to settle and find better opportunities for life.
If we look back in the history of salvation, we find how the people of Israel were also forced to migrate in search of a promised land: a land of peace, freedom and prosperity. A land where they could settle down with their people, live their faith and have a good life. The reality of this migratory pilgrimage is not very different from the current reality. In most cases, migrants flee their lands because they cannot find a way to have a dignified, safe and full life there.
For some, migration is an opportunity for growth and transformation. For others, it means desperation, sadness, loneliness, and emptiness. Depending on the conditions of each migrant and what they encounter along the way, each one may find the life they long for or the drama of abuse, slavery, human trafficking, and death. The only certainty that each migrant has, the only real hope that sustains them on the journey, is their faith: the certainty that God is with them on every step of the way, as He was with the Hebrew people and as He has always been.
This is what Pope Francis refers to in his message for the day that brings us together today. “God walks with his people,” he tells us in the motto of his message, and explains:
[…] the fundamental reality of the exodus, of every exodus, is that God precedes and accompanies the journey of his people and of all his children at any time and place. The presence of God among the people is a certainty of the history of salvation: “The Lord, your God, is with you, and he will not abandon you nor leave you forsaken” (Dt 31:6).
God accompanies every migrant, travels with them on their adventure for a better life, takes care of them, welcomes them, protects them and watches over them at every stage of the journey. And this beautiful image is a reality that we, as believers, must not forget when, from the comfort of our homes and countries, we see these migrants, and these refugees, arrive.
In recent years, the drama of migration has become more acute due to the refusal of many countries and citizens to welcome migrants into their lands, forgetting that the world was initially created by God for all, without distinctions. Forgetting that God travels with them, walks with them and at the same time is within us, waiting for us to act like the Good Samaritan, becoming neighbors to that brother who arrives disoriented, moved by need and hope.
The mission of the World Day of Migrants and Refugees is the same every year: to promote a culture of encounter, acceptance and welcome in the best practice of Christian charity. At the same time, it invites the leaders of nations to reflect on the drama that thousands of displaced people and families experience every day. It invites us to remember that the majority of these migrants are victims of failed systems, but resilient victims, who do not let themselves be defeated. They continue with faith and hope in the search for a dignified life; a place to settle and build a future full of possibilities.
The invitation today is to become true brothers and sisters to those who migrate; to understand that they are people who have dismantled an entire system of life, values and beliefs in order to, with faith as a shield, go to other lands and start over.
It is not easy to understand the reality of the migrant for those who have not had to change their lives in an instant due to causes out of their control. Only those who have crossed borders as migrants and not as tourists can understand the feeling of desertion, emptiness and hope that dwells in every migrant. That is why Pope Francis insists on making us neighbors and recognizing in every migrant the living face of Christ who awaits compassion, acceptance and mercy.
Therefore, the call today is to reflect on our position and attitude with respect to migrants. As Christians, it is important to remember that Christ also migrated with his family to save his life from Herod and to be able to fulfill his mission.
Starting from this point and remembering that God walks with his people, we must ask ourselves: what do I really think about migration and migrants? Am I able to recognize in them the face of Christ who seeks to welcome us? Am I able to become a neighbor to that migrant who seeks to insert himself in a new land, a new culture, a new life? Do I believe that I am totally exempt from the possibility of one day being a migrant? Or do I understand that, with the current dynamics of our world, we can all, at any moment, have the need to move in order to migrate?
No one understands the drama of migration better than the one who has embodied it. For this very reason Jesus can understand the one who migrates, accompany him, and welcome him. For this reason, He also expects from every believer a more merciful look towards migrants.
Finally, beyond reflection, the Pope exhorts us to pray for migrants and refugees. He also invites us to activate, from within our pastoral communities, integration processes that serve as a bridge so that migrants, regardless of race, culture or creed, can make a contribution to our societies while rebuilding their lives. This way we can all continue to build the kingdom of God on Earth, while we make a pilgrimage together to the Father’s house.
