We celebrate the 106th World Day of Migrants and Refugees this Sunday. Pope Francis has chosen the theme “Forced like Jesus Christ to flee”. He urges us this year to discover the reality of internally displaced people more deeply. They currently number over 41 million worldwide. “Jesus is present in each of them, who are forced, as in Herod’s time, to flee to save their life. In their faces, we are called to recognise the face of Christ.” This truth is all the greater during the global crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Taking the pandemic’s devastating effects into account, the Pope’s reflections centre on six pairs of verbs:
to know in order to understand,
to draw near so as to serve,
to listen in order to reconcile,
to share and thus to grow,
to involve in order to promote,
to collaborate and therefore to build. PRAYER FOR MIGRANTS, REFUGEES & ASYLUM SEEKERS God, no one is stranger to you And no one is ever far from your loving care. In your kindness watch over migrants, refugees and asylum seekers, Those separated from their loved ones, Those who are lost And those who have been exiled from their homes. Bring them safely to the place where they long to be, And help us always to show your kindness to strangers And those in need. We ask this through Christ our Lord, Who too was a refugee and migrant Who travelled to another land Searching for a home. Amen Source: Nouwen Network