By Carol Glatz
VATICAN CITY — Every encounter with people on the move as migrants or refugees is an encounter with Christ, Pope Francis said.
“It is an occasion charged with salvation because Jesus is present in the sister or brother in need of our help. In this sense, the poor save us, because they enable us to encounter the face of the Lord,” the pope wrote in his message for the celebration Sept. 29 of the World Day of Migrants and Refugees.
“Do not let us become possessive” of the land God has offered as “a temporary home. Help us to keep walking, together with our migrant brothers and sisters” toward Heaven, the pope wrote in a prayer for the world day.
Pope Francis’ message and prayer, which focused on the theme, “God walks with His people,” were released at the Vatican June 3.
By emphasizing its synodal nature, the Catholic Church can rediscover its “itinerant nature, as the People of God journeying through history on pilgrimage, ‘migrating,’ we could say, toward the Kingdom of Heaven,” the pope wrote.
The biblical narrative of Exodus, with the Israelites’ long journey from slavery to freedom, shares a number of similarities with the stories of migrants today, he wrote.
“Migrants often flee from oppression, abuse, insecurity, discrimination and lack of opportunities for development. Similar to the Jews in the desert, migrants encounter many obstacles in their path: They are tried by thirst and hunger; they are exhausted by toil and disease; they are tempted by despair,” he wrote.
Yet, with every exodus, the pope said, “God precedes and accompanies His people and all His children in every time and place.”
“Thanks to Him,” he said, “there are good Samaritans along the way.”
God also “identifies Himself with men and women on their journey through history, particularly with the least, the poor and the marginalized,” he wrote. “For this reason, the encounter with the migrant, as with every brother and sister in need, is also an encounter with Christ.”
