The drama of the one who must leave his country, forced by circumstances of every kind, is not a mere statistical phenomenon or a matter of political debate; it is precisely that: a DRAMA, one that touches the heart of the gospel and reaches, in daily life, the heart, the life and the whole person of those of us who stand beside the one who is displaced. The "backpack" he carries is far too heavy! it moves us and stirs us to wonder, to personal and social conversion and to com-passion. HE IS MY BROTHER!
Jesus says it: "I was a stranger and you welcomed me" Mt 25:35, and Saint Augustine, echoing this gospel and in his work The City of God, highlights the importance of the welcome and protection of refugees in the basilicas during the sack of Rome by Alaric. For him, the stranger IS Jesus Christ himself.
In the Assumption, the centre of our mission is the PERSON; the defence of their dignity and rights takes precedence over everything. The migrant, the displaced person, the one who seeks asylum and refuge in our land, to have a better life for himself and his family, is a priority and one of the new peripheries that we carry in our hearts as a family of the Assumption and as people, lay and religious, followers of Jesus. The heart aches, injustice outrages us and pushes us towards personal commitment and denunciation!
Although it may seem a utopia, the existence of borders was never part of God's plan, who gave us the earth so that all human beings might inhabit it in harmony with one another and with creation; yet the map of today's world is riddled with borders that not only divide territories but tear lives apart. Behind every person who seeks refuge there is a trail of deep wounds: the violence of the country of origin, the grief of separation, the dangers of clandestine and highly perilous routes, such as the Canary or Atlantic route, and, all too often, the coldness of bureaucratic walls, racial and all kinds of prejudice and rejection in the destination countries. How often the concrete lives and faces of Al Hassane and his little son Ismael, Yaya, Bakary, Babakar, Fatty, Moussa and so many others who have already been here longer and come from Venezuela, Cuba, the Philippines, come to our mind, our heart and our prayer after being with them, listening to them and trying to accompany them in their learning of Spanish, or celebrating with them the Eucharist or a feast! But the barriers, as in an obstacle race, spur both them and us on and push us to surpass ourselves in order to attain their goals: a BETTER LIFE.
The hope and the certainty that the Spirit of Jesus pushes the cart move us, even if only with the grain of sand that they and we contribute in order to become a WE!
In this sense, hospitality is not something one-directional: the one who has resources helps the one who has nothing. Authentic hospitality is a space of encounter and reciprocal listening that transforms both parties. It is a mission that builds the "CULTURE OF ENCOUNTER": when I open my heart, my mind, my doors, I experience a miracle: that of CONVERSION; my world widens, is enriched, is freed from prejudice, I enlarge the space of my tent, as Isaiah 54:2 says, and my life little by little is transformed, becoming more inclusive, closer to Jesus, the universal brother, and the other, the one who arrives, on feeling listened to and supported, can heal his wounds, feel part of something, belong, and be the protagonist of his own life.
TOGETHER we keep building that WE which God, in his plan, dreams for all of us, his creatures and children, and for the world.
Magdalena Morales Valverde RA Community of Santa Cruz de Tenerife CANARY ISLANDS - Spain