The message for the World Day of Migrants and Refugees that the Church will celebrate this year on September 29. “How many Bibles, gospels, prayer books and rosaries accompany migrants on their journeys through deserts, rivers and seas and the borders of all continents.” The testimony of Blessing Okoedion, a Nigerian survivor of trafficking: “I learned again what it means to be Christians.”
Vatican City () – “Many migrants experience God as a travel companion, guide and anchor of salvation.” But God “not only walks with his people, but also in his people,” “identifying with men and women on his path through history – particularly with the last, the poor, the marginalized – as prolonging the mystery of the incarnation”. This is what Pope Francis writes in his message for the 110th World Day of Migrants and Refugees, presented today in the Vatican.
The event – scheduled this year for Sunday, September 29 – revolves around the theme “God walks with his people.” And remembering the experience of the Synod in his message, Pope Francis invites everyone to look at the experience of today’s migrants by rereading the path of the Exodus of the people of Israel and their long journey from slavery to freedom, “which prefigures that of “the Church towards the definitive encounter with the Lord.”
«His journeys of hope – writes Francis – remind us that “our citizenship, in fact, is in heaven and from there we wait for the Lord Jesus Christ as savior” (Phil 3,20).”
The Pope points out that “like the people of Israel in the time of Moses, emigrants often flee from situations of oppression and abuse, from insecurity and discrimination, from lack of development prospects. Like the Jews in the desert, emigrants encounter many obstacles in their path: they are tested by thirst and hunger; they are exhausted by work and illness; They are tempted by despair.
“But the fundamental reality of the exodus, of all exodus,” he emphasizes, “is that God precedes and accompanies the path of his people and all his children in all times and places. “The presence of God among the people is a certainty of the history of salvation.”
“Many emigrants experience God as a traveling companion, guide and anchor of salvation,” recalls Pope Francis. They entrust themselves to Him before leaving and to Him they turn in situations of need. In Him they seek comfort in moments of despair. Thanks to Him, there are good Samaritans along the way. To Him, in prayer, they entrust their hopes. How many Bibles, gospels, prayer books and rosaries accompany emigrants on their journeys through deserts, rivers and seas and the borders of all continents.
«The encounter with the emigrant, as with every brother or sister in need, is also an encounter with Christ – adds the Pontiff – Each encounter, along the way, is an occasion for an encounter with the Lord; and it is an occasion full of salvation, because Jesus is present in the sister or brother in need of our help. In this sense, the poor save us, because they allow us to find the face of the Lord.
Hence the Pope’s invitation on the occasion of the Day that the Church has dedicated to emigrants for more than a century: “Let us unite in prayer for all those who have had to leave their homeland in search of decent living conditions. Let us feel ourselves on the journey alongside them, let us make a “synod” together, and let us commend them all, as well as the next synodal assembly, to the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary, a sign of sure hope and consolation on the journey of the faithful people of God”.
Words that – in the presentation press conference – were echoed by the testimony of Blessing Okoedion, originally from Nigeria, a survivor of trafficking, now a cultural mediator in Italy and president of Weavers of Hope, a reality that since 2018 has helped about 150 girls and women to escape sexual exploitation and begin a path of social and labor reintegration.
“God has truly walked with me, also through those he made me meet along the way,” he said. «Traffickers dehumanize and objectify their victims, resulting in a loss of self-esteem and control over their own lives, freedom and dignity. My encounter with the Casa Ruth of Caserta, where I met Sister Rita Giaretta, helped me regain confidence in myself and in others. She also accompanied me to live my faith in a deeper and truer way. I rediscovered the values that my family had transmitted to me and that I had lost a little after being deceived and trafficked by a woman who called herself a Christian and attended one of the many churches that proliferate in Nigeria. I learned again what it means to be a Christian. What is love, tenderness, dedication and fidelity. Little by little I felt that I was being renewed as a person, as a woman and also as a Christian. It was after this trip that I decided to get involved again, tell my story and fight against human trafficking.
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