Mark Raper SJ and Amaya Valcárcel outline a Christian response to the plight of refugees. This is Chapter 6 of Raper and Valcàrcel’s book, ‘Refugees and forcibly displaced people’.
In the place of origin: a ministry of peace and reconciliation
Refugees are individuals who have been forced to flee their homes, exiled and dispersed, to all four corners of our world. The Church worldwide consists of individuals who seek and build community. Homelessness is at the heart of the refugee experience, while hospitality is at the heart of the Church’s mission. The two should be a perfect match.
The welcome given to a guest is the model for our encounters with refugees. A welcome is what refugees need; it is also the way we are invited to treat one another; and it is a recurring theme of the Bible. The visitors for whom Abraham, as a good bedouin, rushed to prepare restful shade and a refreshing meal at the oaks of Mamre were revealed as the messengers of God’s promise. Whether the guest arrives at the expected time, or not – and the latter more common we are invited to keep our lamps burning and watch faithfully and patiently (Mt 25: 1-13; Lk 12:35). Normally our visitor arrives in the middle of the night and we must go ‘importunately’ to seek food from our neighbour (Mt 15:23; Lk 11 :5). Always the quality of our welcome to the stranger as a messenger from God – is the key criterion for our authentic faithfulness to God.
During his visit to a Palestinian refugee camp in March 2000, Pope John Paul II said:
It is deeply significant that here, close to Bethlehem, I am meeting you, refugees and displaced persons, and representatives of the organisations and agencies involved in a true mission of mercy. (…) Dear refugees, do not think that your present condition makes you any less important in God’s eyes! Never forget your dignity as his children… God’s design was fulfilled in the midst of humility and poverty. Dear aid workers and volunteers, believe in the task that you are fulfilling. Genuine and practical solidarity with those in need is not a favour conceded, it is a demand of our shared humanity and a recognition of the dignity of every human being. The Church, through her social and charitable organisations, will continue to be at your side and to plead your cause before the world.
Many refugees are in shock. Many carry a deep sense of loss and grief. Many are humiliated, afraid, anxious, depressed or disoriented. Many feel wronged. Their tension is great. They are a people living on the edge, sometimes sceptical, often suspicious. Their family structure has in many cases been destroyed. Fathers may still be at war or may have been killed. Yet in all this, there is also a great will to keep families together and relationships intact.
On the journey: a ministry of accompaniment
The Church is practically everywhere. Not only can we welcome the refugee as she or he passes through our parish or diocese, but our international network can help protect them, follow them with care and help them to find a safe place of asylum. For this reason our role must complement that of various international organisations which do not always have this same access, either because of the specificity of their mandates or because of political obduracy. Wherever there is forced displacement, whether on a massive scale or one where even one family is placed at risk, the Church is often present. And the Church has a mission to accompany the outcast and to treat each person with respect.
To accompany means to be a companion. We as Christians seek for our own companions those with whom Christ prefers to be associated, the poor and the outcast. Etymologically speaking, ‘companion’ means ‘one who shares bread’. In reality it expresses the commitment made in the Eucharist. The quality of companionship is well illustrated in Luke’s account of two dejected disciples dragging their feet from Jerusalem to Emmaus, and finding a companion in the risen Jesus, though they could not at first recognise him. Christ walks with those who are searching and listens to them.
To accompany others is itself a practical and effective action. Frequently now this is the way refugee protection is provided. Accompanying refugees is a way to ‘internationalise’ a situation. The presence of an international team has been known to prevent attacks on refugees. When a free person chooses to accompany faithfully those who are not free – who have no choice but to be there – this is itself a sign, a way of eliciting hope.
Christianity has a striking message, that no person should be excluded, that all are neighbours deserving respect. Moreover, showing respect to the other person is the way to show respect to God. As St John Chrysostom said:
It is only right that honour given to anyone should take the form most acceptable to the recipient not to the giver. Remember that he who said, ‘This is my body’, and made good his words, also said, ‘You saw me hungry and gave me no food’, and, ‘in so far as you did it not to one of these, you did it not to me’. … So give God the honour he asks for…
We must give our energy then to confront all sources of division and to respect and care for those who are excluded, of whatever religion, ethnic group or social class. We must work to prevent division, to care for those who journey, and to welcome those who arrive in our communities. Our practical commitment to refugees is the test of the authenticity of our faith. Not being a refugee, we do not dare to describe what it feels like to be uprooted in such a way. But we can describe what we see, hence the stories and testimonies of refugees which are transcribed throughout this text.
On arrival: a ministry of welcome
Agatha, a refugee from Rwanda who is now in Kenya, shows us how much there is in the Bible that relates to the experience of refugees. Reflecting on a text of the Deuteronomy she notes:
The bible clearly tells us that God will never leave us or forsake us. God will remain with us through everything. Many refugees worry a lot about where we are going to sleep, what we are going to eat, where we will be tomorrow, but I would like to open up and tell you that the Lord will make you strong and help you; God will protect you (Isaiah 47). Scripture also tells us that unlike the birds in the air, we are especially privileged for God is there and ready to protect us. God is nearer to those who are discouraged and saves those who have lost hope. God preserves us so completely that not even one of our bones shall be broken. So my fellow refugees, place all your hope and put all your burdens on God, who fully understands each and every moment of our lives; keep on persevering, for one day we will be given rest. Truly God has heard our voice and sees our afflictions.
Migration, travelling in search of one’s true home, the idea of life being a journey, is a familiar metaphor in the Bible and the Christian tradition. Another biblical theme, which is of great importance when thinking about strangers, exiles and refugees, is that of hospitality. In the societies which made up the worlds of the Old and New Testaments, as in many non-Western societies today, those who travelled or who moved away from home for any reason were dependent on the hospitality of the people among whom they found themselves. Today among Western cultures, hospitality has too often become an optional extra, and we are all impoverished for that.
Hospitality is a sign of friendship, an act of enrichment for both guest and host, an obligation to those who, like us, are made in the image of God and, therefore, are members of the same worldwide family. Judaism and Christianity do not have a monopoly in emphasising the virtue of hospitality: Muslims, Sikhs, Hindus, Buddhists and the followers of many other faiths all recognise the importance of hospitality.
Genesis chapter 18 provides us with a wonderful story, on the theme of hospitality. Abraham recognised the three travellers as messengers of God, and a son was born to Sarah and him just nine months later, as they had promised: a sign that hospitality and God’s blessing go together. Generations later Abraham’s descendants found themselves strangers and foreigners in Egypt. They had fled from famine, and were welcomed at first, but eventually fell into destitution and slavery. Their escape from slavery and their wanderings in the desert of Sinai, before they settled in Palestine, was an experience they have never forgotten. Modern Jews still celebrate Passover each year in commemoration of God’s marvellous deliverance.
“Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers”, enjoins the New Testament writer to the Hebrews, in a reference to Abraham’s story, “for by doing that some have entertained angels without knowing it. 11 (Hebrews 13:2) The suffering of the Hebrew people which during their years in Egypt laid on them a moral obligation to be merciful to foreigners, strangers and exiles is described in the Book of Leviticus:
When an alien resides with you in your land, you shall not oppress the alien. The alien who resides with you shall be to you as the citizen among you; you shall love the alien as yourself, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt. (Leviticus 19:33-4)
St. Matthew tells the story of the Holy Family’s flight into Egypt in order to emphasise Jesus’ solidarity with his people: he had even shared symbolically in the exile that the Hebrew people had suffered long before. In his adult life, too, Jesus suffered homelessness. St. Luke records in his writings that, although the foxes had dens and birds their nests, Jesus had nowhere to lay his head.
St. Matthew also records a parable Jesus told about the way in which God will finally judge our conduct:
When I was hungry, you gave me food; when thirsty you gave me drink; when I was a stranger, you took me into your home; when naked you clothed me; when I was ill, you came to my help; when in prison you visited me.. .anything you did for one of my brothers here, however humble, you did for me. (Matthew 25:34-36, 40)
, by Mark Raper SJ and Amaya Valcárcel, is one volume in a series entitled Christian perspectives on development issues (series editor: Enda McDonagh), co-published by Trocaire, Veritas, CAFOD, and SCIAF. Mark Raper SJ is the International Director of the Jesuit Refugee Service, and Amaya Valcárcel, a lawyer, is Policy Officer with the JRS International Office in Rome.
Refugees and forcibly displaced people
