Reach out with love to migrant children

Migrant Sunday was celebrated at the 9.00am Mass on September 24 at the Church of the Divine Mercy (CDM). The main theme of the day was The Generous Love of God with the sub-theme Child Migrants: the Helpless and Vulnerable. The purpose of this celebration was to continue the on-going efforts of the Migrant Ministry at CDM to reach out to the migrant community to make them feel welcome and to promote a culture of encounter in the parish.

It was most heart-warming to see the diverse groups of Filipinos, Indonesians, Nigerians, Indians and Vietnamese at the Mass. The first reading was proclaimed in Igbo, a Nigerian dialect, by Patrick Chikere and the second reading was in Vietnamese by Joseph Nguyen.

In his homily on the Gospel of Matthew 20:1-16a about God’s generosity in paying hired labourers, Fr Martin Arlando remarked that, often, this gospel reading makes people feel that life is unfair. We get less, not more for our efforts. He told a humorous story about a priest who advocated this by saying that, in any situation, things could actually be much worse. It is common for us to complain when we do more but get less. But why should we be envious of God’s generosity? Imagine the feelings of the latecomers who had been waiting for work, feeling hopeless, rejected and desperate for that day’s wage of one denarii to feed their families. Their only hope was in God’s mercy.

Fr Martin told the congregation that being a good Catholic isn’t just about being a good person and expecting to go to heaven but more about seeking Jesus so as to be close to Him. He reminded everyone that the first person to go to heaven after the death of Jesus was the repentant thief. The one that had sinned so much that he was crucified, and yet, he went to heaven ahead of the sinless Mother Mary. When one is in love with Jesus, you want to please Him and be with Him. You can prove this with your prayer life and by the way you live. Don’t you want others to experience this generosity and love of God? If you love God, this is the way to prove it, by following Jesus. He will give what you want the most, that is, to be with Him.

On this Migrant Sunday, Fr Martin reminded us that we need to focus on the children, to reach out with the love of Jesus as we are their hands and feet because they have no one else to turn to. If you had children in another country, wouldn’t you want someone there to reach out to them? Trust in God’s ways and always give thanks for the opportunity to show them the tender love of God’s mercy.

Fr Martin asked all the migrants to come to the altar for a special blessing. Finally, a video prepared by the Regional Episcopal Migrant Group on the Plight of Migrants in the World was shown.

After Mass, the migrants were invited to Faustina Hall for fellowship. A light meal had been prepared by Filipino and Indonesian caterers. A Filipino band serenaded the diners with a medley of songs in English, Tagalog and Bahasa Indonesia. They were then joined by some “guest artistes” who brought the house down with their renditions of One Love and a Batak Toba number. The children enjoyed themselves too, dancing energetically to the music.

Article reproduced from Herald Malaysia online