Respecting others, befriending the world in Christ

Parishioners of Jesus Caritas Church (JCC) joined more than 100 migrant and expatriate Catholics in celebrating World Day of Migrants and Refugees at their Sunday morning Mass on Sept 30.

Many parishioners came dressed in their traditional clothes. The first and second readings were proclaimed by African and Filipino lectors in their native languages while the prayer of the faithful was offered in Malay by an Indonesian commentator. The offertory bearers were also expats.

Before the start of Mass, the congregation was enlightened on the importance of Welcoming, Protecting, Promoting, and Integrating migrants and refugees through the screening of a six-minute video.

In his homily, Fr Dominic Tan reflected on Apostle John’s concern over a stranger performing miracles in Jesus’ name. “In short, he was attempting to create boundaries — on who belongs to the group/who does not; how God’s power can work and be exercised. In other words, a desire to control others, and even God.

“It is almost as if to say that if other people are different (race, colour, upbringing, etc), they cannot be disciples of Jesus because they are not one of us. Does all this sound familiar? Do we not at times wish to control who can be in certain ministries in church and who cannot? Do we not also say that because so and so is not like us (perhaps they’re divorced, differently-abled, migrants?) they cannot serve in our churches? That God’s grace cannot work through them?”

What was Jesus’ response? ‘Anyone who is not against us is with us.’

“In essence, Jesus is inviting us to not be afraid of opening our borders,” said Fr Tan. This is because our identity is not found in our boundaries but in our relationship with God.”
Quoting German poet Goethe who wrote: “The dangers of life are many, and safety is one of those boundaries,” Fr Tan said “very often we create boundaries so that we can hide behind them. We create boundaries so that we can put our demons outside of those boundaries for it is easier to create an enemy that is outside of us than face the real enemy that is within us.
“In order to grow spiritually and in our identity as children of God, we need to confront the demons that are within us — to identify that which brings us closer to God, and that which draws us apart from God.

Building boundaries can become a means of avoiding our own personal demons.

“Jesus then exhorts us to look within and identify that which hinders us from entering the Kingdom of God. He tells us that if our hands/feet/eyes cause us to sin, we need to remove them lest we end up in hell.

“What makes it necessary for our hands/feet/eyes to be pruned or removed in order for us to be fruitful? Is it our prejudice? Our insecurities? Unforgiveness? Have we been dishonest in our dealings with others?

Have we paid our workers, especially migrant workers, a just wage? Otherwise God would accuse us of condemning the innocent and killing them.”

After Mass, the congregation took part in fellowship in the church canteen area. It was hosted by the Parish Integral Human Development (PIHD) chairman John Chiow and Migrant Ministry head Maria Ng.

Article reproduced from Herald Malaysia online