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INTENTION : |
That migrants throughout the world may be welcomed with generosity and authentic love, especially by Christian communities.
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As you are aware, the world of displaced persons that Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS) desires to serve is rapidly changing. Since the Vietnamese boat people first inspired Pero Arrupe's response of compassion on behalf of the Society, many new forms of displacement, many new experiences of vulnerability and suffering have emerged. You know these better than I: the victims of natural and environmental disasters; those who lose their lands and homes because of the world's hunger for minerals and resources; the increasing number of urban refugees, just to name a few. How can JRS promote both the spirit and the structures of Ignatian freedom to respond with agility to these new calls upon our compassion?
In our service to refugees, I ask how JRS can better build participatory communities. The long tradition of depending on the help of others might hinder those we serve from taking responsibility for their own needs. To help people do the right thing, without depending on someone from outside, who can do it better and faster, will need much detachment and patience; but, in the long run, it will be more effective. We want to respond to needs, certainly. But how can we build something more lasting, something which strengthens the humanity of those for whom we work? How can we help them experience and move towards reconciliation, the healing of deep wounds often connected with violent displacement, so that communities of peace can emerge?
I also wonder how JRS can advocate and promote more actively the Gospel value of hospitality in today's world of closed borders and increased hostility to strangers. Hospitality is that deeply human and Christian value that recognizes the claim that someone has, not because he or she is a member of my family or my community or my race or my faith, but simply because he or she is a human being who deserves welcome and respect. It is the virtue of the good Samaritan, who saw in the man by the roadside, not a member of another race, but a brother in need. It is a value that you in JRS know is being eroded in today's world, in culture and in policies, because so many are fearful of "the other". Many are closing their borders and their hearts, in fear or resentment, to those who are different. JRS, in serving refugees, is Gospel hospitality in action; but, perhaps, we can ask how we may, creatively, effectively and positively, influence the closed and unwelcoming values of the cultures in which we work.
Adolfo Nicolas SI
Superior General
Fr General's message to Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS) on its 30th anniversary
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