In his encyclical letter, Fratelli Tutti, the Holy Father Pope Francis indicated a combination of fraternity and social friendship as the way to building a better, more just and peaceful world. He wrote that the Covid-19 pandemic, which “unexpectedly erupted” as he was writing the letter, had “revived the sense that we are a global community, all in the same boat, where one person’s problems are the problems of all”. However, he expressed a concern that “Once this health crisis passes, our worst response would be to plunge even more deeply into feverish consumerism and new forms of egotistic self-preservation.”. He desired that we should no longer think in terms of “them” and “those”, but only “us”. As a result, he chose the theme, “Towards an ever wider ‘we’”, for this year’s 107th World Day of Migrants and Refugees (WDMR), which we at the Church of Divine Mercy (CDM), Sg Ara, Penang celebrated on Sunday 26th Sept, 2021.
With the virus still raging around us, most of us could only follow the Mass via CDM’s livestreaming channel. In spite of that, the message for the day came across very clearly to all who were watching, the tone being set right from the start with a video of the opening hymn “How Great is Our God”, sung in Tagalog by the Filipino choir. The video showed the choir members and musicians in their own homes, singing and playing in perfect unison even though they were in different locations. It was such a moving example of how we could all function together as one “we” despite our challenges that by the end of the hymn, some of us were weeping and cheering at the same time.
In his homily, parish priest Fr Michael Raymond, OFM Cap., expounded on the theme “Towards an ever wider ‘we’”. He pointed out that migrants have become an inevitable part of our lives – we see them everyday wherever we go e.g. near construction sites, at the market, on the bus. Even though we might not know any of them, yet each one of them presents an opportunity for us to encounter Christ, for scripture says, “Behold, I stand at the door, and knock” (Revelation 3:20). We often use this verse when talking to non-Christians but we too need to ensure that the door of our heart is open, to Jesus and to any migrant who may need our help and friendship. After all, each of us is part of God’s creative plan, and all of us – not just people who look like ourselves, but all of us – “we” have been created in God’s image. Fr Michael also cautioned us to be especially vigilant after the pandemic is over. We may find it easy now to reach out a helping hand because we are all “in the same boat” and experiencing similar hardships. However, once the pandemic is over, we run the risk of falling back into indifference; if that happens, then this whole crisis will have been just another tragedy from which we learnt nothing. Fr Michael ended his homily by throwing a challenge to all of us to honestly assess ourselves and how we perceive the migrants in our midst.
After Mass, a team consisting Migrant Ministry members and well-wishers started loading their vehicles with bags of rice, potatoes, carrots and other food items. All these items had been donated in cash and kind by generous, caring people from inside and outside CDM. The convoy then headed off to different parts of Penang where the items were distributed to various migrant communities.
To all the wonderful people who took part in this outreach and who contributed brains and brawn, including the folks at Ehsan Free Food Society and the volunteers from the Cathedral of the Holy Spirit, a big thank you for putting in all the hard work to ensure the success of this project. By coming together on this project, we too became a “wider ‘we’”! May “we” continue to become ever wider!
Written by
Ng Wai Queen
30th September 2021