God walks with His People: Celebrating the 110th World Day of Migrants and Refugees
On Sunday 29 September 2024, the Church celebrates the 110th World Day of Migrants and Refugees (WDMR). It is a day set aside to raise awareness about the challenges faced by migrants and refugees around the world, in order to promote solidarity and compassion toward them.
For this year, Pope Francis has chosen “God walks with his people” as the theme. In his message released ahead of the 2024 WDMR, the Holy Father notes that “God not only walks with his people, but also within them, in the sense that he identifies himself with men and women on their journey through history, particularly with the least, the poor and the marginalized”.
Pope Francis reminds us that the encounter with the migrant, as with anyone in need “is also an encounter with Christ” and invites the Church to unite in prayer “for all those who have had to leave their land in search of dignified living conditions”.
Prayer
God, Almighty Father,
we are your pilgrim Church
journeying towards the Kingdom of heaven.
We live in our homeland,
but as if we were foreigners.
Every foreign place is our home,
yet every native land is foreign to us.
Though we live on earth,
our true citizenship is in heaven.
Do not let us become possessive
of the portion of the world
you have given us as a temporary home.
Help us to keep walking,
together with our migrant brothers and sisters,
toward the eternal dwelling you have prepared for us.
Open our eyes and our hearts
so that every encounter with those in need
becomes an encounter with Jesus, your Son and our Lord.
Amen.
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