The Record • Week of Wednesday, September 24, 2014 • 7B

All Christians must recognize Jesus Christ in migrants andrefugees, and welcome them with “respect and solidarity” whileavoiding “suspicion and prejudice,” Pope Francis has said.

“e mission of the Church, herself a pilgrim in the world and theMother of all, is thus to love Jesus Christ, to adore and love him, par-ticularly in the poorest and most abandoned; among these are cer-tainly migrants and refugees, who are trying to escape difficult livingconditions and dangers of every kind,” Pope Francis said in his Mes-sage for the World Day of Migrants and Refugees, released Sept. 23.

e Pope noted the “vast movements of migration” and the manypeople who leave their homelands “with a suitcase full of fears anddesires, to undertake a hopeful and dangerous trip in search of morehumane living conditions.”

He stressed the conscience’s call to “touch human misery” and putinto practice Jesus’ call to care for the stranger, as shown in theGospel of Matthew: “I was hungry and you gave me food, I wasthirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomedme, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, Iwas in prison and you came to me.”

e Pope warned that human weakness includes the temptation“to be that kind of Christian who keeps the Lord’s wounds at arm’slength.”

“e courage born of faith, hope and love enables us to reduce thedistances that separate us from human misery,” he said. “Jesus Christis always waiting to be recognized in migrants and refugees, in dis-placed persons and in exiles, and through them he calls us to shareour resources, and occasionally to give up something of our acquiredriches.”

Pope Francis warned that “suspicion and prejudice” towards mi-grants can appear even in church communities, noting that this canarise “prior to any knowledge of the migrants’ lives or their stories ofpersecution and destitution.”

“In such cases, suspicion and prejudice conflict with the biblicalcommandment of welcoming with respect and solidarity the strangerin need,” he said.

e World Day of Migrants and Refugees dates back to 1914, hav-ing been established under Pope St. Pius X. It will be commemoratedon January 18, 2015.

Pope Francis’ message frequently alluded to the 2015 theme,“Church without frontiers, Mother to all.”

“From the beginning, the Church has been a mother with a heartopen to the whole world, and has been without borders. is missionhas continued for two thousand years,” he said. e Church spreads“a culture of acceptance and solidarity, in which no one is seen asuseless, out of place or disposable.”

Migration movements are a call to “deepen and strengthen” valuesthat strengthen peaceful coexistence. e scale of these movementsalso shows the need for “a systematic and active cooperation betweenstates and international organizations” to regulate and manage them.

e globalization of migration also requires the globalization ofcharity and cooperation, Pope Francis said.

Don’t overcomplicate ChristianityPope Francis resumed daily Mass Tuesday after his papal visit to

Albania, telling those present that living the Christian life is simple:

listen to God's word and put it into practice.“ese are the two conditions in order to follow Jesus, hear the

word of God and put it into practice. is is the Christian life, nothingmore,” the Pope said Sept. 23 at the Saint Martha residence.

“Simple, easy. Maybe we've made it a little difficult with explana-tions that no one understands, but the Christian life is this: listen tothe word of God and practice it.”

is morning's Mass is the Pope's first this week after his one-dayvisit to Albania on Sunday. e Sept. 21 trip was packed with a fullslate of meetings with local state and Church leaders as well as mem-bers of religious and lay groups. e day also included a quick visitto a center for abandoned children.

A reoccurring theme in Pope Francis' remarks Sunday was thecondemnation of all violence done in the name of religion as well asthe repeated acknowledgment of the brutal persecution of religiousgroups carried out late last century under the country's now-col-lapsed atheistic regime.

During his homily at daily Mass Tuesday, the Pope urged Chris-tians to read God's word faithfully and to truly listen with our heartsto what he has to say.

“Every time we do this – we open the Gospel and read a passageand ask ourselves: 'Does God speak to me, say something to me?' Andif he says something, how would you respond?”

“is is to listen to the word of God, listen with your ears and hearwith your heart.” God, he emphasized, “speaks to each of us. eGospel was written for each of us.”

Although putting God's word into practice “is not easy,” Christ is“merciful and forgives all,” even those who hear his word and turnagainst him. “ink of Judas. 'Friend' he says, in that moment” in theGospel where he betrays Christ.

“e Lord,” Pope Francis reflected, is “always sowing his word, justasking an open heart to listen and willingness to put it into practice.”

Pope Francis

Pope: Welcome migrants with ‘respect’