This year, the Roman Catholic Church celebrates the 110th World Day of Migrants and Refugees (WDMR) on the 29th of September 2024. WDMR is an occasion for the Mother Church and for the Holy Father to express concern for the different vulnerable people on the move, to pray for them as they face many challenges and to increase awareness about the opportunities that migration offers in society.
The theme that Pope Francis has chosen for this year’s WDMR is “God walks with His People” and he emphasized in his message that “God walks with us… he is our God, and we are his people. And today, through Jesus Christ, we have the Holy Spirit to help us walk faithfully with God.”
In the same note, the Catholic Church of the Philippines observes the 38th National Migrants’ Sunday to express our concern and support for millions of Filipinos who traded the comfort of familial place to live and work in foreign countries to provide their families. Poverty and lack of job opportunities that can sustain their families comfortably here in the Philippines are some of the reasons why 2,613,903 Filipinos sought overseas employment last year (DMW Annual Report 2023). The message that we would like to impart in this celebration of NMS is an assurance that they are not walking alone in the often lonely journey of overseas migration.
In this year’s NMS, we join the bandwagon of the people and institutions crying out for the care of Mother Earth. Instead of printing this NMS Kit and NMS Poster, we are sending them to you electronically to reduce ECMI-CBCP’s carbon footprint. We are encouraging you to use these materials freely and integrate them in your own but we are asking you to retain the color branding as much as possible and not to alter the logo of CBCP and ECMI.
In this NMS Kit you will find the message of Most Rev Narciso Abellana, DD, Bishop of Romblon and Chairperson of ECMI-CBCP, Pope Francis message for the 110th WDMR, Philippine Migration in a nut shell, ECMI-CBCP History, Vision, Mission, and goals ECMI-CBCP National Directory, the diocesan Migrant’s Ministry directory, suggestion on how to observe NMS, NMS Liturgy, photos of the 37th NMS celebrations, photos of ECMI Activities this year and the time table of the Jubilee 2025.
Thank you so much for your support to the previous NMS celebration and second collection for the commission and the diocesan migrant’s ministry. You will find the details of the remittances for ECMI-CBCP from NMS 2023 on page 19 of the 2024 booklet. Have a wonderful celebration of the 38th National Migrant’s Sunday and the 110th World Day of Migrants and Refugees.
"God walks with his people"
is the title chosen by Pope Francis for his Message for the upcoming World Day of Migrants and Refugees (WDMR), which will be celebrated on Sunday, September 29, 2024.
Message for the World Day of Migrants and Refugees 2024
“God walks with His people”, is the title chosen by Pope Francis for his Message for the upcoming World Day of Migrants and Refugees (WDMR), which will be celebrated on Sunday, September 29, 2024.
In this message, the Holy Father reminds us that all of us, God’s people, are migrants on this earth, on our way to the “true homeland”, the Kingdom of Heaven. Migrants are a contemporary icon of this people on a journey, of the Church on a journey, and at the same time, it is in them and in all our vulnerable brothers and sisters that we can encounter the Lord who walks with us.
For this reason, the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development (DPIHD) is promoting a communication campaign in preparation for the WDMR2024 in which it invites all people of goodwill to organize initiatives with migrants, refugees, vulnerable people… Here is the new video of the campaign, in which Pope Francis asks all of us to walk TOGETHER, with the most vulnerable, with Jesus:
As Fr. Fabio Baggio, undersecretary of the DPIHD, suggests in the video, the idea is to walk a piece of the road together, with our community, parish, and diocese, also involving all the inhabitants of the “existential peripheries” that Pope Francis encourages us to welcome. To this end, the DPIHD is preparing support material for these initiatives that can take the form of meditative walks, moments of reflection in stages, prayer vigils… the important thing is not to leave anyone behind.
All the material (post charts, step-by-step itinerary aids, WDMR celebration kits…), in several languages, will be available HERE.
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.
Days to the NMS
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Dear brothers and sisters, on this day dedicated to migrants and refugees, let us unite in prayer for all those who have had to leave their land in search of dignified living conditions. May we journey together with them, be “synodal” together, and entrust them, as well as the forthcoming Synod Assembly, “to the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary, a sign of sure hope and consolation to the faithful People of God as they continue their journey”
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
Greetings of Peace and Solidarity!
The Angelus that we pray everyday reminds us that God is with us always: “And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt amongst us.” God is always with us; He walks with us. In the history of God’s people, He was always there, walking with them. Yahweh the Faithful One never left them. They might have left Yahweh, but Yahweh was always faithful to them.
The synodal image of the Church gives us a vision of a people on the go. “Synodality is … a joint journey and … a fruitful dialogue between the charisms and ministries at the service of the coming of the Kingdom.” The nature of the Church is, thus, itinerant, in constant migration towards the fulfillment of the Kingdom, a people on their way to their eternal homeland.
People migrate for greener pastures, to explore possibilities that may not exist in their native places, to leave oppressive and dehumanizing situations, insecurity and lack of opportunities. In other words, they migrate because of a vision of a better life for themselves and for their loved ones.
God walks with his people, and within his people. He has always shown that in the history of the Jews. Encountering a migrant is, thus, also encountering God. Let our attitude be that of meeting Jesus in our encounter with a migrant. “For I was … a stranger and you welcomed me (Mt. 25, 35).”
A blessed Migrants’ and Refugees’ Sunday! Sincerely,
In the Heart of Jesus,