"Advent and Migrants" was a space for spiritual reflection with a particular focus on the condition of migrants.

This initiative, organized by the UISG International Migrants and Refugees Network, accompanied us during this Advent season.

Each week, we explored a different aspect of their life experience in the light of the Gospel, which guided us on our journey toward Christmas, with the aim of raising awareness and renewing our commitment to those forced to leave their homeland.

For the Christmas celebration, we present the final reflection on the Gospel of Luke (2:1-14), offered by Sr. Carmen Elisa Bandeo, SSpS, coordinator of the UISG International Migrants and Refugees Network.

When I worked at the Jesuit Refugee Service in Athens, I was struck by the large number of single mothers with their babies. I was amazed by their courage in seeking a more dignified life with such small children. I later learned that these children were the result of some form of assault suffered along the way. Since then, I have admired their ability to welcome life, regardless of its origins, and their capacity to love above all else.

As I read the Gospel of Luke, which tells us of the birth of Jesus while Joseph and Mary were on their way to register in Bethlehem, in an animal’s cave because there was no shelter for them, I remember the faces of these women and their children. The idyllic representations of our births and Christmas decorations are shattered. Jesus was born in an animal’s cave, under conditions that were neither human nor dignified.

God chooses to be born in the margins, on the road alongside those who are invisible to society, with those who find no refuge... God makes these realities and these people His own.

May this Christmas, our hearts and our communities be the place that once again welcomes Emmanuel, who continues to be born among us.