Caritas Sri Lanka – SEDEC celebrated a special Holy Mass to commemorate the
104 th World Migrant’s Day on 15 th of January 2018 under the theme,
“Welcoming, Protecting, Promoting and Integrating Migrants and Refugees’’.
According to the message of the Holy Father, in reference to the migrants and
refugees, His Holiness asks every human being to welcome and protect the
migrants and refugees, promote their welfare and integrate with them to
make a better place for them in this world.
Rev. Fr. Mahendra Gunatilleke, National Director, Caritas Sri Lanka – SEDEC
who celebrated this special Holy Mass, in his homily mentioned that the word
and the theme ‘Migration’ is not alien to Christians or Catholics. In the Holy
Bible, there are many references being made to instances of migration. He
said, even the Lord Jesus himself journeyed as a ‘migrant’ having had to
undergo rejection and displacement from society as a human being, ultimately
sacrificing His own life for the salvation of mankind. This is the same tragedy
and wretchedness that the migrants go through today, he said.
In reference to the activities organized by the Holy Father at the Vatican
yesterday, Fr. Mahendra said, that the present Holy Father has taken an
enormous interest in the affairs of the migrants and refugees around the
world. In fact the Supreme Pontiff has shown His empathy and set a beautiful
example by helping a few migrant families, which He wants everyone else to
consider seriously when addressing the wellbeing of migrants and refugees in
our country and the world. Fr. Mahendra concluded that Caritas Sri Lanka
should be doing more towards this segment of society and urged the staff to
develop suitable program interventions towards assisting them.
The Holy Mass was organized by the Safe Migration Unit of Caritas Sri Lanka –
SEDEC.
