Showing posts with label Jesuits and Friends. Show all posts
Homelessness and Hospitality... ‘At Home’ Prayer Pack Is Ready!
Just in time for the World Day of Migrants and Refugees this Sunday, 18th January 2015, Jesuit Refugee Service UK, together with Christian Life Community, has prepared the JRS reflection guide on homelessness and hospitality: ‘At Home’ Prayer Pack!
With so much material wealth in modern societies, there are still many people whose livelihoods are not secured and thus have to worry about day-to-day survival, as you can find out in the prayer pack:
“It is not known how many asylum seekers are living destitute in our cities. Being ‘destitute’ means that you are not permitted to work or claim statutory benefits and so you become reliant on friends or charities to survive. This can happen while an asylum claim is being processed or has been refused.
We know that many rely on a hostel place, often short-term, or ‘sofa-surfing’ with friends or wider family members. Some sleep on the night buses, unable to lie down to sleep, or in doorways, fearful of violence or abuse. Daytimes can be a circuit of visits to day centres for hand-outs, meetings with lawyers and often waiting in libraries or other ‘anonymous’ public spaces.” - From the Prayer Pack
Along with practical help such as volunteering and giving donations, prayer is an excellent way of showing our genuine concern and solidarity for the destitute. Louise Zanré, Director of JRS UK says:
“Many of the people we accompany at JRS derive a great deal of strength and hope from their faith. They are always pleased when I tell them of church services or community prayers I know to be taking place during which refugees are prayed for. Praying for refugees is one way in which solidarity and care can be shown. What I hope you will be able to experience from using this prayer pack, either in a group or as an individual, is being able to enter at least a little into the experience of the people we accompany and those who host them in their homes. That prayerful encounter will provide solidarity, but will help deepen your awareness of some of the problems our refugee friends might have in their lives.”
We invite you to use this prayer pack and remember our brothers and sisters who need our acts of hospitality. These acts can take place in various ways and prayer is certainly one of them!
Packs are available to download as a pdf here.
An on-line version with spoken reflections and music is available at: www.pray-as-you-go.org.
To order a pack, please contact uk@jrs.net or call 020 7488 7310.
You can see the related news on JRS UK website at http://www.jrsuk.net/news/news2/index.php
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Three Types of Listening
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Photo by Steven Shorrock, from Flickr.com
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Jesuit Refugee
Service UK is based at the Hurtado Jesuit Centre in East London. The Centre has
just completed a “listening exercise” in
the local neighbourhood. Kate, who works with JRS and at the Centre reflects on
the importance of listening when we are building relationships with other
members of our community.
What does listening
mean to you? What does the dictionary tell us it might mean? Here are three
meanings I found: “to give one’s attention to a sound” i.e. to be attentive, to
give ear to, to concentrate. Another
meaning: “to take notice and act on what someone says” i.e. follow what they
say, bear it in mind, take it into consideration, an active response to a request or some advice shared. And finally:
“make an effort to hear something, be alert and ready to hear” i.e. a sense of
listening out for something that might be missed, trying to catch something at
a deeper level or from a place
beyond where we already are.
Over the last six
months, at the Hurtado Jesuit Centre, we have set time aside to build
relationships with our neighbours and community partners in Wapping and across Tower
Hamlets. This meant us concentrating our attention on those around us, being
curious about their work, caring enough to find out what their needs are and
enjoy getting to know them. Sometimes it meant easy connections, otherwise it
was about popping by, building trust and creating space to listen.
Now we are at the
stage of reflecting on what we have heard: it is about taking notice of what
people were generous enough to share with us. Now we have gained the privilege
of being welcomed into other people’s projects and priorities, we need to
follow up on what they have said, to consider it carefully and explore with them
how we can act on what they have said matters to them. This is less about us
reaching out to offer something to others, but a process of getting to know
another and developing something jointly.
And as we search for
a sense of what is beyond where we are now, in terms of our programme, we hope
that we will be alert to the unexpected, open to fresh wisdom and willing to
respond to surprises. Community engagement is never boring, but hopefully we might
avoid being so busy that our imaginations get tired or that we get pressured
into taking the easy option. So we trust that as our Centre grows in maturity,
we continue to have time to welcome people each week, be responsive to real problems
and get involved in creative, challenging activities.
I wonder if these three types of
listening are ones that we can all bear in mind as we go about our busy
community work in our neighbourhood and local borough? To listen to one another
with respect as we share different perspectives and learn something new. To
listen with a view to putting what we have learnt into action, to really make a
difference in practical ways. And to listen out for that deeper wisdom or clues
for future community needs, changing trends and creative opportunities to work
together over the months ahead.
Read the
report of our findings “Welcome to Wapping: The Value of Community in a Tower
Hamlets Village” . One of the themes emerging from the report is Migration and
Immigration which will be developed with JRS-UK.
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To Run to Change the World!
Milton, a Jesuit scholastic, undertook to run 26.2 miles to raise money for Jesuit Refugee Service. His fellow scholastic, Kundong, finds our more about what motivated and sustained him.
Why did you choose to run the London Marathon for Jesuit Refugee Service?
Since I came to London I have been part of JRS. I have visited detention centre where I have seen the pain and suffering of the detainees. Refugees and the detainees are subject to ill treatment even in a first world country like the UK where others enjoy the minimum basic rights, but the refugees are deprived of that. Every person has the right to live with dignity and respect. In this peculiar weather of the country (mostly cold and rain!) everybody needs a home to stay to protect themselves from the tough environment. But the elite and the government do not pay enough heed to such basic human needs. But JRS plays the role of being their ‘guardian’. I was moved by that. Hence, I decided to participate in the marathon and to run for JRS.
How did you prepare yourself for the marathon?
Firstly I had my mind fixed and determined that I would run for JRS. Accordingly I started practicing right from the beginning of the year. Initially I ran only for a few kilometres; but gradually I increased the distance on weekends.
How did you feel while and after you ran?
While I stood in the starting line I was excited that I was about to make a history. On the other hand I was a little bit worried whether I would be able to complete or not. Every doubt vanished while I started running. I got more encouragement and inspiration from the fellow runners and the supporters on the roadside. Right from the starting line till the finishing line the whole crowd was cheering. This was a boost for every runner. As I completed I felt mentally relaxed and happy because this event will always be a memory in my life.
What does this marathon mean for you?
This marathon is a good move to raise funds for charities. Thousands of people in need are helped by the funds the charities raised through this marathon. Hence, I think this marathon is a great helper for the needy, for disadvantaged, for sick and other downtrodden people.
Through this marathon, what changes do you want for yourself and for the world?
I feel that I can do something hard for a good cause. I can help the needy in the best possible way I can. The world has a lot of problems; I alone cannot change the whole world. However, the little role I play for the world is a help for it and its people.
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