Pray with Pope Francis Reflection - January 2025

Fr. Edmund Lo, SJ

Tuesday, January 7, 2025

My brothers in sisters: In this month of January, Pope Francis invites us to pray for the right to an education for migrants, refugees and those affected by war; that their right to an education, which is necessary to build a better world, may always be respected.

Migrants, refugees and those affected by war come with a proud cultural and historical heritage, but also with painful wounds and scars from displacement and violence. They are not just numbers on a statistical sheet; they are real people with real stories.

For them, nothing about their lives feels normal; everything has been upended, including things as basic as receiving an education. It is as if their world has been stopped, and their lives, their hopes and dreams have been put on an indefinite hold, if not destroyed.

We need to go beyond a sense of sympathy and simply lament that they are victims of circumstances. Just because they find themselves in the middle of a war doesn’t mean that they do not deserve to be treated as human beings.

Not only does access to education give them a sense of normalcy; it gives them a sense of human dignity. This is the foundation of the Church’s teaching on our social involvement: It must begin with a God-given dignity that is due to each human person.

More than just making them feel dignified, we need to help them move forward as part of the integral development of the human person. In other words, their education cannot be poor; it needs to be substantive enough so that it will help them to contribute to their community and society. May God bless you today.

Watch previous Pray with Pope Francis videos here.

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