Hundreds of migrants – from all over the world and working in Macau – celebrated the 99th World Day of Migrants and Refugees on January 13, 2013, the Sunday of the Baptism of the Lord that closes the Christmas Season. The celebration began with a Solemn Mass at St. Augustine Church, a monumental Church, which is part of the great Macau Heritage. After the Eucharist, other activities, including lunch and program, were held at St. Joseph’s Auditorium. The theme for the 99th World Day of Migrants and Refugees is “Pilgrimage of Faith and Hopeâ€. Among those who fully packed the Church and the Auditorium were some of our students from Korea, Vietnam and Myanmar.
During the Eucharistic celebration, the Most Rev. Bishop of Macau Jose Lai encouraged in his homily the faithful to help strengthen the unity of all the migrants with their sole faith in Christ, in whom all humanity is saved. He said that we all are migrants in a certain sense, because we are all pilgrim on the way to the house of the Father. The Eucharistic celebration was very colorful: the prayer of the faithful was proclaimed by 15 different persons in their own language and dressed in their respective beautiful national dress. The contagious smile of all the participants was so meaningful that a visitor, Indian priest Fr. James interpreted it as the universal language of “LOVEâ€. He said in his short inspirational message: “I’ve found the meaning of the universal language “Loveâ€. We speak many different languages; in fact, however, there is only one language, that is, the language of Love. We react in many ways, but truly there is only one universal reaction: to smileâ€.
At St. Joseph’s Auditorium, a special guest delivered the main inspirational message to all the migrants and refugees in Macau: Prof. Arnold Monera from the University of Saint Joseph. Professor Monera said that migration is a right and the host governments must not use migrants as an object to develop their countries, but must respect the rights of all the migrants: the migrants are active co-workers for their countries’ development. He added that the migrants, in return, must respect the laws of the country in which they are currently living and must be law-abiding citizens. The whole crowd was pleased with his hope-filled message, and showed its appreciation with a loud and sustained applause. In the cultural program, many different groups performed their well-prepared numbers, which manifested the culture of their respective country; some migrants shared their experiences on the journey of migration. A Chinese group of the choir of St. Lawrence Church entertained the audience with lovely songs; a lady from the group shared her religious experience that changed her life totally and that made her proclaim joyfully: “I am Catholic; I’ll be a Catholic till I dieâ€. It was a touching moment for all the migrants and Catholics. Bishop Jose Lai gave the closing remarks centered on the motto “Pilgrimage of Faith and Hopeâ€. Again the good Bishop encouraged all the participants to stand firm on the Faith that leads us to the Hope which makes our life so meaningful and alive.
Finally one of the directors of the Migrants Day, a religious priest from the Society of Our Lady of the Most Holy Trinity (SOLT) expressed his thanksgiving to God, to the Church of Macau, to Bishop Jose Lai and to all the participants. He cheered all for the successful celebration of the 99th World Day of Migrants and Refugees and asked them all to look forward to next year’s celebration: the celebration of the 100th World Day of Migrants and Refugees in January 2014.
Bro. Paul Win Aung Myint
St. Dominic’s Priory, Macau