1st Tuesday of Lent

Lenten Journeys

1st Tuesday of Lent

23 February 2021

1st Tuesday of Lent

“your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”

Matthew 6:7-15

What does it feel like to be called an ‘asylum seeker’?

From 2018:

For many of those who we accompany at JRS UK, being labelled an asylum seeker can feel like a burden. A barrier that prevents someone looking beyond and seeing who they are as an individual. For Hassan-Ali, he feels asylum seekers and refugees are being blamed for issues that are beyond their control. “The government and media try to blame the economic problems on refugees and asylum seekers”.

When you find yourself in such hardship, having already experienced a traumatic past, this hostility can have a terrible effect on someone’s welfare. Those seeking asylum often feel that they are lost in a world of confusion with little promise of a brighter future: “the life outside is not very good and promising for the refugees and asylum seekers.”

In the scripture today we hear the Lord’s Prayer, including the line ‘your kingdom come’. St Paul in his letter to the Romans describes the Kingdom of God as justice and peace. Hassan-Ali’s words do not speak of a society promoting justice and peace, rather one that has a tendency to stoke division and mistrust, leaving its mark on those who are made scapegoats.
How might you be able to play your part in bringing about the coming of a Kingdom rooted in justice and peace?
In recent months, the Home Office has been ‘accommodating’ people seeking asylum in former army barracks and detention centres, which are highly unsuitable for such a purpose. JRS UK has accompanied some of those at Napier Barracks in Folkestone. The poor conditions there have been well reported and the situation is a worrying new development in the hostile environment the Home Office has sought to create for those coming to the UK in search of sanctuary.

Read Sophie’s blog about these worrying developments.


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Jesuit Refugee Service UK
The Hurtado Jesuit Centre
2 Chandler Street, London E1W 2QT

020 7488 7310
uk@jrs.net

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