the experience of the Maltese Franciscan Province together with the Jesuit Refugee Service, Malta
During the early days of this year, JRS encountered a new challenge. While the team is accustomed to working in constant crisis, we faced perhaps the largest-scale crisis in the recent past. Before we had even begun to think of putting away our Christmas decorations, one Friday morning, over 20 men turned up at our office. The men were homeless, vulnerable and requesting our urgent assistance with their basic needs. As we listened to their stories, we experienced a myriad of emotions. Anger at the injustice; compassion towards our brothers who had been through so much; helplessness in the face of the enormity of the issue. Those of us working with asylum seekers understand that these emotions, along with many others, are part-and-parcel of the work we do. However, facing them on such a large scale was something we will truly never forget.
Our team brings a variety of professionals together, working to address the issues our clients face. With all our expertise, we stood and stared at an enormous wall: our inability to provide support for their most basic of needs, food and shelter.
It was at this point that we found ourselves a living embodiment of the image St Paul offers in 1 Corinthians 12:12 (NRSV), “For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ.” This experience was a humble reminder that we are not on our own. It was a beautiful experience of what living Church really means. Through the gentle hands of the Franciscan Province in Malta, represented by Fr Mark Ciantar, Fr Richard and Fr Stephen, we were able to temporarily offer shelter to our brothers and give them brief respite. By Friday evening, the Franciscans had opened their doors to approximately 25 guests and welcomed them wholeheartedly. This gave our guests a safe space from which to rest, and make preparations for the next stages in their life’s journey, taking further steps towards their re-imagined and hopeful futures.
As we reflect on the experience a couple of weeks later, we identify it as a sacred moment reminding us that Jesus continues to act through his Church in the present day. While we were not able to ‘solve’ many of the urgent, and long-term issues related to the hospitality of asylum seekers in Malta, we were able to provide a moment of respite and recovery for our brothers who had suffered so much. We were able to truly live our identity: a people who receives others with “unusual kindness” (Acts 28:2, NRSV).