AMDG: A Jesuit Podcast

God Walks with His People: Fr. Sudzer & Matthew

Fr. Sudzer and Matthew support migrants at the Jesuit parish in Miami. They both have family members who’ve migrated. This audio reflection is part of a series marking the World Day of Migrants and Refugees. Over the course of six episodes, we invite you to join migrants in solidarity and prayer. Find supplemental resources for reflection and action here: https://sites.ignatiansolidarity.net/world-refugee-day-website

Broadcast on:: 27 Sep 2024
Audio Format:: other

(soft music) - God, almighty Father, we are your pilgrim church, journeying towards the kingdom of heaven. - Though we live on earth, our true citizenship is in heaven. - Help us to keep walking together with our migrant brothers and sisters toward the eternal dwelling that you have prepared for us. - Up in our highs and our hearts so that every encounter with those in need becomes an encounter with Jesus, your Son and our Lord, Heaven. - Welcome to God Walks With His People, a podcast prayer series from the Jesuit migration network of the US and Canada. My name is Brian Strasburger and I'm a Jesuit ministering to migrants on both sides of the US-Mexico border and based in Brownsville, Texas. Every September, the Catholic Church marks the world day of migrants and refugees. This year Pope Francis has chosen the theme, "God Walks With His People," reminding us that in every age, from the Exodus account to the flight of the Holy Family to Egypt, to the present day, God accompanies people on the move. Through six episodes, this podcast will feature the stories of migrants and those who accompany them as they reflect on how God has walked with them on their journeys. We invite you to join us in prayer and reflect on how you can walk with migrants in your own community. In this episode, we'll hear from Jesuit father, Sootzer Chareloos and Matthew, a student at Berlin Jesuit Preparatory School in Miami, Florida. For both of them, the issue of migration is personal. Matthew's mother and her family came to the US, fleeing the Salvadoran Civil War. Originally from Haiti, Father Sootzer now works with migrant communities at the Jesu Church in Miami. This summer, Matthew worked as an intern with the Jesuit Refugee Service and Jesu's Hope Center, which offers a legal clinic and other material support to migrants. So now we invite you to listen prayerfully to the story of Father Sootzer and Matthew. (gentle music) - My name is Sootzer Chareloos, I'm a Jesuit priest. I was born in Haiti. I grew up in Haiti. And I entered the Society of Jesus in Haiti. So I did my noviciate in Haiti. As you know, the noviciate is the first stage of our Jesuit's formation. And after that, I went to Cote d'Ivoire, to study theology. And after that, I spent three years there. And after that, I went to Boston College to continue my studies in theology with a focus on ethnic, on Christian ethics and on migration. So now, currently I am a Jesuit, working with the migrants, with migrants at Jesu. My name is Matt Lombardi. I'm a rising senior at Belen Jesuit High School in Miami. And for me, especially this issue of, the issue of migration hits close to home, my mother and her entire family, migrated from El Salvador in the 1980s during a time of political upheaval and uncertainty. And as Father Sootzer said, and you know, in search of a better life. And so I guess migration had always kind of been at the back of my mind, definitely drawing up in the United States. It's a heavily politicized issue. And it's something that I was vastly, I guess uneducated about. - There are three experiences that I can, that have John meet to work with migrants. The first one is my life. I can say that my life is marked by the experience of migration. I was three years old when my father left Haiti to come to live in the US in search of a better life for his family. And my father was able to walk here in this country to set money to pay for my education in Haiti, which contributed to the person who I am today. So I can say that my education, my formation is a fruit of migration, of the reality of migration. And the second experiences was I was doing my innovation in Haiti. I went to the border between Haiti and Dominican Republic. And I was inspired by the work of the Jesuit there, protecting the Asians that had been deported from the Dominican Republic and the work permitting the right of migrants also. And the third one was in Dominican Republic. I saw how the Dominican Jesuit protected Asian migrants and work to promote the rights in Dominican Republic. When I went to 10th grade, my Jesuit high school offered the opportunity to go on the Quino border immersion experience to Nogales, Arizona and Nogales, Mexico to serve and accompany migrants at the border. And I was blessed enough to have the opportunity to go. And I did go and it kind of completely changed my view on the issue, my view on social justice, my view on myself. I really had an opportunity to meet with human beings like me. Children that were migrants from Mexico or Venezuela with the same interest and desires as me with vastly different experiences, but similar goals, similar dreams, and it really struck deep with me. And having that opportunity to serve and realize how much they served me as well, like in an emotional sense, in a spiritual sense, how much I had to learn from their experiences, their struggles, their triumphs. And as a result, when I came back to Miami, to Florida, I realized I wanted to work to help change the narrative, especially, to help to humanize the issue and make it less of a politics and more about the issue, the human issue that it is, right? Every time that grace was to be said, all these migrants who oftentimes would be talking or laughing or something, when it was time to pray, they were all very silent, very reverent. And one of them kind of had tears in his eyes. And after I had the opportunity to speak with him, and he told me that he was crying because he knew this wouldn't be his last meal. And he said for a long time, it was like he wasn't sure where his next meal would be, but he knew that this one would not be. And the truth is you don't know, but you have to, and you do have faith, that not only your prayers answered, but that there's more coming. So again, kind of that hope through that man, I forgot his name, but I do remember he was Venezuelan. And for me, him, his faith and the beauty that came from that hope, I think really kind of changed my perspective on things a lot. - That's why we are trying to build that project, to help them, so because we, as we see in the Bible, we were stronger, we were twin swinger, and now we're trying to help those coming to knock at our doors. That's why we launched that program here at Jezebue, called Jezebue Hope Center, to kind of give hope to these persons coming to knock at our doors. That's why we are trying to do that. So every Monday, we have a legal clinic, where we receive people, trying to help them legally, with their, trying to help them in their needs, and also to give them emotional, spiritual assistance. That's what we do. So far, we have received more than 60 persons at Jezebue at Jezebue Hope Center, trying to help them, trying to help them navigate the reality of in Miami. As Pope Francis said in the message for this year, this year's world day of migrants and refugees, every migrant is an icon of the story of the people of Israel. So every migrant shares that the same reality, the reality that there are people in need. There are people who need our assistance, and there are people who we need to help, because if we want to be faithful to our, to the gospel, we need to have these people. And every migrant is also every encounter with a migrant is an encounter with Jesus. So for me, meeting migrants is a way, allows me to meet Jesus, I can say. Allows me to meet Jesus. Seeing Jesus in these people, in these people who are suffering, give you a sense of Jesus suffering for humanity, for each one of us. I think that's the common theme I can find there. - I think Father, as you said it best, hope is really the important thing in all of this. And I think that hope is really that thing that not only comes from God, but that God inspires in us. And I think seeing hope in all of these communities has been the most important. As I talked about my experience at the border, the first thing, everyone there, they've been through so much, so much difficulty having to leave their home, leave their families, but yet they were hopeful for better. They were hopeful for change. They looked forward to their future. And I think that there's almost no other answer than that that is a perfect example of how God walks with His people, is providing those little shimmers of light, those little glimpses at better, at more at peace or tranquility or whatever it is that they seek. So I think that seeing that kind of enthusiasm and even gratitude in my life, especially people that, in all honesty, it would be very difficult to maintain a stature of gratitude when you feel like your life has been full of hardship. And yet, a lot of these migrants are the most grateful people I'd ever met in my entire life. It's important to be a biblical person isn't just to quote the Bible, but it's also to really live it and to work through it and with it. And so definitely through the direct action taken, say, through working with Jesuit Hope Center or taking a trip to the border and actually seeing migrants firsthand, at the end of the day, it's those little experiences that God truly works through us, works with us, you know, guides our eyes, guides our minds to really be open to His message. And so yeah, I can really say that through that hope that gratitude, those experiences of lived action are the ways in which God works and walks with us. I think one of the most powerful ways that people can get involved is by not just, you know, involving themselves, but kind of just taking a little bit of time to read about experiences, different organizations like Jesuit refugee services, like Catholic services, I believe, they provide testimonials, documents. You don't have to obviously go to the border, but just taking the time to read, you know, first-hand experiences of different migrants to understand and really see, you know, not only where they're coming from, but what they've seen, what, how they've acted, and then praying on it, reflecting on it, seeing if there's any parallels to your own life. I think praying as an intention for these migrants is one of the most powerful things that people can do. And while I think a lot of times it doesn't feel tangible in the moment, if you really have faith then, it's probably the most important of all. What I would say to them is be compassionate, as you said, and look at them as God, look at us, looks at us, look at the migrants, look at the people in need the same way God looks at us. And we need to look at them with compassion and trying to care because at the end of the day, the work we are doing is not our work, it's God's work. So we are on the instrument in God's hands, and what we need to do is trying to have them like God has done for each one of us. - Thank you for listening to Father Souza and Matthew's story. As you listened to their story, what struck you? Both Father Souza and Matthew drew from their own experience of migration and that of their family. What is your own history of migration, personally and from your own ancestors? (gentle music) (gentle music) - How does that history shape your own thoughts of current migration dynamics? (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) - Let us pray. Lord, allow me to truly be your instrument of peace. Let me walk with my migrant sisters and brothers who often endure hardship and exclusion at the hands of peoples and governments. Let me listen deeply to their stories so that I may accompany them on this journey and help them carry their burdens. Let me speak their truth so that others may hear when their voices are silenced. Let me hold their hand when they can go no further. Allow them to see your face, O Lord, through mine when they feel that all hope is gone. Amen. (gentle music) [MUSIC]