The Only Way is Forgiveness

Sr Maria José Rey Merodio, JRS Italy/Centro Astalli 

Part five of our JRS Lenten Reflection series

In Tehran, together with her husband, she had participated in demonstrations against the regime: her husband was imprisoned and tortured for months; she, in shock, fainted, falling down the stairs and losing the seven-month-old twins she was carrying. Having escaped and arrived in Italy, their suffering turned to violence. The young woman found safety with a community of nuns, and she and I were able to get to know each other. Once, although she was not a Christian, I invited her to participate in a youth trip to Assisi. On her return to Rome, to my great surprise, she confided in me: “Many speak to me of a justice that does not contemplate love, but today a conviction was born in me: violence must be denounced and I must make myself safe, but this is not enough to have peace. The only way is forgiveness.” 

An Invitation for PRAYER 

Share a moment of prayer together with a refugee or offer to pray for an intention that is in his/her heart. If you do not have the opportunity to relate directly with a refugee, ask someone who works with them to ‘entrust’ you with someone to pray for. 

An Invitation for FASTING 

Invite a refugee to share a moment with you over a meal or a simple coffee. Alternatively, try to deprive yourself of something in one of your meals and offer the equivalent in money so that a refugee can eat.

An Invitation for ALMSGIVING 

Make a gift, even a simple action of care, to a person living in exile, so that the person does not just feel labeled as “a refugee” but “called by name”.

A highlight on Italy

With increasingly restrictive migration policies across Europe, there remains a severe lack of legal and safe entry channels for people on the move. In Italy, this has resulted in a lack of investment in protection, reception, and integration, exacerbating the physical, health, and psychological vulnerabilities of those who already endure increasingly perilous and prolonged journeys. Albeit significantly less than the previous year, in 2024 more than 66,000 people arrived in Italy via the Central Mediterranean route—the deadliest migration route in the world. Since 1981, JRS Italy/Centro Astalli has been supporting asylum seekers and refugees in Italy by offering first reception services, health care and psychosocial support, and skill-building programmes to support integration and economic inclusion. In 2013, in collaboration with religious congregations, JRS Italy/Centro Astalli launched an innovative project of semi-independent housing support for migrants and refugees, who are hosted and accompanied on their path to autonomy and gradual integration into the social fabric.