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i n t e r n a t i o n a l n e w s
Christmas Afternoon
with Migrants
AMONG THE MANY BOATS DOCKED
AT CONFLANS SAINTE HONORINE IN
FRANCE, NOT FAR FROM PARIS, ONE
BEARS THE INSCRIPTION “I SERVE.”
UNTIL 1919, THIS CHAPEL BOAT
TRANSPORTED COAL, BUT SINCE
1926, IT HAS BEEN THE PARISH FOR
MARINERS. BEHIND THIS LARGE
CHAPEL BOAT, THERE ARE THREE
SMALL BARGES HOUSING MIGRANTS
FROM VARIOUS COUNTRIES, MANY
OF WHOM ARE FROM TIBET.
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by Sr. Nathalie Lundolo
This lovely mission of welcoming, housing and
accompanying is provided by a religious community
of Assumptionist priests who live and share their
daily lives with the poor.
To “welcome, protect, promote and integrate” are
four strong verbs Pope Francis invites us to implement
in order to welcome our brothers and sisters who
are forced for many reasons to leave their countries.
This invitation from the Pope, as well as the commitment
of our religious family to migrants, led me to do
something special on Christmas for these people
living on the barges.
I checked with Father Renaud, who is in charge of the Thank you to my community who allowed me
barges, to ask if it was possible for me to bring dessert to spend a Christmas afternoon very differently
to the migrants, and he responded that it was possible from the Christmases I was used to. Thanks to
and I was welcome. the migrants and to the Assumptionists who
allowed me to have this beautiful and edifying,
After the noon meal in community with my Bon Secours evangelical and apostolic experience.
sisters, I went to the chapel boat to spend the afternoon
with the migrants. We had a good time together—a time
of sharing, enjoyment and friendship filled with smiling
faces and recognition that we are part of a universal family.
This extraordinary and wonderful experience intensified
my inner desire to follow Christ more closely and to serve
the poorest and the smallest.
During my visit, we were able to chat, play, sing and dance,
and I had the chance to speak with a woman who lives
on the barge with her husband and two little girls. This
and a half. I did nothing other than listen, and she was
woman approached me to talk, and I listened for an hour
able to free herself of many things that had burdened her.
To be there, attentive to one and all,
to speak with folks who are in difficult
situations, to help them in their endeavors,
to dedicate a little of our time to them,
this is the mission of the Church and of
the servants of God in a world where
people are very mobile. Sr. Nathalie Lundolo (c) with with migrant children who live
on a barge.
I am very happy for having taken the time to listen to
her and for helping her express her innermost concerns;
and herein lies our mission, to listen, listen attentively
I CONCLUDE MY SHARING
and fairly. I thought a lot about Sr. Mary Rita that day WITH THIS PRAYER:
and how she would give her time to the patients in the
Bon Secours Baltimore Hospital on Christmas, and “ Lord, you who welcome
I was very happy to have this apostolic experience with us when we receive you,
help us to welcome all
the migrants, an experience I hope to relive. Sr. Mary Rita those who seek you. ”
gave her time to the sick, and I was able to give a little Praise and intercession —
of my time to the migrants on the boat. Sunday III (morning)
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