Ms. Jenny Cafiso, the Director of Canadian Jesuits International (CJI), wrote a wonderful Christmas appeal this year. The appeal is headed with a verse from the Gospel for the Midnight Mass for Christmas: "She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn."
Ms. Cafiso begins her letter, "Like Jesus, many people today are told that there is no room for them. There is no room for mothers to give birth or for children to grow, to learn, to eat and to live a life of dignity. Like Jesus, who was born in a manger, they are born in refugee camps, or in shacks. Often, they are welcomed by others who are equally poor." Ms. Cafiso then goes on to describe four CJI-sponsored projects in Zambia, Mexico, Lebanon and India. What they have in common is that they all help "to give room to those who have found all others closed."
Ms. Cafiso's notion of "room" is not narrowly restricted to a physical space with four walls. Her example in Zambia is an agricultural training centre that assists subsistence farmers for whom "there is no room for them amid large-scale agricultural business." Room in Mexico means a voice at the table, in discussions about human rights training programs.
In Lebanon, CJI is supporting the Jesuit Refugee Services to provide room for Syrian refugee children to go to school. Jesu Ashram, in India, provides room in a hospice, offering free health care and accompanying the outcasts to a dignified death. Ms. Cafiso is inviting readers to help open the door to Jesus, especially for those who have been told that there is no room at the inn for them. Sadly, the closed doors that she writes of also exist in this nation.
I live in downtown Toronto. I usually adopt a blank stare as I pass homeless people or people looking for a handout. That stare is a good protective mechanism in a city with a lot of beggars. I see the person but I don't really see him. But there are times when I can't help but look, because of my shock. One morning I passed someone at the corner of Bay and Bloor. There are the usual panhandlers there who seem to have staked it out as their territory.
But, one morning, I glanced down and walked on. I stopped in my tracks, shocked that the person there was so young. He wasn't even old enough to shave. I walked back and gave him money. I walked away but I thought I should have engaged him in a conversation. There has to be a sad story if one so young has no warm room with a caring family.
Who are the people excluded in Canada? It is certainly true that our aboriginal peoples are among the most excluded, so often unable to have a voice in their quest for justice. They are often written of as a lost cause. There are those who are economically deprived, those who have to try to explain to their children why their Christmas gifts come from the Salvation Army, rather than Santa Claus. Then there are the vast numbers who are trying to make a go with working two part time jobs at minimum wage. The room they lack is the leisure to spend quality time with their children. It is scary to read the statistics of how many children come to school hungry in this nation of tremendous wealth.
There are far too many people who find closed doors, even at Christmas. Let’s think of them this season. If possible, let’s actually do something to open the door.
From all of us at igNation, may you and your families and loved ones have a blessed and peaceful Christmas. Open the door to allow the joyful noise of the newborn Christ into your homes!
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For more information about Canadian Jesuits International and the works they support around the world, visit www.canadianjesuitsinternational.ca. [1] [Full disclosure: I am the Chair of the Board of Trustees of CJI.]