A recent event has struck me deeply: the abduction of Catholic priest — my former student Alexis Prem Kumar — by unknown militants. Alexis is one among thousands of religionists who work for refugees eking out landless, homeless existence on the margins of society. Alexis and others make me reflect on the situation of refugees worldwide as we celebrate World Refugee Week and UN International Refugee Day on June 20.
The question of refugees has political, economic and social dimensions. However, there’s also a religious dimension; it inspires committed citizens like Alexis Prem Kumar to make risky choices in life and gives refugees horizons of hope amidst their homelessness, helplessness, hopelessness.
The Bible often images God as Refuge. “Refuge” is a safe place into which to run and rest. Haven’t we all played childhood games where certain zones are demarcated as “safe” wherein one cannot be touched by a pursuer or called “Out?” This zone — even if it’s a small circle — signifies safety and security. The Hebrew Mah-seh referring to a “place of refuge” is often used to refer to God.
For Biblical writers, God is the Ultimate Refuge. God is also Maanos, meaning “place of light”; or Misgaab, meaning “high place” or “tower”; or Meona referring to “protective arms of God”. With evocative images like light, tower, embracing arms and so on, God is pictured as someone who cares for those who require refuge. Psalm 144:2 is a good composite image: “God, who loves me, is my rock and my fortress, my stronghold and my deliverer, my shield and the One in whom I take refuge.”
The Biblical God also opts for the “less” and “least” of society: landless, homeless, jobless, friendless, spouseless, fatherless, motherless and so on. Three groups that appear repeatedly as the ones who God loves are orphans (parentless), widows (spouseless) and aliens in other lands (homeless, friendless, resourceless).
Referring to himself Jesus said, “Foxes have dens, and the birds of the sky have nests, but I have nowhere to lay down my head and rest”. Indeed, he was born in a stable and buried in a tomb prepared for someone else. People like Alexis Prem
Kumar have tried, in some measure, to live like Jesus. They have paid, and continue to pay, a heavy price.
Besides our conceptions of God as omnipotent, omnipresent, omniscient, and so on, let’s recall that God preferentially opts for the last and the least. In India, we invoke God as “Sharanam”. Today, remembering homeless refugees, worldwide, let’s recollect what Tagore wrote: “Here is Thy footstool and there rest Thy feet where live the poorest, and lowliest, and lost.” And let’s all work more for the “less”.
Francis Gonsalves is a professor of theology. He can be contacted at fragons@gmail.com
