I wait for the Lord, my soul waits and I hope for his word. My soul looks for the Lord more than sentinels for daybreak. (Psalm 130:5-6a)
September 23, 2025
Hello Everyone –
Here are a couple of points for you to ruminate on this week:
1) For over 40 years, the Catholic Church in the United States has celebrated National Migration Week, which has traditionally been connected to the World Day of Migrants and Refugees, a day commemorated by the Universal Church since 1914.
This year, the annual celebration of National Migration Week kicked off yesterday (September 22) and will run through Sunday, September 28. The theme for the week is Migrants, Missionaries of Hope which undoubtedly draws its inspiration from the current Jubilee Year of Hope. However, the theme additionally is grounded in the courage and tenacity of migrants and refugees who bear witness daily to hope for the future despite the difficulties they regularly face.
It should come as no surprise that the Catholic Church in the United States plays a huge role in caring for refugees and migrants. The Bishops’ Conference’s Migration and Refugee Services department assists in resettling approximately 18 percent of the refugees that arrive in the United States each year.
In case you are not aware, the Catholic bishops of Wisconsin published a pastoral letter on immigration earlier this year. The motivation behind it was simple and straightforward: to provide words of comfort to our immigrant sisters and brothers in these ever-increasing uncertain and fearful times, and to share the Church’s teaching on immigration, hoping to “touch the hearts and minds of all who live in this great nation, and to uphold human dignity, the common good, and the rule of law.”
With this in mind, I strongly encourage you to utilize National Migration Week in your parish community as an opportunity to deepen your understanding of and sensitivity to the complex reality of immigration and its related human costs, and to renew your commitment to building a just and inclusive world.
2) Within a little over three months, the Jubilee Year of Hope will draw to a close locally (December 28, 2025). And like most things with the passage of time, the shine, excitement, and intensity of a yearlong celebration can diminish. Let’s face it – we’ve been at it since December 29, 2024.
So, in order to assist you in making it to the finish line, this week I want to provide a few questions for your reflection and to take to your personal prayer.
In times of difficulty and heartache, do I ask God to give me a greater abundance of hope?
Do I have a belief that the human spirit or the general benevolence of humanity will somehow solve the world’s ills and sufferings?
In health scares, do I put my hope in medical doctors and the advances of medical science?
In financial struggles, do I place my hope in money and the material things of this world?
In times of loneliness, do I put my hope in friendship and hobbies?
Do I place my efforts and the fulfillment of my duties within the context of a robust hope in God?
Do I see all the things of this life in the light of eternity?
(taken from The Priest magazine, November 2024)
As I do for you, please pray for me,
Most Reverend Jeffrey S. Grob
Archbishop of Milwaukee
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