Today, the Catholic Church will begin its Lenten journey with the imposition of ashes on all the faithful, reminding them of two things: of our mortality (from dust we came and to dust we will return) and of our need for repentance and to live out God’s love for all (repent and believe in the Gospel).

These we live out through the three works of mercy – prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. Come to think of it, this is about revisiting and mending our relationship with God through prayer, with ourselves through fasting, and with others through almsgiving. Eventually, all of these acts should lead us to be a neighbor to those in need as a way of living out our love for God and to give life to our faith.

In Pope Francis’ Lenten message for this year, “Let us journey together in hope,” he directs us to live our Christian lives contemplating on our relationship with others.

First, he encourages us to contemplate on the lives of migrants and foreigners (may also mean refugees) for us to “learn to sympathize with their experiences and in this way discover what God is asking of us so that we can better advance in our journey to the house of the Father.”

Migrant workers continue to be one of the most vulnerable to exploitation and abuse. Many, like Mary Jane Veloso, fall victim to human traffickers, who trick them with promises of a better future in other countries, only to later find out that what is ahead of them is a nightmare. Worse, the Philippine government fails to protect our workers, especially those who are unskilled or applying for domestic work. Until today, Veloso remains in prison, this despite the conviction of the real criminals.

The OFWs in Hong Kong pointed out in a 10-point agenda they presented to the Makabayan Coalition senatoriables and Bayan Muna Partylist during its international proclamation rally that Veloso’s case only highlighted the miscarriage of justice for a crime that she did not commit.

Read: Migrant’s Agenda discussed at the first global proclamation rally of Makabayan bloc

This is not the only struggle of our migrant workers. In an earlier Bulatlat report, Filipino migrant workers presented a manifesto supporting the call for an increase in minimum wage in our country. For them the increasing prices of basic commodities and the persisting low wages in the country, “coupled with landlessness and the lack of jobs, create a chronic poverty that drives millions of us and our families to work abroad in order to survive.”

Read: Overseas Filipino workers bat for ‘sound family living wage’ in the Philippines

How can the struggles in the journey of our Filipino migrant workers aid us to continue on our own journey?

Pope Francis also encourages us to walk together, meaning to be one with those of different faiths and with those in the margins of our society, especially those who are vulnerable to abuse and exploitation and are left out by the government and our society. Pope Francis said: “Christians are called to walk at the side of others, and never as lone travellers.”

Late February, the country was shaken with the news of the gruesome murder of a member of the LGBTQ+ community in Caloocan City, and this was not the first. For this, Bahaghari, an alliance of LGBTQ+ individuals and groups, calls for protective and inclusive legislation that would give them recognition and promote their safety.

Read: Brutal killing of trans woman in Caloocan prompts calls for investigation, passage of SOGIE bill

The indigenous peoples of the Philippines also continue to face discrimination and continued violence as corporations and godless businessmen try to steal their land away from them, sadly, with the aid of the government. In Oriental Mindoro, the Mangyan-Hanunuo together with local farmers had to flee their homes and farms for their safety because of intensifying military operations.

Southern Tagalog human rights group BALATIK said: “Counterinsurgency operations unfold as clearing operations conducted in the rich ancestral lands of Mangyan, to prepare for the entry of infrastructure projects in energy, mining, and ecotourism without the Free, Prior, and Informed Consent (FPIC) of the indigenous peoples.”

Read: Reported aerial bombings in Oriental Mindoro alarm rights groups

Read: Alleged aerial strafing in Oriental Mindoro endangers civilians, indigenous people –groups

Where are we in the struggle of our LGBTQ+ brothers and sisters, of our Mangyan brothers and sisters, of our brothers and sisters in the margins? Are we with them in their journey?

And then there are our brothers and sisters who are in need of hope, in need of something to hold on to in order to continue with their journey – the sick, the dying, the victims of injustices. Pope Francis calls us to journey together with them in hope. We are to be hope for them, our lives as Christians should be beacons of hope for them, a light that would reveal God’s goodness and give an experience of God’s love for all, that in the darkness that they are in at their present circumstance, there is light at the end of the tunnel.

For this, we must first experience hope in our faith. Amid the struggles of our brothers and sisters, there is hope if we continue to work for justice and peace; there is hope when we allow ourselves to be with our brothers and sisters in their struggle; there is hope when we journey together as brothers and sisters.

Pope Francis encourages us to ask ourselves: Do I concretely experience the hope that enables me to interpret the events of history and inspires in me a commitment to justice and fraternity, to care for our common home and in such a way that no one feels excluded?

As we commemorate the Lenten season this year, let us make it more meaningful by committing ourselves to make an effort in truly living out our being Christians by allowing ourselves to journey with hope with our brothers and sisters in the margins. Let us be the hope that Christ wants us to be, in this dark world enslaved by the false democracy peddled by greedy capitalists.