Essen lays in the center of the Ruhr Area. Every day in the Abuna Frans House the message of Christmas works, and Ludger Hillebrand SJ feels like in Bethlehem:

"There! I stand at the door and knock.
Whoever hears my voice and opens the door,
to which I enter and eat with him and he with me." (Rev 3:20)

Father Lutz Müller and I have been running the Abuna-Frans-Haus for 20 months, a flat-sharing community of eight refugees and us Jesuits. Two housemates came from the street. First of all a short conversation over the phone with the person who visited them. Emergency situation! So, rooms cleaned and vacuumed, bed made, towels laid out, received. At first we didn't know why they had landed on the street. We simply opened the door and had tea with them.

We learn the life story of all our roommates bit by bit. One of them told it to us only after more than a year. It took him so long to gain trust in us. Two hours of narration for over three years of escape from Africa via Greece to us. We normally don't ask about the reasons for the flight and the exact way to Germany. We wait adventitiously what comes and help where help is requested.

The one former homeless Syrian knocked on my door late in the evening. He wanted to speak. At that time he spoke almost no German, I do not speak Arabic. I told him clearly that I did not understand him. He didn't care. He talked in tears. Just go for it and I listened as far as I could. What did I learn from that? I don't understand everything, can't understand everything at all, probably doesn't have to understand everything either. Simply being there, opening the door, facing the other, is already light in the darkness of this world.

"His own did not receive Him"

In the Gospel of Christmas according to John one can read: "He came into his property, but his own did not receive him". In recent years the borders have become denser, higher, more insurmountable. Our Christian Europe lets Africans drown in the Mediterranean and cooperates with dictators so that no one unexpectedly stands before our doors. As the fourth largest arms exporter, we earn a lot of money with many wars. And we wonder why people flee to us.

In the year 2016, the repeatedly quoted climax of the alleged refugee crisis, one refugee per hundred Germans. Converted this means that the individual German could only eat 99% of his breakfast! What a drama! And in the meantime many of them have already been deported again, travelled back, or moved to families in other EU states. The policy of isolation and deportation is having an effect.

What happens to the refugees who came to our house?

One, a civil engineer from Syria, found a job as a civil engineer in Essen. A young man from Guinea is doing an apprenticeship as a baker; another is doing an apprenticeship as a restaurant specialist. All the others take language courses and take part in qualification courses for their future work.

And we who, with the help of congregations and orders and countless volunteers, have opened the door for eight people? We meet silent and eloquent, young and old men. One of our roommates is called Jesus, two are called Mohamed and one is called Joseph. After months of living together, we understand each other better and we don't have to ask so many questions. Interreligious and international coexistence needs time and a lot of patience. On the way we enjoy the common food from the cultural areas of Africa and Arabia.

"But to all who received him, he gave power to become children of God, to all who believe in his name. Like children, we do not understand much in all its depth, drama and tragedy. But like children, we are happy when the Congo resident helps the Lebanese. And when a young roommate lets the Internet rest and goes shopping with an old one. Many small effective lights. Like in Bethlehem. Hallelujah.