The FIFTH International Day of Prayer and Awareness against Trafficking in Persons under the Patronage of St Josephine Bakhita (1869-1947) – 8 February 2019
Theme for 2019:
“Together against human trafficking”
We pray for the generous reception of victims of trafficking in persons, forced prostitution and violence.
Pope Francis – February 2019
“Even if we try to ignore it, slavery is not something other times.
Faced with this tragic reality, no one can wash his hands if he does not want to be, in some way, an accomplice of this crime against humanity.
We can not ignore that slavery exists in the world today, much or perhaps more than before.
We pray for the generous reception of victims of trafficking in persons, forced prostitution and violence.”
Pope Francis is strongly committed to the fight against this scourge in its different expressions. Recently, in his Angelus on 20 January, he prayed for the victims of human traffickers and also, for those responsible, allowing silence to highlight this.
It is a drama that has been in the heart and in prayer for a long time. You will remember the return flight from Ireland in July 2018. He spoke about human trafficking, organised by unscrupulous traffickers, with all his horror. He had already asked us to organise this month of prayer but just after this trip, during a meeting, he insistently asked that his World Prayer Network truly pray for the men, women and children who live in these situations of slavery. Faced with this human tragedy, faced with so much suffering, helplessness and anguish of men, women and children who are victims of human trafficking and slavery, often in the context of migration, it is a cry that comes from the heart, it is the cry of prayer to the Lord. For Francis they are not numbers, they are names, faces, concrete stories, they are our brothers and sisters in humanity. We can not be silent if we do not wish to sell our soul to the devil. This is why we are here. For this reason we have prepared with the Holy Father his monthly video on this drama. Listen to the Pope’s strong words in this video: “Faced with this tragic reality, no-one can wash his hands of it he does not want to be, in some way, an accomplice to this crime against humanity”…Fr Frédéric Fornos, SJ (Pope’s Prayer Network)
Dear Saint Josephine Bakhita, help those blinded by greed and lust who trample the human rights and dignity of their brothers and sisters. Help them to break out of their hateful chains and to become fully human again.
Dear Saint Josephine Bakhita, help us when we feel tempted to look away and not to help, to reject others or even to abuse them.
O Loving God, let your merciful light flood into the darkest shadows. Bring salvation to the innocents who suffer under sinful abuse. Bring conversion to the utterly lost souls who hold them captive and exploit them.
Let us Pray:
Daily Prayer to End Human Trafficking
God of goodness and mercy,
Rewarder of the humble,
You blessed St Josephine Bakhita of Sudan
with charity and patience.
May her prayers help us and her example
inspire us to carry our cross
and to love You always.
Pour upon us the spirit of wisdom
and love with which you filled St Josephine Bakhita,
by serving You as she did.
May her prayers on behalf of those enslaved
bring awareness and an end to this evil practice.
May we too please You by our faith and actions,
through our Lord, Jesus Christ, Your Son, in union
with the Holy Spirit, one God forever and ever, amen.
AnaStpaul 