Tuesday, February 8, 2022
Prayer for an End to Human Trafficking . . .
Prayer for an End to Human Trafficking
Oh God, we didn't see them.
But you did-
The hundreds and thousands of human beings
Trafficked each year to join the millions who are trapped in
modern-day slavery.
Under terrible conditions, they work in factories, plow fields,
harvest crops, work quarries, fill brothels, clean homes and haul water.
Many are children with tiny fingers for weaving rugs
and small shoulders for bearing rifles.
Their labor is forced, their bodies beaten, their faces hidden
from those who don't really want to see them.
But you see them all, God of the poor.
You hear their cry and you answer
by opening our eyes, and breaking our hearts
and loosening our tongues to insist:
No más. No more.
AMEN
Prayer to End Human Trafficking . . .
O God of every family on earth,
Loving and compassionate God,
We come before you in prayer
Unable to fully comprehend the horror of women and men and children
Transported to unknown places
To be exploited and abused
Because of greed and profit.
We are people of many creeds, united in our sadness and our anger.
We cry out together against the degrading practice of human trafficking.
Our hearts are saddened and our spirits angry that their dignity and rights
Are being transgressed through threats, deception, and force.
Give us the wisdom and courage to stand up against the evil that makes it possible
For people to buy and sell and trade others.
Give us the wisdom and courage to stand in solidarity with the victims,
That together we will find a way
To the freedom that is your gift to all of us.
We pray for it to end. AMEN
Taken from School Sisters of Notre Dame (SSND), Canadian Province, Trafficking Reflection Booklet, p. 10 Prayer to End Human Trafficking
Wednesday, February 2, 2022
In the silence . . .
Dear
God,
Speak
gently in my silence.
When
the loud outer noises of my surroundings
and
the loud inner noises of my fears
keep
pulling me away from you,
help
me to trust that you are still there
even
when I am unable to hear you.
Give
me ears to listen to your small, soft voice saying:
"Come
to me, you who are overburdened,
and I
will give you rest . . .
for I
am gentle and humble of heart."
Let
that loving voice be my guide. Amen.
-
Henri Nouwen
