Prayer Service for an End to Human Trafficking Nós, as Irmãs Franciscanas de Allegany, procuramos viver o Evangelho do Nosso Senhor Jesus Cristo Opening Song: Presider: Jesus, you call each of us to join you, to follow your teaching, and share your life mission, to accept your death, and believe in your resurrection. All: Holy One, our friend and teacher, You ask us now to open cur minds and hearts to the sorrows and sufferings of others in our world to make room in our consciousness for the pain that others bear - their fear and shame, their despair and terror. Give us the courage we need to listen to their stories with hearts united in solidarity; inspire in us your own compassion and resolve. As we hear of their plight, may we also hear your voice directing us to action for their cause. Amen 1. Mercy escaped from her slavers recently. Like many West African women smugqled or lured into Ita1y with the promise of jobs, Mercy was forced into prostitution, to earn her freedom. She was able to escape with the assistance of a religious order, but escape did not end her nightmare. Three weeks after speaking publicly to human rights groups about her experience, her sister was reported dead in Florence, true to the threats of her former captors. Presider: With all women throughout the world we pray in compassion All: For women who have been deceived and coerced, for women who have spoken out courageously, and suffered because of it, for women who have been targeted and cruelly murdered, Holy One, God of loving compassion, heal and comfort our sisters. We witness to God's love in the Franciscan tradition by living as sisters With all creation and by joyfully serving others, especially those who are poor or marginalized. 2. The rebels came to Jonah's village in Sierra Leone when he was 10 years old. Jonah's mother refused to go with the rebels and was raped and killed. Jonah and the other children were forced to walk days without food while carrying heavy supplies. When they reached the rebel camp, they were trained to kill and taught to loot villages. His friend tried to escape but the rebels killed him. Jonah is now fourteen, the civil war is over; he lives in the streets hawking goods because he has nowhere else to go. Presider: With all persons who love peace and turn from violence we pray: All: For all children orphaned in grief and terror, for young boys taught the ways of war, for teens lost and purposeless without guidance or recourse, Jesus, God of peace heal and comfort the sorrowing children of our world. (Pause) As vowed women, our Mission impels us to: Participate in building a global community based on principles of justice and compassion 3. An employment agency helped Sutinah migrate within Southeast Asia to work as a domestic. Upon arrival, her documents were seized and she was told by the recruiting agency she had to work off a severely inflated debt. Her employer abused and refused to pay her. Unaware of her rights, fearful she would never get paid if she complained and knowing that if she left her employer she would have only two weeks to find another job before being deported, Sutinah endured the situation for three years. She eventually escaped this exploitation with the assistance of a worker's union. Presider: With trafficked victims in every country, we pray: Give us courage to find the way out of our darkness; Give us hope that we may live once more in dignity; Give us wisdom that we may discover a path to freedom. Spirit, Holy One, breathe into our beings your own new Life and Light. The General Chaper of 2004 calls us to Risk the following: ...Unite with other groups committed to Solidarity with the poor, the marginalized, And the abused in the struggle for justice, healing and reconciliation. Closing Prayer together: Holy the New Day about to break, when all the walled up wisdom will suddenly awake, when liberty and harmony erase our global pain, when none on earth need Ever take up arms again when all will hear and understand the still, small voice of grace., when all who seek will see Your Holy Face. Holy the New Age we bring to birth,. when we are one with everyone who cherishes the earth, when gentleness and tenderness are hallmarks of the strong, when peace and justice are the substance of our song, When deep within the heart of you there is a part of me when all will grow to know that they are free.** Closing Song