Prayer for the World February 4, 2026

Celebrating St. Josephine Bakhita of Sudan,

patroness of human trafficking survivors

Introduction:  Bakhita was born in southern Sudan in 1869. As a young girl, she was kidnapped and sold into slavery. Sold and resold in the markets of El Obeid and Karthoum, she was treated brutally by her captors. In 1883, she was bought by an Italian diplomat who sent her to Italy to work as a maid for the daughter of a friend studying with the Canossian Daughters of Charity. It was there that Bakhita came to know the God whom she had experienced in her heart without knowing who God was. In 1890, she was baptized and received the name Josephine. With the support of the superior of the Canossian sisters and the Cardinal of Venice, she won her freedom and later entered the novitiate. For the next 50 years she lived a life of prayer and service as a Canossian sister before her death in 1947.

Song: Love Is the Touch by Lori True 

https://youtu.be/HlBAX0cCKeI?si=trxqGb0mUK_L4qrM        

Love is the touch of intangible joy; love is the force that no fear can destroy;

Love is the goodness we gladly applaud:  God is where love is, for love is of God.

Love is the lilt in a lingering voice; love is the hope that can make us rejoice.

Love is the cure for the frightened and flawed: God is where love is….

Love is the light in a tunnel of pain; love is the will to be whole once again.

Love is the trust of a friend on the road:  God is where love is….

Love is the Maker and Spirit and Son; love is the kingdom their will has begun;

Love is the path which the saints all have trod: God is where love is….            

Material for Reflection

Pope Francis writes in his encyclical letter Fratelli Tutti – Brothers and Sisters All:

“We should … recognize that even though the international community has adopted numerous agreements aimed at ending slavery in all its forms,…millions of people today—children, women and men of all ages—are deprived of freedom and forced to live in conditions akin to slavery… Today, as in the past, slavery is rooted in a notion of the human person that allows him or her to be treated as an object… Whether by coercion, or deception, or physical or psychological duress, human persons created in the image and likeness of God are deprived of their freedom, sold and reduced to being the property of others…. Trafficking in persons and other contemporary forms of enslavement are a worldwide problem that needs to be taken seriously by humanity as a whole: since criminal organizations employ global networks to achieve their goals, efforts to eliminate this phenomenon also demand… a global effort on the part of various sectors of society.”  

Silent Prayer

Intercessions:     (Our Response:  hear us, O God!)

For the millions of people being held in slavery-like conditions, we pray:

For young girls and women exploited and objectified in the commercial sex industry we pray:

For those forced to become soldiers, especially children who are de-humanized and taught to be violent, we pray:

For those in bonded labor in agricultural fields, mines and factories, we pray:

For conversion of heart and mind for the perpetrators of human trafficking in all

its forms we pray:

For governments, corporations and consumers, that we will address the systems

that make human trafficking possible, we pray:

For success of all efforts to stop the demand for human trafficking, we pray:

Silent prayer

Concluding prayer:

God of hope and peace, touch our hearts and energize our ongoing efforts in abolishing this heinous crime against humanity so that every victim is freed and every survivor’s life healed and renewed.  You blessed St. Josephine Bakhita of Sudan with freedom and compassion for others. May her prayers comfort and strengthen the women, men and children who are in search of freedom.

We ask for transformation of heart for those who inflict this pain, anguish and grief on our vulnerable sisters and brothers. Give us generosity to stand in solidarity with others so that together we can heal the hearts and lives of all your people.  Grant this through Jesus, Your Son and our Brother.  Amen.

Song:  Love Is the Touch