Today, 8 February, is the feast day of St Josephine Bakhita. Josephine was born in 1869 in Darfur, Sudan. She was kidnapped and sold into slavery. This resulted in torture, branding and beating. She was eventually sold to the Italian consul in Khartoum, who took her to Italy to work as a nanny for a friend and life improved for Josephine. She was eventually freed and chose to enter the convent of the Canossian Sisters. She said “Seeing the sun, the moon and the stars, I said to myself: 'Who could be the Master of these beautiful things?' And I felt a great desire to see Him, to know Him and to pay Him homage.”
Pope Francis has chosen Human Trafficking as the subject of his prayer of intention for this month of February. This intention is dear to the heart of Cenacle Aotearoa. Cenacle Aotearoa is committed to the Anti-trafficking movement and has a particular desire to see such awful abuses exposed and stamped out. Slavery is everywhere, it is here in New Zealand.
Please join the Cenacle and Pope Francis in prayer for this cause for the month of February.
“Dear brothers and sisters,
today, 8 February, is the Feast of St Josephine Bakhita, a Sudanese nun, who as a child had the traumatic experience of being a victim of human trafficking. The Unions of Superiors and Superiors General of Religious Institutes have organized the Day of Prayer and Awareness against Human Trafficking. I encourage those who work helping the men, women and children who are enslaved, exploited, abused as instruments of work or pleasure, who are often tortured and mutilated. It is my hope that government leaders may work decisively to remove the causes of this disgraceful scourge, it is a scourge unworthy of society. May each one of us feel committed to being a voice for our brothers and sisters, who have been humiliated in their dignity. Let us all pray ...”
(Pope Francis: Angelus Prayer February 8, 2015)
It is also the 10th anniversary of the organisation Talitha Kum, an international network of Consecrated Life against trafficking in persons. Working as a network facilitates collaboration and the interchange of information between consecrated men and women in 76 countries. See their website here: https://www.talithakum.info/en
Here we have taken the following from their website, for this important day, to inspire you as it inspires us:
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