... with the Vietnamese who died in Essex recently and their Families.
Delegation of Ireland
“Is not this the fast I choose: to loose the bonds of wickedness, to
undo the strap of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every
yoke? Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, and bring the homeless
poor into your house; when you see the naked to cover them, and not to hide
yourself from your own kin”. ( Isaiah 58: 6-7)
Oh God, we didn’t see them, but you did, the 39 Vietnamese who died
recently and who join the hundreds of thousands of human beings smuggled and trafficked
each year. They are trapped and sometimes die in modern day slavery. They
travel under terrible conditions, they work in factories, plough fields,
harvest crops, work in quarries, fill brothels, clean homes and haul water. Many
are children with tiny fingers for weaving rugs and small shoulders for bearing
rifles. Their labour 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 MORE.
Silent
Prayer Time.
Intercessions
We remember especially the 39 Vietnamese victims of smugglers who
died recently in the container in Essex, 31 men and 8 women. R: Lord
may they now experience the fullness of your love.
We remember their families, parents, grandparents, brothers,
sisters, husbands, wives, partners, children. R: Comfort and strengthen them in their unbearable grief.
For all those 30 million men, women and children in our world who
are objectified, degraded and exploited for commercial gain. R: Lord strengthen them and let them know
that they are not forgotten.
For traffickers, pimps and slave holders who perpetuate this system
of indignity and degradation.
R: Open their hearts to recognise
their injustice.
For all of us, that we may examine how we collude to perpetuate
human slavery, and that we may never turn a blind eye. R: Move
our hearts to use our voices for justice.
For governments everywhere that they may awaken to the fact that
living in poverty and inequality is the reason why people become vulnerable to
promises of a better life from smugglers and traffickers. R: May
we work together towards a fairer model of development.
Lord, we ask that we may
never fall into indifference, that we may open our eyes and look upon the
miseries and wounds of so many brothers and sisters deprived of their dignity
and freedom, and hear their cry for help. We ask this through Christ our Lord,
Amen.
