Monthly Solidarity Prayer

Each day in some of our countries, we realize that no place is immune from the coarseness and palpable lowering of standards of conduct. In the midst of all this, how do we educate, advocate and act in light of these situations in our world?

As we consider Solidarity with All Creation, we are also celebrating the Season of Creation. The theme for 2019 is “Web of Life: biodiversity as God’s blessing.” We ponder how critical biodiversity is for the sake of the well-being of the whole planet, including humanity!

Human trafficking is carried out in both rural and urban areas throughout the world. People from all walks of life can get caught up in commercial sexual exploitation, forced labor, domestic servitude, forced marriages, and organ harvesting of millions of women, children, and men. Almost a third of all human trafficking victims are children and over 70% are women and girls.

A common theme runs through our ministries:  Being there, first and foremost, in encouraging, empowering, and supporting girls and women. The directional statement of the 24th General Chapter culminates in the call for us to be women of peace, hope, and love in the heart of the world. Therefore, it is about both being and being there for others, especially for women who need our solidarity.

In 1987, the UN Brundtland Commission defined sustainable development as “meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.”

“I was hungry, and you gave me food, I was thirsty, and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger, and you welcomed me.” (Matthew 25:35)

Being protected, cared for, loved are essential to the life of the human being. We need to welcome our children, with all love in our hearts, and to take good care of them, because they are for us signs of joy, blessing, grace and the presence of God in our midst.

“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called children of God” (Mt 5: 9). The countless works of peace, of which the world is rich, bear witness to humanity’s natural vocation to peace. In each person, the desire for peace is an essential aspiration and coincides, in a sense, with the yearning for a full, happy and successful human life.

The feast day of St. Josephine Bakhita on February 8, and the World Day Against Trafficking in persons on July 30, call us to take responsibility for raising awareness of the situation of victims of human trafficking and for the promotion and protection of their rights.

World Environment Day is on June 5, with the theme: “They (the rainforests) were fine before us, now they need us,” inviting us to save the rainforests of the world by less consumerism and protecting “the lungs of our planet.”