February 8.  St Josephine Bakhita. After a talk on human trafficking Mercia had become concerned about this modern day slavery, as she had come to understand it.  “Do people really know what a problem it is,” she asked.   “Take St Josephine Bakhita, Ok born already in 1869.  As a young girl from Sudan she was kidnapped and sold and resold as a slave until she was rescued by an Italian family.  She converted to Christianity and eventually became a religious sister and died in 1947.  She is a patroness of those subjected to human trafficking which is a growing problem in many countries all over the world  including here at home in South Africa where there is internal and external trafficking of people, especially girls and young women.”  

Reflect, share, Scripture:   I will espouse you for ever. I will espouse you with righteousness and in justice, in steadfast love and in mercy. I will espouse you in faithfulness and you shall know the Lord. Hosea 2 readings of the day.  Pope Francis: How I wish that all of us would hear God’s cry, “Where is your brother?” Where is the brother and sister whom you are killing each day in clandestine warehouses, rings of prostitution, in children used for begging, in exploiting and undocumented labour.  Let us not look the other way. EG 211 Pray: for a resolution to the problem of human trafficking and contribute in any way you can. .