Loving God, who rewards the humble
with your own transcendent grace,
You blessed St. Josephine Bakhita
with remarkable charity and mercy,
even for those whose hatred,
greed and lust for power rendered them blind
to her luminous humanity.
May her prayers on behalf of the exploited,
the victimized and the powerless rescue the captives,
strengthen the oppressed
and move the hearts and minds of the unjust.
May Your light flood into the darkest shadows
amid our needful world,
carrying with it the balm of your healing
and unfathomable mercies
both for those innocents who suffer
and survive within such sinful darkness
and for the wayward souls who have brought them there.
Renew, we beg, these broken hearts and wounded spirits.
Have mercy upon a world disordered
and disoriented by the nonstop assault of evil.
We ask this through your son, Christ Jesus,
whose own consecrated servant, Josephine Bakhita,
bore the scars of exploitation
and now resides forever before your throne,
as patroness of these poor souls.
Amen.
St. Josephine Bakhita, pray for us.