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INTENTION : |
For a generous welcome of the victims of human trafficking, of enforced prostitution, and of violence.
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The most vulnerable are young women and minors who are lured or forced into the sex trade by human traffickers and sex bar owners and pimps. It is a dehumanizing experience for all victims especially the child victims most of whom are 15 to 17 years of age. It is estimated that 33 percent of the 4.5 million victims are minors. Once they fall into the hands and the control of the traffickers, they are powerless. They become captives. They are taken from villages and cash loans given to their parents to be repaid from the earning of the child in promised jobs.
However the jobs turns out to be sex work in sex bars where they are raped and abused and made into sex workers with many customers a night. It's a living nightmare, a cruel existence with no escape. The young women and children are forever in debt. They are bonded labour, never able to leave and living in fear of being jailed for non-payment of debt. They pay for food and lodging and then for drugs when they are addicted.
Almost 70 percent of trafficked and sexually abused children and young girls begin their vulnerability as victims of domestic sexual abuse from as young as 13 and 14 years of age. Their abusers are relatives or neighbours, live-in partners of the mothers, their biological fathers, uncles or grandfathers. The children cannot endure the abuse. They are threatened with harm if they tell anyone and are frightened to report the sexual abuse to anyone. Then some run away unable to endure the abuse and live on the street and are taken by human traffickers.
The sex industry thrives on young girls recruited by human traffickers who take them from their villages and sell them into the thriving and ever increasing sex bars and brothels. This goes on right before the eyes of the authorities and every sex bar operates with a mayor's permit wherever it is. It might be said the state approves the industry even though prostitution itself is illegal to have a minor in a sex bar. Proving the child is underage is the challenge for those who would save them. The government authorities don't screen the sex workers except for infectious diseases. They are forced to go to a social hygiene clinic and at times forced to have abortions. This is illegal but the authorities turn a blind eye to these crimes as it is in their interest to have a thriving sex industry from which some benefit.
The victims of human trafficking are traumatized, abused, and trapped. After months of abuse and enslavement she is dependent on drugs for which she has to pay. This adds to her debts and she comes to accept her fate as it is. The drugs keep her submissive, cooperative and docile when being abused by customers. She is forever in debt. The minors are trained to have a "loyalty" to their pimp or "master." Contrary to what one might expect, not all the girls trafficked want to be "rescued' or saved from the sex bars. The bar owners convince them that it is their life job and the only thing they are fit for and if they get saved they have to pay back their debts. They have been conditioned and coerced and threatened. It is common that they have a low self-esteem and accept their fate as inevitable.
The root causes of human trafficking that allow it to thrive is that it is not seen as a serious issue or as a "real" crime even though in some countries the law says it is.
People in general give little value to children that are not their own. The street children are seen as petty criminals and expendable. The minors are not considered victims by the police if found in sex bars but are considered guilty of a crime and fall into police power are then sexually exploited by the corrupt police. They are threatened with criminal charges into giving sexual favours in some cases.
Fr Shay Cullen SSC
www.preda.org
Rejoice and Be Glad (para. 63-74) :
Pope Francis
There are many components to battling human trafficking, including raising awareness and identifying and prosecuting traffickers by law enforcement.
"Human trafficking is an open wound on the body of contemporary society, a scourge upon the body of Christ. It is a crime against humanity." - Pope Francis, April 10, 2014
What must one do to be a good Christian?
There can be any number of theories about what constitutes holiness, with various explanations and distinctions. Such reflection may be useful, but nothing is more enlightening than turning to Jesus' words and seeing his way of teaching the truth. Jesus explained with great simplicity what it means to be holy when he gave us the Beatitudes (cf. Mt 5:3-12; Lk 6:20-23). The Beatitudes are like a Christian's identity card. So if anyone asks: "What must one do to be a good Christian?", the answer is clear. We have to do, each in our own way, what Jesus told us in the Sermon on the Mount.[66] In the Beatitudes, we find a portrait of the Master, which we are called to reflect in our daily lives.
The word "happy" or "blessed" thus becomes a synonym for "holy". It expresses the fact that those faithful to God and his word, by their self-giving, gain true happiness.
Going against the flow
Although Jesus' words may strike us as poetic, they clearly run counter to the way things are usually done in our world. Even if we find Jesus' message attractive, the world pushes us towards another way of living. The Beatitudes are in no way trite or undemanding, quite the opposite. We can only practise them if the Holy Spirit fills us with his power and frees us from our weakness, our selfishness, our complacency and our pride.
Let us listen once more to Jesus, with all the love and respect that the Master deserves. Let us allow his words to unsettle us, to challenge us and to demand a real change in the way we live. Otherwise, holiness will remain no more than an empty word. We turn now to the individual Beatitudes in the Gospel of Matthew (cf. Mt 5:3-12).[67]
"Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven"
The Gospel invites us to peer into the depths of our heart, to see where we find our security in life. Usually the rich feel secure in their wealth, and think that, if that wealth is threatened, the whole meaning of their earthly life can collapse. Jesus himself tells us this in the parable of the rich fool: he speaks of a man who was sure of himself, yet foolish, for it did not dawn on him that he might die that very day (cf. Lk 12:16-21).
Wealth ensures nothing. Indeed, once we think we are rich, we can become so self-satisfied that we leave no room for God's word, for the love of our brothers and sisters, or for the enjoyment of the most important things in life. In this way, we miss out on the greatest treasure of all. That is why Jesus calls blessed those who are poor in spirit, those who have a poor heart, for there the Lord can enter with his perennial newness.
This spiritual poverty is closely linked to what Saint Ignatius of Loyola calls "holy indifference", which brings us to a radiant interior freedom: "We need to train ourselves to be indifferent in our attitude to all created things, in all that is permitted to our free will and not forbidden; so that on our part, we do not set our hearts on good health rather than bad, riches rather than poverty, honour rather than dishonour, a long life rather than a short one, and so in all the rest."[Spiritual Exercises, 23d]
Luke does not speak of poverty "of spirit" but simply of those who are "poor" (cf. Lk 6:20). In this way, he too invites us to live a plain and austere life. He calls us to share in the life of those most in need, the life lived by the Apostles, and ultimately to configure ourselves to Jesus who, though rich, "made himself poor" (2 Cor 8:9).
Being poor of heart: that is holiness.
"Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth"
These are strong words in a world that from the beginning has been a place of conflict, disputes and enmity on all sides, where we constantly pigeonhole others on the basis of their ideas, their customs and even their way of speaking or dressing. Ultimately, it is the reign of pride and vanity, where each person thinks he or she has the right to dominate others. Nonetheless, impossible as it may seem, Jesus proposes a different way of doing things: the way of meekness. This is what we see him doing with his disciples. It is what we contemplate on his entrance to Jerusalem: "Behold, your king is coming to you, humble, and mounted on a donkey" (Mt 21:5; Zech 9:9).
Christ says: "Learn from me; for I am gentle and humble of heart, and you will find rest for your souls" (Mt 11:29). If we are constantly upset and impatient with others, we will end up drained and weary. But if we regard the faults and limitations of others with tenderness and meekness, without an air of superiority, we can actually help them and stop wasting our energy on useless complaining. Saint Th?r?se of Lisieux tells us that "perfect charity consists in putting up with others' mistakes, and not being scandalized by their faults".[Manuscript C. 12r]
Paul speaks of meekness as one of the fruits of the Holy Spirit (cf. Gal 5:23). He suggests that, if a wrongful action of one of our brothers or sisters troubles us, we should try to correct them, but "with a spirit of meekness", since "you too could be tempted" (Gal 6:1). Even when we defend our faith and convictions, we are to do so "with meekness" (cf. 1 Pet 3:16). Our enemies too are to be treated "with meekness" (2 Tim 2:25). In the Church we have often erred by not embracing this demand of God's word.
Meekness is yet another expression of the interior poverty of those who put their trust in God alone. Indeed, in the Bible the same word - anawim - usually refers both to the poor and to the meek. Someone might object: "If I am that meek, they will think that I am an idiot, a fool or a weakling". At times they may, but so be it. It is always better to be meek, for then our deepest desires will be fulfilled. The meek "shall inherit the earth", for they will see God's promises accomplished in their lives. In every situation, the meek put their hope in the Lord, and those who hope for him shall possess the land ... and enjoy the fullness of peace (cf. Ps37:9.11). For his part, the Lord trusts in them: "This is the one to whom I will look, to the humble and contrite in spirit, who trembles at my word" (Is 66:2).
Reacting with meekness and humility: that is holiness.
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