Prayer for Our Migrant Sisters and Brothers

A mother migrates with her children.
They hope to escape poverty.
No one will let them try.
They are turned back at the border.

A family flees to escape war and death.
They leave with nothing.
They will never return.

A father entrusts his son to a relative
who knows of a job for the boy.
The boy becomes a slave in a factory.

A young woman responds to an ad:
"Work in a factory! Make money!"
She is made to prostitute her body.

A teenager migrates to the city, looking for work.
He performs heavy labor for pennies.
He sleeps with cockroaches.
He almost starves,
but he sends money to his family.

Today we remember the plight of migrants.
God, they are all your children.

Help us, as Pope Benedict XVI calls us:
to understand the causes of migration,
to feel solidarity with those who migrate, and
to work for safety and justice for those who flee poverty and war. Amen.

by Jill Rauh