Anniversary of the Dedication of Sacred Heart Chapel

Today, October 24, the Sisters of Saint Benedict celebrate the anniversary of the Dedication of Sacred Heart Chapel at the monastery. At 7:00 a.m. nearly 100 Sisters met for Morning Prayer in the chapel and Sister Micheala Hedican, the Prioress, began in a clear voice singing "Let all creation God's glory proclaim, with praise and thanks, we bless God's name." It is always amazing to me that that many women who have been keeping silence since the evening before, can begin a new day with strong vibrant voices. OK, some mornings we are flat but not on a feast day! We tend to really "get into it" on a celebration day and the house of God is something about which to celebrate.

The reading for the prayer service was from the Second Book of Chronicles and it seemed especially meaningful: "Solomon, I have heard your prayer. And I have chosen this place for myself to be a Temple for sacrifices. I may stop the sky from sending rain. I may send sicknesses to my people. Then my people, who are called by my name, will be sorry for what they done. They will pray to me and I will hear them from heaven. I will forgive their sin and I will heal their land. And I will listen to the prayers prayed in this place. I have chosen this Temple and made it holy. So, I will be worshiped here forever. Yes, I will always watch over it and love it."

And this became even more meaningful for me when I got to my office. There was an e-mail from a friend thanking for the prayers of the Sisters for several people who are close to her. This friend asked the Sisters to pray and we did and, very often, our God is gracious enough to answer those prayers. God says to us, "Sisters, I have heard your prayer!"

Awareness of Human Trafficking in US

Awareness and Fighting of Human Trafficking

I have the good fortune of being a member of the Forum for Executive Women here in St. Cloud, MN. This group of more than 100 professional women meets monthly to network and hear lectures on pertinent topics. Our last lecture was on the prevalence of Human Trafficking. This is hardly a popular topic; rather one that we would like to deny exists in this country, even in this state and probably, in this city.

The reality is that it exists in this country and in this state. It is often operated out of hotels. There are about 1.5 million girls and boys who are in sex exploitation; the average age is between 12 and 14 years of age. Human trafficking is big business -- $32 billion dollar business worldwide with the United States playing a significant role in that business. It is difficult to get an accurate amount of profit but it is clearly big business and includes industrial slavery as well as sex exploitation. The sex exploitation is not about sex; it is about money.

Persons who are most vulnerable for human trafficking are children who come from unstable homes, those who have a poor self-concept, the homeless and runaway children. Adults are also vulnerable – the unemployed, those who do not have good language skills, the unskilled needing work. These adults end up working in “sweat shops” earning very little for wages and yet needing to pay for their room and board, signing unreasonable contracts with the employer, etc.

Why am I writing this blog? First of all, to create an awareness of human trafficking, to encourage all to do what we can to assist young children to be self-asserting, to learn life skills and to develop strong personalities.

You may want to check out these websites: www.childrenofthenight.org www.sharedhope.org

www.trafficinghope.org

There are also a number of books on human trafficking:

The Slave Next Door: Human Trafficking and Slavery in America Today by Kevin Bates; Caged by Molly Venzke (situated in New Orleans); A Crime So Monstrous: Face-to-Face with Modern-Day Slavery by E. Benjamin Skinner as well as other informative books.



Be informed, be alert, be part of the solution!



Miriam Ardolf, OSB