Jesus, Prince of Peace, the world is preparing to welcome the new millennium with joy and hope.
All are making plans on how, where and with whom to celebrate this occasion.
Energy, time, and money are being invested lavishly.

While the world is busy in mundane planning, my people cry “Lord save us, we are drowning”.

They ask to be saved from Jihad (holy war);
They ask to be saved from rape;
They ask to be saved from aerial bombardment and land mines;
They ask to be saved from slavery;
They ask to be saved from man-made famine;
They ask to be saved from those who pretend to determine our needs and priorities;
They ask to be saved from those who try to destroy the unity of the Church and the Sudan;

They ask to be saved from those who under the guise of compassion and donation fatigue turn down our pleas for assistance and solidarity.

Lord Jesus, move the hearts, enlighten the minds and strengthen the will of those who have the power to bring justice and peace to my people.

Dear Jesus, we raise our voices and cry; “We are forgotten and marginalized”.
Is it because we do not live in Europe as the Kosovars?
Is it because we have different skin colour and different physical features?
Is it because we do not have any strategic importance?

Lord, as we celebrate your birth at the start of another millennium we humbly ask :

That our brother bishops listen to us as the voice of our voiceless people. May they have an ecclesiastical and universal heart beyond the boundaries of their dioceses;

That the leaders of the Christian nations be filled by the Holy Spirit and get seriously involved in ending Sudan’s suffering with wisdom, and courage;

That people of good will continue to assist us in the process of healing and reconciliation.

Lord Jesus, we thank you for the gift of the first Sudanese Saint “Josephine Bakhita”. She too was sold, bought and redeemed.
From the bitterness and shame of earthly slavery, she willingly became the slave of Your Love.
May she intercede for her brothers and sisters, that they too may be saved from the evil of slavery and from those who condemn the redemption of her people.
And may she obtain for the Church and for Sudan the gift of justice and peace.