Amid a national outcry over the rape of learners at school, and the slow response in investigating the cases, the Archbishop has issued the following prayer:
God, our Creator and Sustainer,
With heavy hearts, we prostrate ourselves before your throne of grace,
Our only hope being in you when all organs of the State appear to be failing in their duties.
We bring before you the child victims of barbaric sexual and other abuse in our land,
We pray especially today for those whose lives have been touched by the alleged rapes of a seven-year-old in the Eastern Cape and a 13-year-old in Limpopo,
We bring the victims and their families before you for strength, consolation and healing,
We ask that their families will experience your power and your guidance,
And that your presence will be felt in the schools in which they trusted.
God, they are but children who bear your image as part of this, your world,
A world which you declared to be good and pleasing to you when you created it.
As Jesus, your Son, prayed for his disciples,
So God, we now pray for the victims in these cases, who belong to you, and to you alone,
Keep them safe in this cruel world by the power of your name (Jn 17: 9-11).
As we share at this moment in the anguish of victims and their families,
May you, our God, also groan with us, as we your children, offer this prayer in faith.
As we stand in solidarity with the families of all victims of abuse,
May your unfathomable love envelop the families of these victims now,
May your Holy Spirit protect and guide our communities,
And bring us to union with Christ as we transform and re-create our institutions of learning.
Lord in your mercy,
Hear our prayers and heal our country.
Amen.
††Thabo Cape Town