Pray for: Haiti

The litany of tragedies to strike Haiti seems unending. The 2010 earthquake took up to 300,000 lives, and rendered 1.6 million people homeless. The cholera outbreak that followed claimed thousands more and made over a million sick. Mass protests and high fuel prices plagued the years 2018-2021. Then the President was assassinated in his own home in July 2021. This was followed by another huge earthquake a month later. It was the worst natural disaster in the world in 2021, but merely one more tragic episode for this broken nation. Haiti’s plight began with centuries of unjust treatment at the hands of Western powers, and continued after independence. Now, ruthless armed gangs wreak havoc and wield more power than the empty husks of governance or policing. The layers of brokenness seem impossible to fix as corruption, exploitation, terrible poverty, acute hunger, and sexual violence are widespread. Pray for God to break through and bring lasting change in this land desperate for salvation.

Tyranny, cruelty, and spiritual bondage fill Haiti’s history. The Spanish genocide against the indigenous Arawaks, Spanish and then French slavery, and Haiti’s own brutal leaders promoted a spirit of violence for centuries. Voodoo (a religion of spirits) creates fear throughout society. Many Catholics practise some voodoo. Pray that the power of the Holy Spirit might overcome the forces of evil. Pray for the Holy Spirit to cleanse the Church. Ask God to bind the powerful spirits underlying voodooism in Jesus’ name, so the nation can be wholly dedicated to the Lord.