Source: www.csw.org.uk
Date: August 30, 2025
Will you lift up a prayer for those who are forcibly disappeared because of their beliefs?
Often, as in the case of Pastor Aaron Méndez Ruiz, the disappeared are targeted for carrying out works of compassion and justice in the face of evil and exploitation.
Pastor Méndez operated a shelter for refugees along the border of Mexico and the United States. In early 2019, criminal groups broke in and kidnapped Cuban refugees, who were released only after ransom was paid by their relatives. During their captivity, the refugees were tortured and assaulted.
When, that summer, the criminal group tried again, Pastor Méndez, attempting to protect those inside, blocked them from entering the shelter. On 3 August 2019, the criminal group came a third time and took one of his managers, Alfredo Castillo de Luna. When the pastor went to look for his colleague, he too disappeared. Neither has been seen since.
Faced with the injustice of enforced disappearance, it can be easy to echo the writer of Ecclesiastes:
‘Again, I looked and saw all the oppression that was taking place under the sun: I saw the tears of the oppressed— and they have no comforter; power was on the side of their oppressors— and they have no comforter.’ (Ecclesiastes 4:1-2)
And yet we pray, to you, God of comfort, our redeemer and bringer of justice.
Lord Jesus, though it seems so difficult to hope for those who are victims of enforced disappearance, we remember that you are the one who leaves the ninety-nine to go in search for the one. (Luke 15:4)
You O Lord, are with them. Comfort them in their distress. Bring an end to the injustice brought about by perpetrators and draw that which is in darkness into the light.
Amen.