Today, September 3, 2026, we, the members of the Vincentian Family, pray for children growing up in refugee settlements.

Many children spend their earliest years in temporary shelters that become permanent. They grow up amid uncertainty, overcrowding, limited education, and memories of violence they were too young to understand.

Every child deserves safety, play, learning, affection, and the freedom to dream. Yet refugee children are often treated as numbers in a crisis rather than as persons with gifts, hopes, and a future.

Saint Vincent and Saint Louise made abandoned and vulnerable children a central concern of their service. Their example calls us to protect children whose lives have been disrupted by war, persecution, and displacement.

We pray today for children living in refugee settlements. May they receive education, healthcare, protection, and loving accompaniment. May the international community work for lasting solutions so that no child is forced to spend an entire childhood waiting for a home.

Word of God

“Let the little children come to me; do not stop them, for it is to such as these that the kingdom of God belongs.”
(Mark 10:14)

Prayer

Jesus, friend of children, shelter those growing up far from home. Protect their innocence, nourish their hopes, and make us defenders of their rights and builders of a future worthy of their dreams. Amen.