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Daily Reading

Saint of the Day

St. Josephine Bakhita


St. Josephine Bakhita

Feast date: Feb 08

On February 8, the Church commemorates the life of St. Josephine Bakhita, a Canossian Sister who was kidnapped and sold into slavery in Sudan.

Josephine Bakhita was born in 1869, in a small village in the Darfur region of Sudan. She was kidnapped while working in the fields with her family and subsequently sold into slavery. Her captors asked for her name but she was too terrified to remember so they named her “Bakhita,” which means “fortunate” in Arabic.

Retrospectively, Bakhita was very fortunate, but the first years of her life do not necessarily attest to it. She was tortured by her various owners who branded her, beat and cut her.

In her biography she notes one particularly terrifying moment when one of her masters cut her 114 times and poured salt in her wounds to ensure that the scars remained.

“I felt I was going to die any moment, especially when they rubbed me in with the salt,” Bakhita wrote.

She bore her suffering valiantly though she did not know Christ or the redemptive nature of suffering. She also had a certain awe for the world and its creator.

“Seeing the sun, the moon and the stars, I said to myself: ‘Who could be the Master of these beautiful things?’ And I felt a great desire to see Him, to know Him and to pay Him homage.”

After being sold a total of five times, Bakhita was purchased by Callisto Legnani, the Italian consul in Khartoum, the capital of Sudan.

Two years later, he took Bakhita to Italy to work as a nanny for his colleague, Augusto Michieli.

He, in turn, sent Bakhita to accompany his daughter to a school in Venice run by the Canossian Sisters.

Bakhita felt called to learn more about the Church, and was baptized with the name “Josephine Margaret.” In the meantime, Michieli wanted to take Josephine and his daughter back to Sudan, but Josephine refused to return.

The disagreement escalated and was taken to the Italian courts where it was ruled that Josephine could stay in Italy because she was a free woman.

Slavery was not recognized in Italy and it had also been illegal in Sudan since before Josephine had been born.

Josephine remained in Italy and decided to enter Canossians in 1893. She made her profession in 1896 and was sent to Northern Italy, where she dedicated her life to assisting her community and teaching others to love God.

She was known for her smile, gentleness and holiness.

She even went on record saying, “If I were to meet the slave-traders who kidnapped me and even those who tortured me, I would kneel and kiss their hands, for if that did not happen, I would not be a Christian and Religious today.”

St. Josephine was beatified in 1992 and canonized shortly after on October 2000 by Pope John Paul II. She is the first person to be canonized from Sudan and is the patron saint of the country.

 

Daily Inspiration

Making Time for Jesus / Dedicarle tiempo a Jesús

In the USCCB translation of Mark’s Gospel, we read, “..they had no opportunity even to eat.” My Bible translation uses the word “leisure” in place of opportunity. Honestly, it seems like a better fit as I often lack making time for even the simplest things in life—like nourishment (physical and spiritual). My days are hectic and crazy, as I’m sure many of you can relate. I have numerous responsibilities at home, work, with my extended family, church, and community. All of which are very enjoyable, so it’s hard for me to say no and choose where to spend my time and energy.

You’d think something like eating would be a priority for most of us since we all need it to exist. However, the point Jesus is making in Mark’s Gospel goes far beyond what they couldn’t do and focuses more on what they should be doing. Returning from their ministerial endeavors, they are excited to share what they’d experienced, but also very exhausted (and I’m guessing from the passage, very hungry).

Jesus’ response to their busyness, even in their triumphs and accomplishments, was to “Come away by yourselves to a deserted place and rest a while.” How often does Jesus nudge our weary hearts with this same directive? We need to rest; we need leisure. In fact, it’s a commandment to make every Sunday a day of rest and to offer it to God.  

We observe Jesus in the Scriptures modeling this act of retreating to pray, demonstrating to us the need to make quiet and special time for prayer. A subtle moment I’ve missed while reading this Gospel is that the Apostles embark on a boat to a deserted place to rest, but if you read carefully, you’ll notice that they didn’t go without Jesus. We know this because just before He sees the vast crowd that has gone before them to this, now not-so-deserted place, Mark writes, “Jesus disembarks”. In other words, He exited the boat.

I remember when my children were little, my lunch was often just the scraps off their plates. Sometimes when I come to Jesus in prayer, like the apostles, I can get wrapped up in telling Him all the things I’ve done and then jump right into all my needs. I’m willing to have the scraps of what Jesus has to offer me, but Jesus wants to give me a full-course gourmet meal! – As made evident in the Eucharistic, which, of course, is the most amazing way He gives us Himself as true food for our souls. He wants us to be present and attentive, enjoying every bite of our time with Him.

Jesus has so much to teach us. He longs to guide and lead us to follow His ways. Much of our hectic, overwhelmed feeling would be less burdensome if we first, every single day, made time to go away with Jesus to a quiet and deserted place and rest a while.

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En la traducción del Evangelio de Marcos de la USCCB, leemos: “…no les dejaban tiempo ni para comer”. Mi traducción de la Biblia utiliza la palabra “ocio” en lugar de “dejaban”. Honestamente, parece que se ajusta mejor a esto, ya que a menudo no tengo tiempo para las cosas más sencillas de la vida, como la alimentación (física y espiritual). Mis días son frenéticos y locos, como seguramente muchos de ustedes pueden entender. Tengo numerosas responsabilidades en casa, en el trabajo, con mi familia extendida, la iglesia y la comunidad. Todas son muy agradables, por lo que me resulta difícil decir que no y elegir dónde invertir mi tiempo y energía.

Uno pensaría que algo como comer sería una prioridad para la mayoría de nosotros, ya que todos lo necesitamos para sobrevivir. Sin embargo, el punto que Jesús está planteando en el Evangelio de Marcos va mucho más allá de lo que no podían hacer y se centra más en lo que deberían estar haciendo. Al regresar de sus labores ministeriales, estaban entusiasmados por compartir lo que habían experimentado, pero también muy exhaustos (y supongo, por el pasaje, que tenían mucha hambre). 

La respuesta de Jesús a su ajetreo, incluso en sus triunfos y logros, fue: “Vengan conmigo a un lugar solitario, para que descansen un poco”. ¿Con qué frecuencia Jesús da un empujoncito a nuestros corazones cansados​​ con esta misma directiva? Necesitamos descansar; necesitamos tiempo libre. De hecho, es un mandamiento hacer de cada domingo un día de descanso y ofrecérselo a Dios.

Vemos a Jesús en las Escrituras modelando este acto de retirarse a orar, demostrándonos la necesidad de hacer un tiempo tranquilo y especial para la oración. Un momento sutil que me he perdido al leer este Evangelio es que los Apóstoles se embarcan en un barco hacia un lugar desierto para descansar, pero si lees con atención, notarás que no fueron sin Jesús. Sabemos esto porque justo antes de que vea a la gran multitud que los ha precedido a este lugar, ahora no tan solitario, Marcos escribe: “Jesús desembarcó”. En otras palabras, salió del barco.

Recuerdo que cuando mis hijos eran pequeños, mi almuerzo a menudo consistía en las sobras de sus platos. A veces, cuando vengo a Jesús en la oración, como los apóstoles, puedo envolverme en contarle todas las cosas que he hecho y luego pasar directamente a todas mis necesidades. Estoy dispuesta a tener las sobras de lo que Jesús tiene para ofrecerme, ¡pero Jesús quiere darme una comida gourmet completa! – Como se evidencia en la Eucaristía, que, por supuesto, es la forma más asombrosa en que se nos da a Sí mismo como verdadero alimento para nuestras almas. Él quiere que estemos presentes y atentos, disfrutando cada bocado de nuestro tiempo con Él.

Jesús tiene tanto que enseñarnos. Anhela guiarnos y conducirnos a seguir Sus caminos. Gran parte de nuestro sentimiento frenético y abrumador sería menos pesado si primero, todos los días, nos tomáramos un tiempo para ir con Jesús a un lugar tranquilo y solitario para descansar un rato.

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Allison Gingras (www.ReconciledToYou.com ) shares an everyday Catholic faith with humor and honesty. Her writing includes The Handy Little Guide to Novenas (OSV), Encountering Signs of Faith (Ave Maria Press), and the Stay Connected Journals for Catholic Women (Our Sunday Visitor), with a new edition “Jesus Heals,” coming in 2025. Allison is the Director of Digital Evangelization for Family Rosary USA.

Feature Image Credit: nad_dyagileva, pixabay.com/photos/book-lilac-flowers-cocoa-drink-3387071/

The views and opinions expressed in the Inspiration Daily blog are solely those of the original authors and contributors. These views and opinions do not necessarily represent those of Diocesan, the Diocesan staff, or other contributors to this blog.

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