Thought for the Day – 8 February
At her canonisation ceremony on October 1, 2000, Pope John Paul II said of St. Josephine: “In today’s world, countless women continue to be victimized, even in developed modern societies. In St. Josephine Bakhita we find a shining advocate of genuine emancipation. The history of her life inspires not passive acceptance but the firm resolve to work effectively to free girls and women from oppression and violence and to return them to their dignity in the full exercise of their rights.”
Bakhita knew the reality of being a slave, an immigrant and a spiritual seeker. Even while she was outwardly denied freedom and human dignity, her spirit was free. It was that freedom of spirit that allowed her to follow her heart and live her true vocation. Her body was mutilated by those who enslaved her but they could not touch her spirit. Her Baptism set her on an eventual path toward asserting her civic freedom and then service to God’s people as a Canossian Sister. She who worked under many “masters” was finally happy to address God as “master” and carry out everything that she believed to be God’s will for her.
St Josephine Bakhita Pray for us and for the whole world!
