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Day 2 Saints Novena – Josephine Bakhita
We offer this Saints Novena in gratitude for the ways God lives and moves and has being in the lives of all the saints who are part of this online community. We give thanks for you and for the gift of God that you are to us and to the world. It is because of people like you that there is this awesome place of hospitality and gospel community. This novena is written by the A Nun’s Life Community.
2 Saints Novena – Josephine Bakhita – by Sister Maxine
Reflection: St. Josephine Bakhita shows us that forgiveness and freedom walk hand in hand. Kidnapped into slavery as young girl in Sudan, Bakhita was sold and re-sold in African slave markets. The name, Bakhita, meaning “Fortunate One,” was given to her by her kidnappers.
Bakhita faced great physical, spiritual, and emotional adversity during her enslavement. But even these experiences could not destroy the seeds of hope and transformation that lived in Bakhita.
Eventually, Bakhita was purchased by a family that, by the standards of the times, treated her kindly. She later moved to Italy with the family, and there she met the Canossian Daughters of Charity. With them, she began her journey into the Catholic faith and was baptized. The sisters were among those who helped Bakhita, baptized as “Josephine,” achieve her freedom, and soon she entered the congregation.
St. Josephine forgave her kidnappers and captors. They had caused enormous pain in her life, yet she chose forgiveness. In doing so, she rejected hate, anger, fear, and revenge—emotions that, in themselves, enslave people and rob their capacity for joy.In forgiving others, St. Josephine chose freedom, and in her freedom, she found joy.
Prayer: Walk with us, St. Josephine Bakhita, at times when we feel unable to forgive others. Help us find our way through the pain we’ve experienced. Help us open ourselves to transformation. Free us from that which can enslave us. Walk with us into a new place of joy.
Suggested Reading:
- http://www.canossiansisters.org.au/about/bakhita.html
- http://www.vatican.va/news_services/liturgy/saints/ns_lit_doc_20001001_giuseppina-bakhita_en.html
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I’m so often amazed and humbled by people who forgive wrongs that are so extreme and so far beyond my petty grievances. Thanks for sharing Josephine’s story.