0
0
Pope Francis’ Catechesis 22 on The Apostolic Zeal of the Believer
Pope Francis catechesis 22 St. Peter’s Square Wednesday, 11 October 2023]
Catechesis. The passion for evangelization: the apostolic zeal of the believer. 22.
Saint Josephine Bakhita: witness to the transforming power of Christ’s forgiveness
Luke (22:32-34) Two others also, who were criminals, were led away to be put to death with him. And when they came to the place which is called The Skull, there they crucified him, and the criminals, one on the right and one on the left. And Jesus said, “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.”
“Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do”
Dear brothers and sisters,
On the of catechetical journey on apostolic zeal we are inspired today by the witness of St. Josephine Bakhita, a Sudanese saint. Unfortunately, for months Sudan has been torn apart by a terrible armed conflict about which little is said today; Let us pray for the Sudanese people, that they may live in peace! But St. Bakhita’s fame has crossed all borders and has reached all those who are refused identity and dignity.
Born in Darfur – the battered Darfur! – in 1869, she was kidnapped by her family at the age of seven and made a slave. Her captors called her “Bakhita,” which means “lucky.” She went through eight masters – one selling to the other… Her physical and moral suffering, from when she was a child, left her without an identity. He suffered nastiness and violence: on his body he bore more than a hundred scars. But she herself testified: “As a slave I never despaired, because I felt a mysterious force supporting me.”
In the face of this testimony, I ask myself: what is the secret of Saint Bakhita?
We know that often the injured person hurts in turn. The oppressed easily becomes an oppressor. Instead, the vocation of the oppressed is to liberate themselves and the oppressors by becoming restorers of humanity. the power of God’s love that sets both free can be revealed only in the weakness of the oppressed. Saint Bakhita expresses this truth very well.
One day her guardian gave her a small crucifix, and she, who had never owned anything, kept it as a jealous treasure. Looking at it she experiences an inner liberation, because she felt understood and lovedand therefore she was able to understand and love. This is the beginning.
She felt understood, she felt loved, accordingly capable of understanding and loving others.
In fact, she could say: “The love of God has always accompanied me in a mysterious way… The Lord has loved me so much: I must love everyone. I must have pity!” This is the soul of Bakhita.
Truly, to suffer means both suffering with the victims of so much inhumanity present in the world, and also pitying those who commit errors and injustices, not justifying, but humanizing.
This is the caress that she teaches us: humanizing. When we get into the logic of struggle, of division among ourselves, of bad feelings, one against the other, we lose humanity.
So many times we think that we need humanity, to be more human.
Saint Bakhita teaches us this word: humanize, humanize ourselves and humanize others.
As St. Bakhita became a Christian, she was so transformed by Christ’s words that she meditated on them every day: “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do” (Lk 23:34).
This is why she said: “If Judas had asked Jesus for forgiveness, he too would have found mercy”.
We can say that St. Bakhita’a lifw has become an existential parable of forgiveness.
How beautiful to say of a person “she was capable, she was always able to forgive”.
And she was able to do that always. In fact her life is an existential parable of forgiveness. Forgive because then we will be forgiven.
Do not forget this: forgiveness is God’s caress to all of us.
Forgiveness set her free. The forgiveness first received through the merciful love of God, and then the forgiveness given, made her a free, joyful woman, capable of loving.
St. Bakhita was able to experience service, not as slavery, but as an expression of the free gift of self. And this is very important: she was made a servant voluntarily – she was sold as a slave – she then freely chose to become a servant, to carry on her shoulders the burdens of others.
St. Josephine Bakhita, by her example, shows us the way to finally be free from our bondages and fears. She helps us to unmask our hypocrisies and selfishness, to overcome resentments and conflicts. And she always encourages us.
Dear brothers and sisters, forgiveness does not take anything away but adds something – what does forgiveness add? – dignity: forgiveness does not take anything away from you but adds dignity to the person, it makes people lift p their eyes from themselves to others, to see them as fragile as we are, but always brothers and sisters in the Lord.
Brothers and sisters, forgiveness is the source of a zeal that becomes mercy and calls to a humble and joyful holiness, like that of St Bakhita.
