Saint Josephine Bakhita

8 FEBRUARY 2010. Today is the feast day (optional memorial) of Saint Josephine Bakhita, an African nun who endured the evil of slavery to offer herself to Christ in service to His Bride, the Church.

Saint Josephine was born in 1869 in the western Sudanese region of Darfur. Her family was locally important, as her father was the brother of the local chief, but at the age of 12 Josephine was kidnapped by Arab slave traders. After her abduction, Saint Josephine was sold and resold five times in the slave markets of North Africa. The trauma of these years was so intense that the saint forgot her given name. The name we venerate her by today is a combination of the Christian name she took for herself as an adult--Josephine--and the name her captors gave her--Bakhita, which means "lucky" in Arabic.

Saint Josephine suffered great brutality at the hands of her slave owners. She was truly broken by the anger and evil of the world as Christ was broken in the trauma of His passion. One time, the son of her owner beat her so badly that she lay motionless in bed for nearly a month. However, Saint Josephine later recounted that her most terrifying moment came at the hands of her fourth owner, who had her marked as his property by extensive scarring. A razor was used to make deep cuts along lines that had been drawn on her skin, then the wounds were filled with salt and flour to ensure scarring. For the rest of her life, Saint Josephine carried the more than sixty patterns that were cut into her skin in this manner.

Saint Josephine's final owner was an Italian diplomat who brought her to live with him and serve as a nanny for his daughter in Italy. In 1888 or 1889, the Saint Josephine's Italian owner left her and his daughter in the care of the Canossian Sisters in Venice while he went abroad on business for an extended period. In 1890, Saint Josephine was baptized. When the man returned to collect Saint Josephine and his daughter, Saint Josephine protested leaving and the head of the school notified the authorities. After a legal battle, the Italian courts determined that Saint Josephine was a free woman, as Sudan had outlawed slavery before her birth and Italian law did not recognize slavery.

On 8 December 1896 Saint Josephine professed vows with the sisters and in 1902 she was sent by her order to a convent in Schio, in the northern Italian province of Vicenza. Except for a period of several years spent training sisters to minister in Africa (1935-1938), Saint Josephine spent the rest of her life in Schio. At her convent, Saint Josephine usually served as a doorkeeper, greeting the local community every day. She was known for her gentleness and ever present smile, and was referred to lovingly as a nostra madre moretta ("our little brown mother").

Saint Josephine's order recognized her charisma and reputation for sanctity and asked her to write her memoirs and give talks about her experiences, which she did. After her biography was published in 1930, Saint Josephine became a noted and sought-after speaking, using her gifts and experiences to raise money for her order and its causes.

In her last years, Saint Josephine suffered from pain and sickness. Her mind was driven back to her early days of captivity in her delirium, and she would cry to have someone remove her chains. However, her last words were: "Our Lady! Our Lady!" Saint Josephine died on 8 February 1947. After her death, Saint Josephine's body lay in repose for three days as thousands of the faithful paid their respects.

Calls for Saint Josephine's canonization began immediately after her death. The process of canonization was begun in 1959. And, on 1 October 2000, the great and Venerable Pope John Paul II canonized Saint Josephine Bakhita.

Saint Josephine is the patron saint of Sudan.

Prayer

Heavenly Father,
Your Son Jesus Christ, through His suffering and
death on the cross, gave Himself
as a gift of love for the reconciliation and salvation of all peoples.
He continues to express this love
by giving us St. Josephine Bakhita.
She too offered herself through her suffering in slavery.
We humbly pray that through her intercession
You may save her brothers and sisters in Sudan
from slavery and persecution.
May she obtain for her people and for the whole world
the gift of justice and peace.
We ask this through Christ our Lord.

Amen.

Dominican Anniversary of Deceased Parents

7 FEBRUARY 2010. Today the Dominican Order recognizes on its calendar the anniversary of deceased parents.

In this celebration we remember our parents who have preceded us with the sign of faith and rest in peace. The Dominican Family joins together to honor our deceased parents with the same affection we showed them in life, for in Christ they gave us birth and showed us what it means to be followers of Christ.

 Today I pray for my grandparents, Rosalie and Joel, and Evelyn and Ernest. Praise be to God, my parents, Sharon and Roy, are in good health and doing well.

Let us join our prayers today for all parents and grandparents who have been born into eternity before us.

Prayer

O God, 
who hast commanded us to honor our father and our mother; 
in Thy mercy have pity on the soul(s) of N., 
and forgive them their trespasses; 
and make me to see them again in the joy 
of everlasting brightness. 
Through Christ our Lord. 

Amen.

FIFTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

7 FEBRUARY 2010. Today the Church celebrates Sunday of the fifth week in ordinary time. The readings for today's mass can be found here.

Here are today's questions for reflection: How well do we listen? Do we really hear what we would say we are listening to? And, if we are hearing in our listening, how do we respond?

Listening is an important aspect of each of today's readings, the psalms, and the Gospel passage. In the first reading from the Book of Isaiah, the prophet says he "heard the voice of the Lord." This hearing of God's voice followed Isaiah's vision of the Lord in which he heard the Seraphim crying to one another in praise of God. Then, the responsorial psalm begins with the words: "I will give thanks to you, O LORD, with all my heart, for you have heard the words of my mouth . . . ." The psalmist is praising God for listening to his unworthy creation--unworthy, but for the love of God.

In the second reading from Saint Paul's First Letter to the Corinthians, the Apostle speaks of the Gospel message which he preached to the people, and which they "received," certainly meaning that they had listened to him. Finally, in the crowning act of today's Liturgy of the Word, we hear the passage from the Gospel of Saint Luke that begins by telling us that Jesus had to preach to the people  from a boat because they were pressing in on Him "listening to the word of God . . . ."

So, do we listen? Like the people on the shores of Lake Gennesaret, are we listening to the Word of God? Are we listening as Isaiah listened to the Lord? Do we listen--do we receive--as the Corinthians did from Saint Paul and the apostles? Do we listen as our Lord does?

To listen our hearts must be in the correct orientation--that is, our hearts must be disposed to God through prayer and faith. Hearts that are only of the world will not listen. Hearts of stone, made that way by a focus only on the acts of humankind, will not listen. I pray that we are listening. I pray that we are listening with attentiveness and are yearning to hear the Lord. For in this hearing we are not merely listening, but are ingesting the Word and making the Lord's word a part of ourselves.

If we hear, then, we cannot fail to be effected. While passive listening is possible, such passivity is not hearing. To hear we must engage. If we not only listen to the Lord and the Church, but also hear, our lives will reflect that hearing--that understanding and making our own what we hear is what distinguishes mere listening from hearing.

In the first reading we know that Isaiah heard the Lord because he reacted. He first acknowledged his own sinfulness by crying: "Woe is me. I am doomed!" He heard the Lord and the cries of the Seraphim and knew that he, in his own right as merely human, was not worthy of the Lord. The psalmist also hears the Lord, as he acknowledges that his salvation is found in the Lord--but a handful of words, but so important an acknowledgment of hearing: "Your right hand saves me . . . ."

In the second reading it appears clear that Saint Paul believed that the Corinthians not only listened to him, but also heard him: "I am reminding you, brothers and sisters, of the gospel I preached to you, which you indeed received and in which you also stand." If the Corinthians stood in the faith they certainly heard the message of the apostle.

Finally, in the Gospel we know that Simon Peter, James and John, the sons of Zebedee, heard Christ Jesus. He spoke and they acted. To act in response to what is said means that true hearing has occurred. We cannot truly respond without hearing. To listen, to hear and understand, and then to act on what we have heard is the completion of the human acknowledgment of the Gospel that is provided to us today.

Peter and his partners put out into deep water and lowered their nets because Jesus commanded them to do so. This is in spite of Peter's protest that they had worked hard all night, but caught nothing. The response of the fishermen was rewarded with a catch so abundant that the two boats were in peril of sinking. But, remarkable as this response was to the command of the Lord, it is not the greatest response given by the Disciples in the Gospel. At the end of the Gospel it says: "When they brought their boats to the shore,they left everything and followed him."

Now we have arrived at what it is to listen, hear, and respond.

No matter the great catch of fish, upon arriving at the shore the Disciples left everything--the catch of fish too--and followed Jesus. They listened to the words of Jesus, they heard his commands, and they responded with their very lives--dedicating themselves to following the Lord. So, too, in Isaiah, when the Lord calls the prophet's answer is: "Here I am!" And, "[S]end me." Isaiah also responds to the Lord with his life.

What about us? How well do we listen to the Lord? Do we really hear what the Lord and the Church teach? And, do we respond with our lives? Understand that the Church does not teach that all of the faithful should become itinerant preachers or contemplatives or ordained or take religious vows. Instead, we are each called to respond to the Gospel--to the triune God the Father, our Lord Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit--in the circumstances we find ourselves in by living our lives with hearts that are turned to God. Eager to listen, ready to hear, and willing to turn over our lives to living in accord with the teachings of Christ.

To do this, first and foremost, we must pray. Prayer attunes our heart and our senses to God. Without prayer we are world-centered, when we are called, instead, to  be Christ-centered. Then, with a heart that is prepared by prayer, we must receive the sacraments. Those external signs of internal grace are necessary to sustain us in this world. Through prayer and the sacraments, then, we listen, we hear, and we respond.

Have a blessed Sunday.

NOVUS: Attending mass after writing this post, it also occurred to me (I don't know how I missed it) that there is also a striking resemblance between Isaiah's response to God and Simon Peter's response. Both begin, in the presence of the Lord, with a confession of failure and humility. Isaiah says: "Woe is me. I am doomed!" And Saint Peter, at the knees of Christ, says: "Depart from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man." The humility of this response to God--a reflection of the gracious humility of our Lord in reaching to us to offer salvation--is striking. In both cases too, the Lord listens, hears, and reacts with perfect love. Isaiah's lips are made clean by the ember from the altar. So, too, Saint Peter is made a fisherman of men, worthy to follow Christ as His Apostle.

Prayer Before Connecting to the Internet

By Father John Zuhlsdorf

Omni­potens aeterne Deus,
qui secundum imaginem Tuam nos plasmasti
et omnia bona, vera, et pulchra,
praesertim in divi­na persona Unigeniti Fi­lii Tui
Domini nostri Iesu Christi, quaerere iussi­sti,
praesta, quaesumus,
ut, per intercessionem Sancti Isidori, Epi­scopi et Doctoris,
in peregrinationibus per interrete,
et manus oculosque ad quae Tibi sunt placita intendamus
et omnes quos conveni­mus cum caritate ac patientia accipiamus.
Per Christum Dominum nostrum.

Amen.


Almighty and eternal God,
who created us in Thy image
and bade us to seek after all that is good, true and beautiful,
especially in the divine person
of Thy Only-begotten Son, our Lord Jesus Christ,
grant, we beseech Thee,
that, through the intercession of Saint Isidore, Bishop and Doctor,
during our journeys through the internet
we will direct our hands and eyes
only to that which is pleasing to Thee
and treat with charity and patience all those souls whom we encounter.
Through Christ our Lord.

Amen.

IMAGE: Saint Isidore by Murillo.

Saints Paul Miki and Companions

6 FEBRUARY 2010. Today the Church celebrates the memorial of Saint Paul Miki, a Japanese Jesuit brother, and 25 others who were martyred in Nagasaki, Japan in A.D. 1597.

The first missionaries to Japan, including Saint Francis Xavier, arrived in 1549, and were welcomed by the Japanese people. Indeed, many Japanese converted to the faith because of the work of these missionaries. By A.D. 1587 there were more than 200,000 Japanese Christians. However, under the new leadership of Hideyoshi, who feared Christians would take over the government on the basis of a Spanish merchant's gossip, that year the missionaries were banished from Japan and many of the Catholic churches were destroyed. Following this purging, some missionary priests remained in Japan in hiding, dressing and living as Japanese, and continued to minister to the Christians there.

On 8 December 1596, Hideyoshi arrested and condemned to death the friars of Miako. These souls consisted of three Japanese Jesuit catechists, including Saint Paul Miki, six Franciscans (four of whom were Spanish and one Indian and one Mexican), and seventeen Japanese lay Christians, some of whom were children. The twenty-six men were tortured and made to march from Miako to Nagasaki through the snow and across frozen streams. On this spectacular journey meant to dissuade Japanese Christians from their faith, the martyrs sang psalms of praise and joy, prayed the rosary, and preached to those they passed. On 5 February the band of 26 Christians reached Nagasaki and found twenty-six crosses awaiting them on what is now called the Holy Mountain. Tradition tells that Saints Miki and his companions ran to their crosses. They were bound to the crosses by iron bands at the wrists, ankles, and the throat. Then, after being crucified, all of these Saints were stabbed with a lance as our Lord Jesus Christ was penetrated at His crucifixion. The blood-stained clothes of these martyrs were treasured by the Christian community in Japan and many miracles have been attributed to the intercessions of these saints.

Many people watched the crucifixion of Saints Miki and his companions. Hideyoshi and the government had hoped that this example of terrible execution would frighten the other Japanese Christians. Instead, the witness of these martyrs gave Christians in Japan the courage to profess their faith as Saints Miki and his companions had.

In A.D. 1858 Japan allowed Christian missionaries to return where they found many Christians still professing the faith, which they had carried on in secret in the more than two hundred years since the crucifixion of Saints Miki and his companions. 

At the time of his arrest Saint Paul Miki had completed his studies for the priesthood and would have become the first ordained Japanese priest. From his cross, tradition records that Saint Paul Miki forgave his executioners and told the assembled people to ask Christ to show them how to be truly happy. Saints Miki and his companions were canonized by Blessed Pope Pius IX in A.D. 1862.

Prayer
(From the Liturgy of the Hours)

God our Father,
source of strength for all your saints,
you led Paul Miki and his companions
through the suffering of the cross
to the joy of eternal life.
May their prayers give us the courage
to be loyal until death in profession our faith.
We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, you Son,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever.

Amen.

IMAGE: Unknown Artist (from Women for Faith & Family (St Louis: Women for Faith & Family, 2010 http://wf-f.org/StPaulMiki.html)).

Saint Agatha

5 FEBRUARY 2010. Today the Church celebrates the memorial of Saint Agatha, a third century martyr, celebrated in the ancient Church, who continues to be an exemplar of devotion and love for Christ today.

Probably familiar to the many Americans of Italian heritage, especially from Southern Italy, Saint Agatha was born in Catania, Sicily and was martyred there in A.D. 251. Saint Agatha is only one of seven women, other than our Blessed Mother, that was commemorated by name in the canon of the mass (in the Novus Ordo, now called the Eucharistic Prayer) in the mass of Pope Pius V.

Not much historically is known of Saint Agatha. She has been venerated as a martyr and virgin in the Church since the third century, and her written legend comprises some of the earliest known hagiographic literature. What we do know of Saint Agatha comes from that literature.

Agatha was a beautiful and rich woman that lived a life that had been consecrated to God. However, she was amorously pursued by a Roman Prefect, Quinctianus, who was probably trying to gain sexual advantage of Agatha in exchange for protecting her from the edicts against Christians issued by the Emperor Decius. After rejecting the advances of Quinctianus, Agatha was persecuted by him. First she was given over to a woman who ran a brothel, and upon Agatha's refusal to succumb, she was beaten, tortured and imprisoned. Saint Agatha's breasts were crushed and cut off. One version of her hagiography tells of an apparition of Saint Peter visiting Saint Agatha and healing her. Saint Agatha was finally rolled naked on hot coals, and while she was undergoing this torture an earthquake struck, killing a friend of Quinctianus and causing Quinctianus to flea. One of the hagiographic accounts says that at Quinctianus' flight Saint Agatha thanked God for her suffering and die. Another account says that she was then returned to prison where she later died.

In any event, it is clear from tradition that Saint Agatha was a holy woman who was martyred for her love and faith in Christ. May we too, today, love Christ with such depth.

Saint Agatha is often depicted carrying her breasts on a platter . She is the patron of torture victims, Siciliy, and of women who suffer from breast cancer or other illnesses of the breasts.

Prayer

Lord God,
Agatha always pleased you by her chastity
and in the end by her martyrdom.
May she obtain for us merciful pardon
for our sins.

Amen.

IMAGE: Giovani Lanfranco (1582-1647), St. Peter Healing St. Agatha.

Florida's Personhood Amendment: Not the Answer, But Don't Shy from Preaching the Gospel of Life

TALLAHASSEE, 5 FEB. 2010 (AS). For those currently uninformed of Florida politics (aside from that little dangling chad issue that the folks in South Florida had during the 2000 election cycle), there is a hot debate going on in Tallahassee over the proposed, so-called “Personhood Amendment” to the state constitution. The text of the amendment is as follows:

SECTION 28. Person Defined.--

(a) The words “person” and “natural person” apply to all human beings, irrespective of age, race, health, function, condition of physical and/or mental dependency and/or disability, or method of reproduction, from the beginning of the biological development of that human being.

(b) This amendment shall take effect on the first day of the next regular legislative session occurring after voter approval of this amendment.

The purpose of the Personhood Amendment, it appears, is to make all forms of abortion at any stage of development and in any circumstance illegal.

However, in the oddest pairing of political bedfellows, Planned Parenthood and Florida’s Catholic Bishops agree, although for vastly different reasons, that the Personhood Amendment is bad and should not be enshrined into the Florida Constitution.

Here is the statement of the Florida Catholic Bishops:

While we sincerely respect the goal to amend the Florida Constitution so as to acknowledge full human rights for every human being, after careful consideration we do not support the currently proposed amendment. It is our opinion, and that of the legal experts with whom we have consulted, that passage of this amendment would not achieve the goal of overturning Roe v. Wade.

If such an amendment were to pass, a feat more difficult in our state due to the requirement to achieve support by 60% of voters, we are convinced that a federal district court would strike it down based on Roe. This decision would undoubtedly be affirmed by an appellate court, and the case would either not be granted further review by today’s U.S. Supreme Court, or worse, lead to a reaffirmation of Roe. The unintended effect would very likely jeopardize current protections in state law and cause a loss of momentum in the ultimate goal of establishing full legal protection of the unborn from the moment of conception.

We remain of the view that it will be more prudent to pursue incremental measures that add to existing protections in law and help change hearts and minds. Thus, we continue our ongoing efforts with parental notice, clinic regulation, informed consent, partial birth abortion ban, requiring ultrasound before an abortion and funding for Pregnancy Support Services. Finally, it is our earnest hope that all people in the state who respect the great gift of human life will respect each other's efforts, and not let differing views over strategy overshadow our common heartfelt support for building a culture of life.

What Florida’s bishops are saying is this: The Personhood Amendment is not the right way to stem the availability of abortion on demand, and could have the unintended consequence of strengthening, politically or legally, the position of those who argue that “choice” is a right that cannot be derogated. The Bishop’s are making a political calculation that the breadth of the Personhood Amendment will give the pro-choice movement the great political opportunity to characterize those in favor of protecting life as “extreme,” but at the same time will fail, because of its breadth and vagueness, to achieve the actual end of making abortion illegal. As to failing in its ultimate end, legally, I agree with our bishops.

However, I would strongly urge the bishops not to shy from being called extreme. Do not settle for slowly eroding the false right of privacy that courts have recognized in the United States as the basis for abortion on demand by only legislating restrictions like parental consent, greater regulation of clinics, and outlawing the most heinous and infanticidal abortion methods. The faithful and the Church must stand for the morally-prevailing right to life in all cases and in all circumstances.

This message has been impressed upon us in the words of the great and Venerable Pope John Paul II to the bishops of the Church in 1991:

In the context of the numerous and violent attacks against human life today, especially when it is weakest and most defenseless, statistical data point to a veritable "slaughter of the innocents" on a worldwide scale. A source of particular concern, however, is the fact that people's moral conscience appears frighteningly confused and they find it increasingly difficult to perceive the clear and definite distinction between good and evil in matters concerning the fundamental value of human life.

However serious and disturbing the phenomenon of the widespread destruction of so many human lives, either in the womb or in old age, no less serious and disturbing is the blunting of the moral sensitivity of people's consciences . . . [I]t seems more urgent than ever that we should forcefully reaffirm our common teaching, based on sacred Scripture and tradition, with regard to the inviolability of innocent human life.

The church intends not only to reaffirm the right to life — the violation of which is an offense against the human person and against God the Creator and Father, the loving source of all life — but she also intends to devote herself ever more fully to concrete defense and promotion of this right. The church feels called to this by her Lord. From Christ she receives the "Gospel of life" and feels responsible for its proclamation to every creature. Even at the price of going against the trend, she must proclaim that Gospel courageously and fearlessly, in word and deed, to individuals, peoples and states.

All of us, as pastors of the Lord's flock, have a grave responsibility to promote respect for human life in our dioceses. In addition to making public declarations at every opportunity, we must exercise particular vigilance with regard to the teaching being given in our seminaries and in Catholic schools and universities. As pastors we must be watchful in ensuring that practices followed in Catholic hospitals and clinics are fully consonant with the nature of such institutions. As our means permit, we must also support projects such as those which seek to offer practical help to women or families experiencing difficulties or to assist the suffering and especially the dying. Moreover, we must encourage scientific reflection and legislative or political initiatives which would counter the prevalent "death mentality."

(Venerable Pope John Paul II, Letter to all the Bishops on the principle of the intangibility of human life, 19 May 1991.)

Bishops of Florida and everywhere, we the faithful implore you, be strong in your advocacy for the protection of life in the public sphere. Provide moral leadership on the issues of abortion, euthanasia, assisted suicide, embryonic stem cell research, in vitro fertilization, abortifacient contraceptives, and the death penalty. Preach the Gospel of life—the saving message of Christ that is sent to be victim for the innocent and most vulnerable. Stand strongly and firmly for life!

IMAGE: The logo of the Florida Catholic Conference.