General Audience : In our path of catechesis on apostolic zeal – we are reflecting on apostolic zeal — today we will let ourselves be inspired by the witness of Saint Josephine Bakhita, a Sudanese saint.
Unfortunately, for months Sudan has been torn by a terrible armed conflict, of which little is spoken today ; let us pray for the Sudanese people, so they might live in peace ! [Pardon me, but what is the solution then, if negotiations, and referendums, and a union in diversity are excluded ? I.m.h.o., if people want to live a certain way, then they should be allowed to, let them split the country if that’s the problem, and let them unite with countries closer to their belief if they’re interested in power, i’m oversimplifying by ignoring details i know nothing about]
(…)
In 1869, she was abducted from her family at the age of seven, and made a slave. Her abductors called her “Bakhita”, which means “fortunate”.
She passed through eight masters – each one sold her on to the next.
The physical and moral suffering she suffered as a child left her with no identity. She suffered cruelty and violence : on her body she bore more than a hundred scars.
I’d like to start with something very important, probably the most important i’ve ever said regarding religions and our relation with God, but i don’t know how to express it.
Talking about gratefulness isn’t enough, nor an attention to signs, or a search for …/Light/Goodness/God. It’s an overall feeling/‘way of being’ occuring naturally, encompassing a lot of things that ought to be felt at each moment, but perfectible/‘not final’. I think that i was closer to it in 2013, most of the time. Searching for God isn’t a good enough synonym, here’s the most important quote i found in the Way of the Pilgrim :
I found in part three, page 48, the treatise of Peter the Damascene, and began to read :
“One must call upon the Name of God even more often than one takes a breath, at all times, in all places in any kind of work.
The Apostle says: ‘Pray incessantly,’ that is, he teaches men to remember God always, everywhere and in all situations.
Whatever you do, keep in your mind the Maker of all things.
When you behold light, remember who gives it to you ; when you see heaven and earth and sea and all that they contain, be in awe and give praise to their Creator.
When you put on your clothes, remember whose gift they are and give thanks to Him who takes care of your needs.
In a word, remember and praise God in all your actions, and then you will be praying incessantly, and your soul will be filled with gladness.”
Did you understand ? You probably have to need it first in order to be receptive.
I don’t know how to convey the importance of this sensation, it changed me and that’s the most important thing i could say about my relation with God.
I ended the Way of a pilgrim yesterday :
Her words reminded me of the following saying of Nikitas Stethatos in the Philokalia :
“The nature of things is measured by the interior disposition of the soul ; that is, the kind of person one is will determine what he thinks of others.”
He goes on to say : “He who has attained to genuine prayer and love no longer puts things into categories. He does not separate the righteous from the sinners, but loves all equally and does not judge them, just as God gives the sun to shine and the rain to fall both on the just and the unjust.”
General Audience : « Truly, to pity means both to suffer with the victims of the great inhumanity in the world, and also to pity those who commit errors and injustices, not justifying, but humanizing. »
« [This is ]the work that Saint Bakhita teaches us : to humanize, to humanize ourselves and to humanize others. »
« Saint Bakhita, who became Christian, was transformed by the words of Christ she meditated on every day : “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do” (Lk 23:34). And so, she said : “If Judas had asked Jesus for forgiveness, he too would have found mercy”. We can say that St Bakhita’s life became an existential parable of forgiveness. »
« Brothers and sisters, forgiveness is the wellspring of a zeal that becomes mercy and calls us to a humble and joyful holiness, like that of Saint Bakhita. »
From the book of the prophet Jonah (Jon 4:1-11)
Jonah was greatly displeased,
and became angry that God did not carry out the evil, he threatened against Nineveh.
He prayed, “I beseech you, LORD, is not this what I said while I was still in my own country ?
This is why I fled at first to Tarshish. I knew that you are a gracious and merciful God, slow to anger, rich in clemency, loath to punish.
And now, LORD, please take my life from me ; for it is better for me to die than to live.”
But the LORD asked, “Have you reason to be angry ?”
Jonah then left the city for a place to the east of it, where he built himself a hut and waited under it in the shade, to see what would happen to the city.
And when the LORD God provided a gourd plant that grew up over Jonah’s head, giving shade that relieved him of any discomfort, Jonah was very happy over the plant.
But the next morning at dawn God sent a worm that attacked the plant, so that it withered.
And when the sun arose, God sent a burning east wind ; and the sun beat upon Jonah’s head till he became faint.
Then Jonah asked for death, saying, “I would be better off dead than alive.” [Quick note on this : As long as you say that what is happening to you, while tragic, is still better than your own death, then you should be grateful to God, the reason for your existence(, and our existence, so even if that’s not the case, you/we could still be grateful that other things exist even if you’d prefer to be dead). So, when someone in the Bible says “i’d prefer to be dead”, i personally interpret it as “i’ve crossed the line where i can stop having to be grateful to you(, if i’m not grateful for the existence of what isn’t me)”, “i don’t owe you”, in a way.]
But God said to Jonah, “Have you reason to be angry over the plant ?”
“I have reason to be angry,” Jonah answered, “angry enough to die”.
Then the LORD said, “You are concerned over the plant which cost you no labor and which you did not raise ; it came up in one night and in one night it perished.
And should I not be concerned over Nineveh, the great city, in which there are more than a hundred and twenty thousand persons who cannot distinguish their right hand from their left, not to mention the many cattle ?”
(since it may continue, i’ll try to fill the gaps tomorrow with any relevant extracts)
From the Gospel according to Luke (Lk 11:1-4)
Jesus was praying in a certain place and, when he had finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray just as John taught his disciples”.
He said to them, "When you pray, say :
Father, hallowed be your name, your Kingdom come.
Give us each day our daily bread, and forgive us our sins.
For we ourselves forgive everyone in debt to us, and do not subject us to the final test."
Quran 9:18-27 :
The mosques of Allah should only be maintained by those who believe in Allah and the Last Day, establish prayer, pay alms-tax, and fear none but Allah. It is right to hope that they will be among the ˹truly˺ guided.
Do you ˹pagans˺ consider providing the pilgrims with water and maintaining the Sacred Mosque as equal to believing in Allah and the Last Day and struggling in the cause of Allah ? They are not equal in Allah’s sight. And Allah does not guide the wrongdoing people. [Which is why scientists&others receiving ideas are usually interesting, and virtuous, always surprised me, Voltaire isn’t the surprising exception people said he was]
Those who have believed, emigrated, and strived in the cause of Allah with their wealth and their lives are greater in rank in the sight of Allah. It is they who will triumph.
(…)
O believers ! Do not take your parents and siblings as trusted allies if they choose disbelief over belief. And whoever of you does so, they are the ˹true˺ wrongdoers.
Say, ˹O Prophet,˺ “If your parents and children and siblings and spouses and extended family and the wealth you have acquired and the trade you fear will decline and the homes you cherish—˹if all these˺ are more beloved to you than Allah and His Messenger and struggling in His Way, then wait until Allah brings about His Will. Allah does not guide the rebellious people.”
Indeed, Allah has given you ˹believers˺ victory on many battlefields, even at the Battle of Ḥunain when you took pride in your great numbers, but they proved of no advantage to you. The earth, despite its vastness, seemed to close in on you, then you turned back in retreat.
Then Allah sent down His reassurance upon His Messenger and the believers, and sent down forces you could not see, and punished those who disbelieved. Such was the reward of the disbelievers.
Then afterwards Allah will turn in grace to whoever He wills. And Allah is All-Forgiving, Most Merciful.
Saints of the day :
St. Philip, Deacon
St. Alexander Sauli, Bishop of Pavia
St. John XXIII, Pope