DATE : 8/2/2021, Monday of the Fifth Week of Ordinary Time (B)
EVENT : St. Jerome Emilian
or St. Josephine Bakhita, Virgin (Memorial)
COLOUR:Green
READINGS : Gen. 1:1-19; Resp. Psalm 103:1-2,5-6,10,12,24,35; Mark 6:53-56.
THEME: GOD CAN DO ALL THINGS
Greetings beloved people of God. I welcome you to "My Catholic Homily Digest". On this Eight day of February, on which we celebrate the first female African Saint in modern times, St. Josephine Bakhita of Sudan, I wish to reflect with you on the theme: " God Can Do All Things". Beloved, the Bible records that there is nothing impossible for God to do (Cf. Luke 1:37). It even went ahead to states that God cannot really only do everything, but he has the power to do things that we cannot imagine or think of (Cf. Eph. 3:20). This means that, God can do things which our minds can conceive, and that which the human mind cannot conceive. This omniscient power of God is shown in the wonderful creation story of Genesis which we read in the first reading of today. But even more concretely and contextually, it is shown in the transformation of a slave girl from a remote village in Sudan, into the rank of the angels and saints in heaven.
This phenomenal Saint, Josephine Bakhite, was born to a wealthy Sudanese family, she was kidnapped by slave-traders at age 9, and given the name Bakhita (lucky) by them. Sold and resold in the markets at El Obeid and Khartoum, finally purchased in 1883 by Callisto Legnani, Italian consul who planned to free her. She accompanied Legnani to Italy in 1885, and worked as a nanny for the family of Augusto Michieli. She was treated well in Italy and grew to love the country. She later converted to Christianity as an adult and she joined the Church on 9 January 1890, taking the name of Josephine, as a symbol of her new life.
She entered the Institute of Canossian Daughters of Charity in Venice, Italy in 1893, taking her vows on 8 December 1896 in Verona, Italy and serving as a Canossian Sister for the next fifty years. Her gentle presence, her warm, amiable voice, and her willingness to help with any menial task were a comfort to the poor and suffering people who came to the door of the Institute. She died on 8 February, 1947 (Cf. Lives of saints for 8th, February, from Catholic Universalis).
Beloved in Christ, it took nothing from God, for him to creat the entire world (Cf. Gen. 1:1-19). It also took Jesus Christ nothing to heal the sick, the lame, the dumb, and to allow all those who touched him to be cured of their infirmity in the Gospel reading of today, Mark 6:53-56. It also took God nothing to lead St. Josephine Bakhite from a life of excruciating slavery in Sudan to a glorious life of sanitliness in heaven. Hence, it will not take God anything also to touch any aspect of your life and transform it into something pleasing to him. It will cost him nothing to transform your lack into abundance. It will cost him nothing to heal you from your slavery to sin and lead you to a life of saintliness. Just dispose yourself and come to him, and he will recreate you anew.
Oh that today you would listen to his voice harden not your hearts (Ps.95:7-8)
LET US PRAY : Lord Jesus, create in me, a new heart so that I may see you face to face when my life here on earth is ended....
The Lord be with you....... and with your Spirit.
May Almighty God bless you in the Name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit......Amen
HAPPY NEW WEEK BELOVED FRIENDS
@ Fada Emmanuel Nnamdi Megwara, MSP. ⛪
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