Saint Josephine Bakhita (1869-1947): Former Slave, Canossian Sister

Saint Josephine Bakhita (1869-1947): Former Slave, Canossian Sister, Nurse during WWI and WWII

Saint Jerome Emiliani (1486-1537): Universal Patron of Abandoned Children and Orphans

Sr Bakhita, center

Readings of the day: RB 7:60-61

Mass: 1 Kings 11:4-13; Resp. Psalm 106; Mark 7:24-30

Humbly welcome the word that has been planted in you and is able to save your souls.

ALLELUIA.

(Gospel Acclamation, Mass)

I recently attended a Memorial Mass for a woman who died not long ago. There, a young man spoke articulately about how his ‘granny’ taught him the difference between attachment and unconditional love. One could hear a pin drop in the assembly. His words were moving; his message sincere. Even so, after speaking for several minutes, the young man concluded with something else he learned from his granny: ‘Too many words fall on deaf ears.’ 

The eleventh step of humility is that we speak gently and without laughter, seriously and with becoming modesty, briefly and reasonably, but without raising our voices, as it is written: ‘The wise are known by few words.’

(RB 7:60-61)