Dear brothers and Sisters,
Sister Josephine Bakhita said if I was to meet those slave raiders that abducted me and those who tortured me, I’d kneel down and kiss their hands, because if it was not for them I would not have become a Christian and a religious sister. She was taken as a nine year old girl from a well off family in the Sudan in late 1869. The experience was so traumatic she could not remember her given name and was called Bakhita, which ironically means “fortunate one.”
She was sold five times in the following years to different cruel masters and was branded, beaten and cut. One master rubbed salt into the 114 wounds he had made on her body. She was finally given as a slave to an Italian family and was the nanny for their daughter. Through this she met the Canossian sisters at the Catholic school in Venice where the girl went. When this family went to move back to Africa Bakhita refused to leave and took her case to court. She was declared a free woman since slavery was illegal in Italy at that time. She became a religious Sister and served there for 50 years and welcomed children and prayed over them. Her story was told since it was an exceptional witness of her enormous strength and grace. Her feast day was yesterday. She is the only saint from Sudan and it the patroness of victims of human trafficking.
A saint from the New York City, Dorothy Day, said everything a Christian does directly or indirectly ought to be a work of mercy. Wow, perhaps I should examine myself about this daily before I go to bed. Those works of mercy we hear about from Isaiah (58: 7-10): feed the hungry, shelter the homeless, clothe the naked, visit the sick, and bury the dead are good reminders to us since we can easily think we are too busy for such works of charity. This was written 800 years before Christ. When we are truly Christian, the world should be able to see God in us. A Christian makes God present again in those moments when he/she acts like Christ. He can do these acts of forgiveness or mercy only when God gives him his spirit.
A Christian is called to be salt, to raise the level of flavor in every human activity and transform it. In every part of our lives—in business, construction, politics, in every town or office and home—the presence of a Christian should give flavor and make that place different, attractive and welcoming (Mt. 5: 13-16). If the salt becomes insipid it becomes foolish; it no longer knows who it is. We become foolish if we forget who God called us to be. We are called to be salt and light and leaven. By our actions others can see Christ in us. If the salt or the light is not communicated or consumed it turns bad, like the manna in the desert, which had to be eaten that day.
The word for lamp used by Matthew is a portable lamp, which is a beautiful image that says: God needs you now on this street or in this office or with this group of people and tomorrow he might need you somewhere else.
The gospel says let your light shine before others so they can see your good deeds. But this is incomplete; it is only part of the command. Your good works should be shown only so others can give glory to God. This is the only reason we let our good works be known. It is for God’s glory, not ours! We don’t go around saying: look at me! We speak or should speak of what God has done for us.
There is also a different way to translate the first line of Isaiah which can help us understand in a deeper way the works of mercy. The alternate translation says: if you give the bread of your soul to the hungry one, you will satisfy that afflicted soul. In other words if you share your experience or what God has done, you can feed the soul of another person. This is much deeper than buying groceries for someone, which may be the right thing to do in another situation.
Dorothy Day has a good invitation for us. Perhaps with a concentrated effort we can more consistently do the works of mercy for those around us, which would bring much joy to our life.