Saint Bakhita, you’re so easy to love and so hard to forget. You have many lessons to teach each one of us. Suffering and sadness stalked your young life. You know what it’s like to thirst for goodness and truth, especially Eternal Truth. You teach us how to hope, how to trust, and how to keep on going without ever giving up.
It’s so easy to believe that others are better off than we are, have more than we have, and find life easier and more fun than we do. Few people have suffered more than you, Saint Bakhita. Few people have had a more difficult life than yours. But you found your freedom and peace in the crucified Jesus, and he taught you the value of all human pain. Jesus gave you gifts of wisdom, compassion, and a great heart capable of loving and forgiving everyone—even those who treated you cruelly and enslaved you.
You never gave in to hate or thoughts of revenge. No matter the weight of your troubles, you clung to Jesus and he took care of you. Teach me, teach us all how to be like you, Saint Bakhita.
Amen