Resources: February 2018~St. Josephine Bakhita

downloadable PDF file:  Women of Faith Resources February 2018

February Quotes

“Turn your wounds into wisdom.”  ~ Oprah Winfrey

“Only in the darkness can you see the stars.” ~  Martin Luther King Jr.

“One can never consent to creep when feeling the impulse to soar.” ~ Helen Keller

Featured Feast Day: February 8 – St. Josephine Bakhita

Birth: Around 1869 in Olgossa, Darfur, Sudan

Death: February 8, 1947, in Schio, Veneto, Italy

Canonized: October 1, 2000 by Pope John Paul II

Patron: Patron saint of Sudan, children, and victims of human trafficking

For biography see For Spiritual Reading below.

Lectio Divina: Scripture for spiritual reading and meditating

Audio Divina:  Music accompanied by images

Enjoy the following selections and let your heart and soul be touched by their messages.

Don’t Walk Away:  Awareness raising of human trafficking, this modern day slavery.

Human Trafficking Remember Us Song

For Spiritual Reading

Biographical notes of St. Josephine Bakhita by Vatican News

“St. Josephine Bakhita, a Model of Faith”, by Christopher Heffron, St. Anthony Messenger, January 22, 2018.

Monthly newsletter on anti-human trafficking from Stop Enslavement

Now, l invite you to take a look at the images in the Visio Divina section that follows.

Visio Divina: Art for Prayer and Meditation

“Visual images are another doorway to sacred awareness. They can touch into our desire to grow in intimacy with God. So, we encourage one another to let ourselves be touched by the colors, shapes, figures and symbols that capture our attention most as we are praying. While gazing at an image ~ a painting, a photo, an icon, a sculpture, a piece of pottery … something may leap out at us, calling our attention to something of God just waiting to reveal itself to us.”

(Ideas inspired by Christine Valters Paintner and Betsey Beckman in their book, Awakening the Creative Spirit: Bringing the Arts to Spiritual Direction.  See also Abbey of the Arts.)

As you gaze on this icon of St. Josephine Bakhita, what wells up from within your heart? Talk to her or pray to her about what you are hearing.

Consider this poster. How might this quote apply to your reflection on human trafficking or on some other topic that effects particularly women and children?

Featured Movies

The Storm Makers: An explanation of Cambodia’s undercover human trafficking world

Cecilia: A Delhi-based documentary film-maker investigates the death of his housekeeper’s daughter

Chosen: The true story of America’s trafficked teens

Featured Website

Holy Cross International Justice Office: resources for social justice topics