Today we celebrate a great and simple woman of Faith, Sr. Josephina Bekita.  Josephine Margaret Bakhita, F.D.C.C., was a Sudanese-Italian Canossian religious sister active in Italy for 45 years, after having been a slave in Sudan. In her simplicity, poverty and suffering Josephina Bekita is a spiritual warrior of great strength.  We find and see in Josephine a reminder that we are all vessels that God can use, no matter how simple, no matter if damaged, no matter the amount of suffering God can always transform our brokenness and suffering for His greater Glory!  

What is striking to me about this woman who went from Slavery to Sainthood is that even in her suffering the became a strong resource to help missions in Africa simply by sharing her experience of struggles.  She also used her experience to form other women for the mission apostolate.   Let Bekita be a model and source of strength for all who seek to proclaim the Good News of Jesus Christ and the power of His great love to move us out of our own pain, our own suffering, our own slavery as it were to great strength and ability to be a transforming force in a world that has so much pain and so much suffering.