Second Sunday of Ordinary Time - January 14, 2018

Homily for January 14, 2018

Second Sunday of Ordinary Time

Purchased At A Price

            St. Josephine Bakhita went from being a slave of man to being a slave of Christ. She grew up in Sudan in the 1800s in a happy childhood that was sadly cut short when her village was raided by Muslim slave traders who captured her and sold her into slavery. At eight years old, she was forced to walk 600 miles to a slave market, where she was purchased by a wealthy Muslim. The trauma of the capture, march, and purchase was so much that she actually forgot her name, so her new owner named her “Bakhita” – meaning lucky or fortunate. This is ironic considering her life…at first, her owner treated her kindly, but pretty soon he began to beat her cruelly. She was bought and sold to different owners twelve times – sometimes being so tortured that her flesh was permanently scarred.

            Finally, she was purchased by a kind Italian general who was working in Africa. When the Italian general returned home, he brought Bakhita with him, and she served him in peace for a while. When the Italian general was forced to make another journey, he left all of his female slaves – including Bakhita – in the care of some nuns.

            There, in the convent, for the first time Bakhita learned about God. Immediately she accepted the Catholic Faith and loved to spend time in Mass and with the joyful sisters who treated her with so much respect and love. When her master returned and tried to take her back, she refused to go, and the superior of the convent actually sued the general to allow Bakhita to remain with the nuns. The judge ruled in Bakhita’s favor, so she was allowed to remain and become a nun. She was baptized, taking the name Josephine, and for the next forty years lived a humble, simple life of a nun. She had traded her slavery to man for the freedom that Christ had won for her! She was so free of spirit, in fact, that she said if she ever met the people who captured her, she would kiss their hands, because it was only through them that she met Jesus. This woman was freed from hatred and revenge, with the freedom that had been purchased at a great price!

            St. Josephine Bakhita knew that she had been purchased, and that she did not belong to herself. At first, she was purchased by evil and cruel slave traders, being forced into slavery, but then she realized she had been purchased by the Precious Blood of Jesus Christ, which made her desire to serve Him with her entire life.

            St. Paul makes it clear in our second reading that we do not belong to ourselves, and our bodies do not belong to us. We do not have the right to do whatever we want with our bodies. We have been purchased at a tremendous price – the price of Christ’s death – so we owe it to Him to glorify Him in our bodies.

            There is an error that I hear all the time in modern society. Many people believe that they can do whatever they want with their bodies as long as it doesn’t harm anyone else. When I was in college, one of the employees at the college had a bumper sticker that read, “My body isn’t a temple; it’s an amusement park!” That would be a very anti-Christian attitude! Your body is sacred, because it was your body that was covered in water in Baptism; it is your body that receives Christ’s body in the Eucharist; it is your body that will someday rise again at Jesus’ Second Coming. Thus, we must treat our bodies as servants of Christ.

            The second reading that we heard today is a hugely sanitized translation. It said, “Flee immorality” and speaks of “immorality” as if it were a vague sinfulness. But the Greek word that Paul used is “pornea” which is where we get the word “pornography” – pornea specifically means sexual sins. One of the ways in which we must respect our bodies is for us to live a pure life and respect God’s design for human sexuality. Frequent confession, having a solid prayer life, and practicing custody of the eyes can be huge helps if someone struggles with purity. We live in a very over-sexualized culture – we need to take practical steps to guard our purity if we hope to obtain mastery over our bodies. This is so critical – Our Lady said at Fatima that “more souls go to Hell through sins of the flesh (sexual sins) than for any other reason” so striving for purity is critical for holiness. Even if we have to confess our sins weekly and give up technology entirely, purity is worth even that sacrifice!

            Respecting our bodies also involves treating it with respect. We shouldn’t consider our physical health more important than our spiritual health (for example, when people work out for three hours a day but can’t find time to pray). But at the same time, we ought to respect our bodies through healthy living. Not overeating, never abusing alcohol or drugs, making sure we get enough rest and exercise are important to both our physical and spiritual health. We only have one body and one life – we have to use it well in service to the Lord.

            My friends, our bodies do not belong to us – they belong to Christ, because they have been purchased at the cost of His Precious Blood on the Cross. Because of this, we need to keep our bodies pure and holy, realizing that someday our flesh will participate in either the joys of Heaven or the sufferings of Hell. I pray that we may use our bodies well – for the glory of God – so they may participate in His eternal reward.