Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Saints or Holy Virgins or Saturday Mass of Our Lady)

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we all listened to the words of the Sacred Scriptures, we are all reminded of the love of God which has been revealed to us so generously and wonderfully through His Son, Jesus Christ, the Son of God Who has embraced our humanity and existence in the flesh, becoming our Shepherd and Guide, as our Good Shepherd, the One to gather each and every one of us, the lost sheep of the Lord’s flock. Each one of us are reminded of how precious all of us are to the Lord, our loving God and Father, and how much He wants us all to be reconciled to Him, which He gave us the best help and means through the giving of His own Son to be our Saviour. This is why as we reflect upon these words of the Sacred Scriptures today, we should do our best to follow the leads of our loving Good Shepherd.

In our first reading today, taken from the continuation of the Epistle to the Hebrews, the author of this Epistle to the Hebrews spoke about the love and the great, wonderful things which God had done for their sake through the sacrifice and offerings of Christ, the Good Shepherd, and our High Priest, for our salvation. The author had been spending a lot of time throughout the Epistle to convince and strengthen the faith of the believers from among the Jewish community by going through with them the true nature and the identity of Jesus Christ, the One Who had been prophesied by the prophets, the Son of God Who had been incarnate in the flesh, coming into our midst to give unto us the sure hope of God’s salvation, which He had done by laying down His own life, to suffer and die for us all, the sheep of the Lord’s flock.

Like in the parable of the Good Shepherd, the Lord Himself told us all that He will always be going forth to seek us, the lost sheep of God, who have been scattered in this world because of our disobedience and sins. He does not want us all to be lost forever to Him, and He opened the path for us to seek Him, to embrace His love and mercy, to call on us all to return back once again to God’s Holy Presence, leaving behind our sinful existence and actions, embracing instead the holiness and virtues of the Lord in all things. We have been scattered and lost from Him because we have allowed our sins to tempt and pull us away from the Lord, and the Lord did everything that He could to reach out to us and to bring us all back to His loving embrace, to forgive us our many sins.

Then, in our Gospel passage today taken from the Gospel according to St. Mark the Evangelist, we heard the story of how the Lord and His disciples ministered to the people of God, and how the Lord had pity on all those who had come to seek Him and to listen to His words. He saw them all as sheep which were without a shepherd, scattered and lost, and thus, as mentioned, Him being our Good Shepherd, He gathered all of them and showed them all His most wonderful and patient love, ministering to them and caring for them, teaching them even though He Himself, in His humanity, must have felt so tired and exhausted after all the endless works that He had performed with His disciples. And yet, He kept pushing on and showed His continued love to us, because He truly loves each and every one of us, without exception.

Today the Church celebrates the Feast of St. Jerome Emiliani, also known as Gerolamo Emiliani, an Italian humanitarian and holy man of God, known as the founder of the Somaschi Fathers, gathering together like-minded individuals who shared in his desire to reach out to the less fortunate in the community of the people of God, caring for the need of the poor, the sick and all those who were less privileged and less fortunate. He was born in Venice in the early sixteenth century, and he ran away in his teenage years to join the military. After having been in the military for a while, becoming even the governor of a fortress in the region of northern Italy, he was taken prisoner, during which time, he had a change of heart, realising the guidance of God through Mary, His blessed Mother, to whom he committed himself and gave thanks for his escape and liberation from the imprisonment.

Henceafter, St. Jerome no longer focused on himself or on any sorts of worldly ambitions and desires. Instead, he began caring for the needs of those around him, showing care and concern for those who are suffering, from famine and from diseases, and all those who have been abandoned by the community, the orphans and others who have not experienced the love of others, and who have been neglected by their fellow men and women. He ministered to their needs and as mentioned, inspired many others to follow his examples, establishing charitable institutions and other organisations for the benefit of those poor and the needy who are lacking in basic needs and many others like prostitutes and those who have been ostracised and condemned by the people in their own community. He initiated the community of the Congregation of Regular Clerics at Somasca, which eventually became the Somaschi Fathers.

The other saint we also celebrate today is St. Josephine Bakhita, who was a slave woman from the region of the present day Sudan in northern part of Africa. St. Josephine Bakhita was kidnapped from her family in her early youth and was sold as a slave, passing from masters to masters, enduring all sorts of physical and other abuses, before eventually ending up in the service of the Italian Vice-Consul in the region. During that time, conflicts were happening in the area, and the Italian Vice-Consul decided to relocate back to Italy together with his family. St. Josephine Bakhita was brought to Italy in this manner, leaving behind the land of her past slavery. She was handed over to the Vice-Consul’s friend, another Italian, who wanted to bring her back to Sudan as he was considering relocating there completely. St. Josephine Bakhita resisted and firmly refused to return to that land.

At that time, she was already beginning her period of catechumenate, having been left in the care of the Canossian sisters, with whom she would later on spend the rest of her life serving as a member. Eventually, the matter was settled by the Italian courts, with the support of the Church for St. Josephine Bakhita, which ruled that she had never legally been a slave due to the rules implemented before her birth. Thus, St. Josephine Bakhita was finally a freewoman, and she chose to stay on with the Canossian Sisters for the remaining more than four decades of her life, ministering to the Canossian sisters and the community, living a holy and devout life, which became great inspiration for many others around her, both in the Canossian community and beyond. Many people came to pay last respects to her when she finally passed away in 1947 after years of being sick.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all therefore be reminded always of God’s love for us, the love that our loving Shepherd, Father and Creator has for all of us. And let us all therefore respond to Him with the same love, devotion and commitment, one that has also been shown by our many holy predecessors, particularly from the examples of St. Jerome Emiliani and St. Josephine Bakhita that we had just discussed. Let us all be inspired by them and do our best in our own respective areas and communities, to be truly dedicated to God and His cause, and to show His love to our fellow brothers and sisters around us, so that hopefully, many more people may come to believe in God through us and our good examples. May God be with us all in our every missions, good works and endeavours, and may St. Jerome Emiliani and St. Josephine Bakhita continue to intercede for us all sinners. Amen.