The Fourth Sunday of Easter (2025)
In his encyclical letter on hope, Spe Salvi, that was published in 2007, Pope Benedict XVI reflected that faith and hope are interchangeable (see no. 2). As part of this deep reflection on the meaning of Christian hope, Benedict reflected on how hope brings the present and the future together. He wrote, that our Christian Faith gives us the power to hope in the present and so, “[t]he dark door of time, of the future, has been thrown open. The one who has hope lives differently; the one who hopes has been granted the gift of a new life.”
Now, to illustrate his point, Pope Benedict highlighted the life and witness of a modern saint: Josephine Bakhita.
She was born among the Daju people in Western Sudan around the year 1869 and she was kidnapped and sold into slavery when she was between the ages of seven and nine. She was eventually purchased by an Italian consul and was taken to Italy. In Venice, she met the Canossian Daughters of Charity and their way of life inspired her to become a Christian.
She rarely spoke of her years of enslavement, but we do know that her sufferings were so extreme that she was plagued by horrific nightmares for the rest of her life and the trauma she suffered was so severe it caused her to forget the name she had received from her parents. (Her adopted name—Bakhita (given to her by her enslavers)—means “Lucky.”)
In 1893, having been baptized with the name Giuseppina, she entered Canossian Sisters, and many came to love her because of her piety and charity. She spent the remaining 54 years of her life serving the community and its students in a number of assignments, including cook, sacristan, and housekeeper. Known for her gentleness, especially her smile, she was commonly called the “Little Brown Sister” or “Black Mother” by people in the local community.
Josephine Bakhita died after an extended illness on February 8, 1947. She was canonized in the year 2000 and she is honored as the patron saint of Sudan and of enslaved peoples, as well as the victims and survivors of human trafficking.
Despite her extreme sufferings, Josephine Bakhita later came to recognize that God was at work, even in those darkest moments, because it was in and through the experiences of her life that she came to know Christ… and, in knowing Christ, she began to have hope. This is why she was later able to declare, “I am definitively loved and whatever happens to me—I am awaited by this Love. And so my life is good.”
That hope that was born in Saint Josephine saved her and in it she discovered the true freedom that comes from Christ who says to each of us, “Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 12:28).
This sense of hope that inspired Saint Josephine Bakhita is at the heart of this Sunday’s Gospel, which places before us one of the greatest biblical images of God’s care and mercy: the Good Shepherd.
The Evangelist John uses the image of the Good Shepherd (cf. chapter 10) to illustrate the intimate way Christ knows each of us who part of the flock entrusted to his care. And we are also reminded of how, as a faithful shepherd, Christ constantly watches over us and lifts us up.
Eternal life is the Good Shepherd’s gift and because the Shepherd has given his life for “his flock,” we have an abundance of life.
It is something so simple to say, but this fundamental Christian belief is one that we can often take for granted. And that is unfortunate, because the Gospel that we hear this Sunday also includes an unspoken invitation for us: that we strive to be attentive and receptive to this gift of life and accepting that gift means that we listen to and follow the direction of our Shepherd.
We see this in Saint Josephine Bakhita’s response to her sufferings and openness to her vocation, just as we see this dynamic at work in the ministry of Barnabas and Paul who, through their preaching, came to understand that they were being called to a new mission field, seeking out new disciples who would listen to the voice of the Shepherd speaking through them (cf. the First Reading: Acts 13:45-47).
While we can (and should) take comfort in the Shepherd’s provident care and protection—and the gift of eternal life that he offers us—we can only say we truly know this Good Shepherd if we are willing to listen to his voice and follow his commands in our daily lives.
Almighty ever-living God,
lead us to a share in the joys of heaven,
so that the humble flock may reach
where the brave Shepherd has gone before.
Who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
God, for ever and ever. Amen.
-Collect for the Fourth Sunday of Easter
This homily was delivered at St. Charles Borromeo and St. Rita Churches in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on the weekend of May 10/11, 2025.
