St. Bakhita Day, 8 February 2010

I have been thinking for a while that it would be wonderful to have a very well made film on the life of St. Bakhita of Sudan to use here to inspire and encourage the Sudanese whom I serve, and to use abroad to help make this incredible woman better known. Last weekend in Nairobi, in response to a request I received by email, I was looking for images of St. Bakhita on the internet, when I came across just such a movie: a new film on St. Bakhita made for Italian television last year (click HERE and HERE for additional information on this film). But where could I find it, and would it be dubbed in English or have English subtitles? When I arrived in Juba on Tuesday, we decided to stop in the St. Paul Bookstore before returning to Torit, and there was the film on the rack! From what Sr. Mary, the Daughter of St. Paul working at the store told me, it had arrived only recently – just in time for her feastday!


We showed the first half of the film yesterday (Sunday 7 February) both in the village of Katire in the mountains and at the House of Mercy in Torit. In Katire it coincided with the first use of what we’ve dubbed “Bakhitavision,” a new large screen television we picked up in Kampala last month, thanks to the generosity of our supporters. This television allows us to show videos during the day, even outside, while we were previously limited to either darkened indoor use or night use with the projector.


This new portrayal of St. Bakhita is of superior production quality, and while certain aspects are fictionalized it portrays events in the Sudanese woman’s life that previous productions have overlooked, and does an excellent job of conveying the saints quiet, peaceful, compassionate and penetrating personality that had such an amazing effect on those who met her.


What moved me most during the first half of the film was Bakhita's discovery of Christ crucified in a church at one of the (many) traumatic moments in her life, and her immediate recognition that he was a slave. "That's the Son of God?" she says to Father Antonio, "but he's a slave! In my country only slaves are crucified," recalling an earlier incident in the film when she saw a fellow slave executed in this maner. I was reminded of the passage of St. Paul's Letter to the Philippians: "Though He was in the form of God, Jesus did not deem equality with God something to be grasped at. Rather He emptied Himself and took the form of a slave..." (2:7). This establishes an incredible bond between her and Jesus, and becomes the turning point in her life.

Perhaps the most memorable quote from her life, which reveals the depth of the redemption of her personal history and the extraordinary degree of her inner transformation, was made in answer to a question from a little boy. "What would you do to the men who kidnapped you if you were to meet them now?" Her answer:

"If I was to meet those slave raiders that abducted me and those who tortured me, I'd kneel down to them to kiss their hands, because, if it had not have been for them, I would not have become a Christian and religious woman."

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