Interactive Guide Grade 8

8 Eighth Grade Core Subjects : : Reading Comprehension (Stories of the Saints, Volume IV) Excerpt from “Always in the Master’s House: St. Josephine Bakhita” Ida Zanolini took careful notes of what her guest was saying. Ms. Zanolini was a writer, and she was working on a biography of the woman who was now talking. Before her sat a Canossian Sister, dressed in black, wearing a black rufÀed bonnet and a large medallion of Our Lady, as all the Canossian Sisters did. The sister was at least sixty years old, but the serenity in her face made her seem much younger. As she spoke, Ms. Zanolini took notes and asked questions, as any good biographer will do. But she felt a growing amazement at the story she was hearing and at the woman who was telling it. Sr. Josephine Bakhita was from the Sudan in Africa, where she had been kidnapped as a child and sold into slavery. Her life as a slave had been a brutal one. Through an unusual set of circumstances, she had found herself traveling to Italy with the last family to own her; and there she had discovered Jesus Christ, whom she thereafter called “The Master.” Desiring to belong to Jesus completely, she had taken vows as a sister and embraced a life of prayer and service. This life of prayer and service was well known to all. With grace and serenity, Sr. Bakhita did a myriad of household tasks in the convent. She had cooked for the school children and the patients in the in¿rmary, taught many young women the art of embroidery and beadwork, and served as general doorkeeper for the many people who visited the sisters. Young and old, rich and poor sought her as an advisor and a friend. A person merely had to be in her presence to feel peace and consolation. Her advice was simple and to the point, going straight to the heart of the matter. Sr. Bakhita radiated a holiness of which she herself was totally unaware. So it was not this life as a sister that her biographer was writing about today; that would come another day. Today, Sr. Bakhita spoke about the tragedy of her capture and her life as a slave. Ms. Zanolini found herself ¿ghting back tears as she worked, listening to Sr. Bakhita’s story. As she spoke, tears streamed down Sr. Bakhita’s face as she related her memories. She dried her tears calmly and continued telling her story. This part of the story was a tale of cruelty and betrayal, cowardice and greed. How could people be so cruel to one another? How could Sr. Bakhita come through such mistreatment without wanting to take revenge? Ms. Zanolini commented on how cruel Sr. Bakhita’s captors had been and was surprised at Sr. Bakhita’s reply. “I am praying much for them, that the Lord who has been very good and generous to me may be the same to them, so as to bring them all to conversion and salvation,” she said. “Poor things! They were not wicked; they did not know God, or maybe they did not think they hurt me so much. They were the masters, and I was the slave. Just as it is natural for us to do good, so it was natural for them to behave as they did towards me. They did so out of habit, not out of wickedness.” She continued with her characteristic serenity. Italy: 1930—Convent of the Canossian Sisters

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