The tragic story of St Josephine Bakhita, of her abduction into slavery but her eventual discovery of Jesus, is an important story for us to know in times when human trafficking is still a very real problem.
‘Do you understand’ he said ‘what I have done to you? You call me Master and Lord, and rightly; so I am. If I, then, the Lord and Master, have washed your feet, you should wash each other’s feet. I have given you an example so that you may copy what I have done to you.’
Sing or pray with this beautiful hymn to the Holy Spirit, which is thought to date back to a 9th-century monk called Rabanus Maurus. In English and Latin.
Jesus was lifted high on the cross in order to descend to the abyss of our suffering. He experienced our deepest sorrows: failure, loss of everything, betrayal by a friend, even abandonment by God. By experiencing in the flesh our deepest struggles and conflicts, he redeemed and transformed them.