Oct 19, 2025 Written by 

Liberation or slavery

Jesus poses a question to those present, following the healing of a bent woman:

«Now this woman, being a daughter of Abraham [...] should she not have been loosed from this bond on the Sabbath day?» (Luke 13:16).

When speaking of Francis of Assisi, one must always bear in mind that he was a true, unconventional creature.

Consumed by love for God and neighbour, the Poverello was willing to make any sacrifice, capable of going beyond conventions in order to save and lead souls to Christ.

Following in the footsteps of Jesus, who also healed on the Sabbath, ridiculing the leaders who were loyal to their tradition, Francis expressed a new way of being and living according to the Gospel.

The Sources, a rich source of episodes, inform us about this.

"In the city of Narni there lived a woman who for eight years had had a withered hand, completely unusable.

One day the blessed Father appeared to her and, touching her sick hand, made it fit for work like the other" (FF 558).

Francis was not concerned with the hour or the day when he could help or heal; no, he was interested in the person knowing the salvation of soul and body, restoring God's children to God.

Free from all hypocrisy, he acted thus:

"Once, while Francis was staying in that same place*, a friar, a man of profound spirituality who had been living in the Order for several years, found himself very emaciated and infirm.

Francis, seeing him, took pity on him.

But the friars in those days did not resort to medicine; on the contrary, they willingly chose what was contrary to the body.

Francis said to himself:

'If this brother ate ripe grapes early in the morning, I believe he would benefit from it'.

One day he rose at dawn and secretly called that brother, led him to the vineyard near the church, and, choosing a vine rich in beautiful, inviting bunches, sat down under it with his brother and began to eat the grapes, so that the sick man would not be ashamed to pick them himself.

While he was eating, the friar praised the Lord God.

And as long as he lived, he often reminded his brothers, with devotion and tears of tenderness, of the holy father's affectionate gesture towards him" (FF 1549).

Rightly, Francis, remembering the Word of God, put into practice mercy that is superior to any rule and worth more than being humanly sterilised.

 

 

Monday 30th week of Ordinary Time  (Lk 13:10-17)

119 Last modified on Sunday, 19 October 2025 04:12
Teresa Girolami

Teresa Girolami è laureata in Materie letterarie e Teologia. Ha pubblicato vari testi, fra cui: "Pellegrinaggio del cuore" (Ed. Piemme); "I Fiammiferi di Maria - La Madre di Dio in prosa e poesia"; "Tenerezza Scalza - Natura di donna"; co-autrice di "Dialogo e Solstizio".

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Christianity cannot be, cannot be exempt from the cross; the Christian life cannot even suppose itself without the strong and great weight of duty [Pope Paul VI]
Il Cristianesimo non può essere, non può essere esonerato dalla croce; la vita cristiana non può nemmeno supporsi senza il peso forte e grande del dovere [Papa Paolo VI]
The horizon of friendship to which Jesus introduces us is the whole of humanity [Pope Benedict]
L’orizzonte dell’amicizia in cui Gesù ci introduce è l’umanità intera [Papa Benedetto]
However, the equality brought by justice is limited to the realm of objective and extrinsic goods, while love and mercy bring it about that people meet one another in that value which is man himself, with the dignity that is proper to him (Dives in Misericordia n.14)
L'eguaglianza introdotta mediante la giustizia si limita però all’ambito dei beni oggettivi ed estrinseci, mentre l'amore e la misericordia fanno si che gli uomini s'incontrino tra loro in quel valore che è l'uomo stesso, con la dignità che gli è propria (Dives in Misericordia n.14)
The Church invites believers to regard the mystery of death not as the "last word" of human destiny but rather as a passage to eternal life (Pope John Paul II)
La Chiesa invita i credenti a guardare al mistero della morte non come all'ultima parola sulla sorte umana, ma come al passaggio verso la vita eterna (Papa Giovanni Paolo II)
The saints: they are our precursors, they are our brothers, they are our friends, they are our examples, they are our lawyers. Let us honour them, let us invoke them and try to imitate them a little (Pope Paul VI)
I santi: sono i precursori nostri, sono i fratelli, sono gli amici, sono gli esempi, sono gli avvocati nostri. Onoriamoli, invochiamoli e cerchiamo di imitarli un po’ (Papa Paolo VI)
Man rightly fears falling victim to an oppression that will deprive him of his interior freedom, of the possibility of expressing the truth of which he is convinced, of the faith that he professes, of the ability to obey the voice of conscience that tells him the right path to follow [Dives in Misericordia, n.11]
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Ci troviamo, per così dire, in una cordata con Gesù Cristo – insieme con Lui nella salita verso le altezze di Dio (Papa Benedetto)
Church is a «sign». That is, those who looks at it with a clear eye, those who observes it, those who studies it realise that it represents a fact, a singular phenomenon; they see that it has a «meaning» (Pope Paul VI)
La Chiesa è un «segno». Cioè chi la guarda con occhio limpido, chi la osserva, chi la studia si accorge ch’essa rappresenta un fatto, un fenomeno singolare; vede ch’essa ha un «significato» (Papa Paolo VI)
Let us look at them together, not only because they are always placed next to each other in the lists of the Twelve (cf. Mt 10: 3, 4; Mk 3: 18; Lk 6: 15; Acts 1: 13), but also because there is very little information about them, apart from the fact that the New Testament Canon preserves one Letter attributed to Jude Thaddaeus [Pope Benedict]

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