Luke presents Jesus proceeding firmly and courageously towards Jerusalem.
For this reason a village of Samaritans did not want to receive him.
The disciples intend to react to the inhospitality shown, but Jesus takes them back, understanding the mission he was fulfilling.
The open window of the Sources tells us interesting things about this.
In his writings, Francis taught his brothers to persevere with patience when they were not accepted, going elsewhere, for love of Christ who suffered the same things.
The Sources - specifically the Regola non bollata (1221) - says:
"And let all the brothers, wherever they are, remember that they have given themselves and abandoned their bodies to our Lord Jesus Christ.
And for his love they must expose themselves to enemies both visible and invisible, for the Lord says:
'He who loses his soul for my sake will save it for eternal life'" (FF 45).
And again in Admonitions:
"Let us look closely, brothers and sisters, at the good shepherd who, in order to save his sheep, endured the passion of the cross.
The Lord's sheep followed him in tribulation and persecution, in ignominy and hunger, in infirmity and temptation and other such things; and they received from the Lord eternal life in return" (FF 155).
On the other hand, Francis, to Brother Leo himself, will teach that when we are not received, remaining in patience, we are in perfect joy:
"And I always stand at the door and say, 'For God's sake receive me for this night.'
And he replies: 'I will not. Go to the place of the Cruciferous and ask there."
"Well, if I have been patient and have not been disturbed, I say to you that here is true joy and here is true virtue and salvation of the soul" ( FF 278).
Jesus, in fact, goes further, where he encounters rejection, rebuking his own who find it hard to accept non-acceptance.
Francis follows it as Providence.
«He hardened his Face to depart towards Jerusalem. And he sent angels before his face» (Lk 9:51b-52)
Tuesday 26th wk. in O.T. (Lk 9,51-56)
