Oct 22, 2025 Written by 

Gathering of sons and abandonment

In this Gospel passage from Luke, in which the end of Jesus and the fulfilment of His work is foretold, we witness Him weeping over Jerusalem, the proverbial city that stoned and killed the prophets.

Looking in the Sources we report a particular episode of the Poor Man.

One night Francis had a dream that almost recalled Jesus' lament over Jerusalem.

Christ had wept over the holy city, which was responsible for the killing of prophets (and for stoning those sent to it) whose price would be a house left deserted.

Unity betrayed and vilified would have generated squalor and abandonment.

The saint therefore "saw a small and black hen, similar to a domestic dove, with legs and feet covered in feathers.

She had many chicks, which, no matter how much they circled around her, could not all gather under her wings.

When she awoke, the man of God resumed his thoughts and personally explained the vision.

"The hen," he commented, "is me, small in stature and dark in complexion, and I must unite to the innocence of life a simplicity of a dove: a virtue, which the rarer it is in the world, the more swiftly it rises to heaven.

The chicks are the friars, grown in numbers and grace, whom the strength of Francis is unable to protect from the disturbance of men and the attacks of malignant tongues'" (FF 610).

This is why the Minim placed the Order under the protection of the Church, since for him following Christ meant walking in the footsteps of the Bride of the Lord.

The Poverello had special solicitude for his brothers, striving to keep them in the bond of unity, for which Christ became the sacrificial Lamb, sacrificed for the salvation of all the people.

Indeed, in the Letter to the Faithful, he expresses himself thus:

"The will of his Father was this, that his blessed and glorious Son, whom he gave us and was born for us, should offer himself, through his own blood, as a sacrifice and victim on the altar of the cross, not for himself, since through him all things were created, but in atonement for our sins, leaving us the example so that we might follow in his footsteps" (FF 184).

In love with Christ in everything, even in the infirmities that afflicted him Francis wanted to follow the Lord's poverty and example.

"So vivid was his love for the salvation of souls, and his thirst to win them to God, that, no longer having the strength to walk, he went about the country riding a donkey.

Often the brethren, with gentle insistence, invited him to restore his infirm and too weak body a little, with medical care, but he, who had his spirit continually turned to heaven, declined the invitation each time, since he only wished to be untied from his body to be with Christ" (FF 490).

Thus he used his "brother donkey", borrowed for the journey to La Verna and his return through Borgo San Sepolcro, united in the meekness they shared.

 

Thursday 30th wk. in O.T. (Lk 13,31-35)

147 Last modified on Wednesday, 22 October 2025 04:46
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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We cannot draw energy from a severe setting, contrary to the flowering of our precious uniqueness. New eyes are transmitted only by the one who is Friend. And Christ does it not when we are well placed or when we equip ourselves strongly - remaining in a managerial attitude - but in total listening
Non possiamo trarre energia da un’impostazione severa, contraria alla fioritura della nostra preziosa unicità. Gli occhi nuovi sono trasmessi solo da colui che è Amico. E Cristo lo fa non quando ci collochiamo bene o attrezziamo forte - permanendo in atteggiamento dirigista - bensì nell’ascolto totale
The Evangelists Matthew and Luke (cf. Mt 11:25-30 and Lk 10:21-22) have handed down to us a “jewel” of Jesus’ prayer that is often called the Cry of Exultation or the Cry of Messianic Exultation. It is a prayer of thanksgiving and praise [Pope Benedict]
Gli evangelisti Matteo e Luca (cfr Mt 11,25-30 e Lc 10,21-22) ci hanno tramandato un «gioiello» della preghiera di Gesù, che spesso viene chiamato Inno di giubilo o Inno di giubilo messianico. Si tratta di una preghiera di riconoscenza e di lode [Papa Benedetto]
The human race – every one of us – is the sheep lost in the desert which no longer knows the way. The Son of God will not let this happen; he cannot abandon humanity in so wretched a condition. He leaps to his feet and abandons the glory of heaven, in order to go in search of the sheep and pursue it, all the way to the Cross. He takes it upon his shoulders and carries our humanity (Pope Benedict)
L’umanità – noi tutti - è la pecora smarrita che, nel deserto, non trova più la strada. Il Figlio di Dio non tollera questo; Egli non può abbandonare l’umanità in una simile miserevole condizione. Balza in piedi, abbandona la gloria del cielo, per ritrovare la pecorella e inseguirla, fin sulla croce. La carica sulle sue spalle, porta la nostra umanità (Papa Benedetto)
"Too bad! What a pity!" “Sin! What a shame!” - it is said of a missed opportunity: it is the bending of the unicum that we are inside, which every day surrenders its exceptionality to the normalizing and prim outline of common opinion. Divine Appeal of every moment directed Mary's dreams and her innate knowledge - antechamber of her trust, elsewhere
“Peccato!” - si dice di una occasione persa: è la flessione dell’unicum che siamo dentro, che tutti i giorni cede la sua eccezionalità al contorno normalizzante e affettato dell’opinione comune. L’appello divino d’ogni istante orientava altrove i sogni di Maria e il suo sapere innato - anticamera della fiducia
It is a question of leaving behind the comfortable but misleading ways of the idols of this world: success at all costs; power to the detriment of the weak; the desire for wealth; pleasure at any price. And instead, preparing the way of the Lord: this does not take away our freedom (Pope Francis)
Si tratta di lasciare le strade, comode ma fuorvianti, degli idoli di questo mondo: il successo a tutti i costi, il potere a scapito dei più deboli, la sete di ricchezze, il piacere a qualsiasi prezzo. E di aprire invece la strada al Signore che viene: Egli non toglie la nostra libertà (Papa Francesco)
Inside each woman and man resides a volcano of potential energies which are not to be smothered and aligned. The Lord doesn’t level the character; he doesn’t wear out the creatures. He doesn't make them desolate. The Kingdom is Near: it reinstates the imbalances. It does not mortify them, it convert them and enhances them
Dentro ciascuna donna e uomo risiede un vulcano di energie potenziali che non devono essere soffocate e allineate

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