Dialogo e Solstizio

Apr 12, 2026 Written by Teresa Girolami

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Food of the Eternal and Faith

In today's passage, after the sharing of the loaves, the crowd chases Jesus to the other shore, towards Capernaum.

And immediately the Lord puts his finger on the sore spot by emphasising that they seek Him not because of the signs they have seen, but because they are satiated.

A quest driven not by faith, but perhaps by need.

And, to those who ask what to fulfil to do the works of God, the Lord urges the work par excellence: believing.

Jesus dismounts and shifts his gaze from law to Faith.

Wonderful context that in the time of Francis and Clare led the poor people of Assisi to evolve their path of trust and abandonment in God.

In the extraordinary Franciscan Sources we find Francis himself called by the Lord to a leap of faith.

"The Saint found great consolation in the Lord's visits and was assured by them that the foundations of his Order would always remain stable [...].

Being troubled by bad examples, and having resorted one day, so bitterly, to prayer, he felt himself addressed in this way by the Lord:

«Why are you, little man, troubled? Perhaps I made you pastor of my Order in such a way that you would forget that I remain its principal patron?

That is why I have chosen you, simple man, so that those who will, may follow the works that I will do in you and that must be imitated by all others.

I have called you: I will preserve and shepherd you, I will make up with new religious the void left by the others, to the point of giving birth to them if they were not already born.

'Do not therefore be troubled, but wait for your salvation, for if the Order should be reduced even to only three brothers, my help will always be stable'.

From that day it was customary to say that the virtue of a single holy friar overcomes a quantity, however great, of imperfects, as a single ray of light dispels the thickest darkness» (FF 742).

To him who believes in Him who makes us righteous, it is his faith that is reckoned to him for righteousness (cf. Rom 4:4-5).

S. Clare, then, lived literally what Jesus suggests in this Gospel passage: be concerned about food that lasts forever.

In fact, Pope Gregory, with the Bull «Quo elongati» [Up to what point] of 28 September 1230, forbade the Friars Minor from entering monasteries without a special licence from the Holy See - and that only those brothers deputed to do so could take care of the Poor Clares.

In this context, here is what the Sources attest:

"Once, when the Lord Pope Gregory had forbidden any monk to go to the monasteries of the Women without his permission, the pious Mother regretted that the sisters would more rarely have the food of sacred doctrine and groaning said:

«Take them all away from us now, the brethren, after you have taken away those who gave us the nourishment of life!».

And she immediately sent all the brothers back to the minister, not wanting to have beggars to provide the material bread, when they no longer had those who provided them with the bread of the spirit.

But when Pope Gregory learned of this, he immediately put the prohibition back in the power of the general minister" (FF 3232).

Solicitude of a soul in love with the eternal food and willing to renounce everything for It.

«Work not for the food that perishes, but for the food that remains for the life of the LORD [...]» (Jn 6:27).

«This is the Work of God: that you believe in him whom he has sent» (Jn 6:29).

Monday of the 3rd wk. in Easter (Jn 6:22-29)

184 Last modified on Sunday, 12 April 2026 04:38

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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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Whoever is inscribed in God's name participates in God's life, and lives. Therefore to believe is to be inscribed in the name of God. Thus we are alive. Whoever has a share in God's name is not dead but rather belongs to the living God. In this sense we should be able to understand the dynamism of faith, which entails enrolling our names in the name of God and in this way entering into life [Pope Benedict]

Chi è scritto nel nome di Dio partecipa alla vita di Dio, vive. E così credere è essere iscritti nel nome di Dio. E così siamo vivi. Chi appartiene al nome di Dio non è un morto, appartiene al Dio vivente. In questo senso dovremmo capire il dinamismo della fede, che è un iscrivere il nostro nome nel nome di Dio e così un entrare nella vita [Papa Benedetto]

As sometimes happens in the Gospel, faced with the trap set for him by his enemies, Jesus, with his response, rises above the contingent controversy and goes far beyond the particular and mutually divergent positions (John Paul II)

Come talora accade nel Vangelo, di fronte al tranello mossogli dai suoi nemici, Gesù, con la sua risposta, s’innalza al di sopra della polemica contingente e va ben oltre le posizioni particolari e tra loro divergenti (Giovanni Paolo II)

This Name clearly expresses that the God of the Bible is not some kind of monad closed in on itself and satisfied with his own self-sufficiency but he is life that wants to communicate itself, openness, relationship [Pope Benedict]

Questo nome esprime dunque chiaramente che il Dio della Bibbia non è una sorta di monade chiusa in se stessa e soddisfatta della propria autosufficienza, ma è vita che vuole comunicarsi, è apertura, relazione [Papa Benedetto]

There, however, in the place that should have been taken up by the encounter between God and man, he found livestock merchants and money-changers who occupied this place of prayer with their commerce […] In the temple's purification, however, it was a matter of more than fighting abuses. A new time in history was foretold (Pope Benedict)

Ma là dove doveva esservi lo spazio dell’incontro tra Dio e l’uomo, Egli trova commercianti di bestiame e cambiavalute che occupano con i loro affari il luogo di preghiera […] Nella purificazione del tempio, però, si tratta di più che della lotta agli abusi. È preconizzata una nuova ora della storia (Papa Benedetto)

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«Chiedere a Gesù la grazia di seguirlo da vicino», per non lasciarlo solo, superando così le tentazioni di guardare noi stessi per «spartirsi la torta» degli interessi personali [Papa Francesco]

First, in Nazareth, he makes him grow, raises him, educates him, but then follows him: "Your mother is there" (Pope Francis)

Prima, a Nazareth, lo fa crescere, lo alleva, lo educa, ma poi lo segue: “La tua madre è lì” (Papa Francesco)

Unity is not made with glue [...] The great prayer of Jesus is to «resemble» the Father (Pope Francis)

L’Unità non si fa con la colla […] La grande preghiera di Gesù» è quella di «assomigliare» al Padre (Papa Francesco)

Divisions among Christians, while they wound the Church, wound Christ; and divided, we cause a wound to Christ: the Church is indeed the body of which Christ is the Head (Pope Francis)

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