On June 14, the Associate group of Northern Italy met with Sr. Carla Casadei and spent some time contemplating the Jubilee logo, accepting the invitation extended by the Congregation to all Associates to rediscover the virtue of hope this year.
Below is the experience they share.
At our monthly meeting, we prayed focusing on the Jubilee’s logo, which we have come to understand in new ways. We then listened to the catechesis that Pope Leo gave during his audience on June 11 about Jesus’s healing of the blind Bartimaeus.
In his speech, the Pope invites us to show Jesus our deepest wounds, our vulnerability, to let ourselves be healed, and he reminds us that “there is no cry that God does not hear, even when we are not aware we are addressing him.”
He goes on to say: “What saves Bartimaeus, and each one of us, is faith. Jesus heals us so that we can become free. He does not invite Bartimaeus to follow him, but tells him to go, to set out on his way. But Mark concludes the story by saying that Bartimaeus began to follow Jesus: he freely chose to follow him, He who is the Way!”
The invitation addressed to us in this catechesis is to never abandon hope and to bring “our ailments and those of our loved ones to Jesus with trust, to bring the pain of those who feel lost with no way out.”
This connection between Hope and Healing led us to reflect on how our charism of healing challenges us today to rise from the sidelines, to heal deeply and thus help restore hope to humanity. We shared our worries, struggles, plans, and our hopes and those of our loved ones, and we prayed together for one another for all these things.
Finally, we invoked the prayer of Healing through the intercession of Mother Frances. We entrusted to her care our journey of brother/sisterhood and solidarity that we can make together during this Jubilee Year.
