Preview

In his general audience Aug. 10, Pope Francis compared the encounter of Christ and the widow of Nain to the encounter any Christian can have when they cross the threshold of a Holy Door and experience the mercy of God.

Vatican Radio reports:

Pope Francis on Wednesday during the General Audience said God is telling everyone to “Rise up,” and that the Holy Door of the Jubilee is the door where the pain of humanity and the compassion of God meet.

The Holy Father was recounting the story of the Widow whom Jesus met at the city gate of Nain, which the Pope compared to the Holy Door. She was leaving the city in the funeral procession of her son, whom Jesus raised from the dead with the words “Rise up!”

“The passage of Luke's Gospel we have heard presents us with a truly great miracle of Jesus, the resurrection of a young boy,” – Pope Francis said – “Yet, the heart of this story is not a miracle, but Jesus' tenderness towards the mother of this boy. Here, mercy takes the name of great compassion towards a woman who had lost her husband and now travels to the cemetery with her only son. The great pain of this mother moves Jesus and causes the miracle of the resurrection."

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