Judith and the Courage of Grandmothers

maxresdefault.jpg

The story of Judith presented by Pope Francis at the General Audience on Wednesday, January 25th, is that of a humble and courageous woman. She was more courageous than the men because she was humble and put her trust in God’s will. “Judith—said the Pope—had her own plan; she carried it out successfully and brought the people to victory, but always with the attitude of faith, of one who accepts everything from the hand of God, sure of his goodness.”

Significantly, the catechesis ended with the Holy Father’s invitation to remember “how many times have we have heard wise and courageous words, from humble people, from humble women, considered—without despise—ignorant.” Then, he added a few words about grandmothers, also published on the Pope’s Instagram profile @Franciscus: “How often do grandmothers know just the right word to say, a word of hope, because they have the experience of life, they have suffered much, and they have trusted in God.”

Pope Francis has often spoken about the role of women in the Church—which, as he likes to say, is a woman—, of the importance of their discernment which is not just, “functional” but takes into account their “being and their thinking.” One of the first times he spoke on this topic was in a speech to the Brazilian bishops, said: “If the Church, in her complete and real dimension, loses women, she risks becoming sterile.” Pope Bergoglio, in fact, strives to highlight the “total size and reality” of women’s lives. Now, in yesterday’s catechesis, he added a stroke to the portrait that he is elaborating in his Magisterium.

We are used to imagining Judith as she appears in Caravaggio’s painting, proud and violent, just like Artemisia Gentileschi is portraying her these days in Rome, in the Palazzo Braschi, in striking in the midst of her dramatic situation, or with the sensual forms that Klimt gives her. Pope Francis adds a new image to the representations of Judith: that of a grandmother, her face marked by the wrinkles of those who lived and suffered so much, and who teaches us to entrust to God’s will, whatever it may be. She is the symbol of courage.

26 January 2017