What Jesus received
from women

Anne Soupa [Twelve Women In The Life of Jesus Without Fear of Loving And To Be Loved], Paoline  Ed. 2018

I had not read anything by the biblical scholar Anne Soupa other than a few articles, until she made herself famous with her candidature for archbishop of Lyon in 2020. This was certainly a provocation, but one that was targeted and explained by her in various interviews. So when some of her books were reprinted, I decided to buy Dodici donne nella vita di Gesù senza paura di amare e di essere amate, [Twelve Women In The Life of Jesus Without Fear of Loving And To Be Loved], which is a few years old, it is true, but very full of interesting content. In the volume, she recounts the stories of 12 women whom Jesus encountered and who are not afraid of love. There is more to say than this article permits, but I think the core of each encounter can be summarised in the following manner. Each woman who encounters Jesus feels her life change in size, depth and quality, as well as experiencing the salvation that Jesus bestows on each one. The interesting thing is that Jesus also receives from each of these women a greater capacity for understanding of the faith response of the human heart. According to Soupa, each woman encountered enlarges Jesus’ heart in humanity and enables him to take steps towards self-understanding of his mission, and this was surprising for me.

Rosa Lupoli is a Capuchin nun from Naples, abbess of the Santa Maria in Gerusalemme monastery known as the Trentatré, founded by Blessed Maria Lorenza Longo